Weekend’s don’t come much better than the one Gemma Tattersall just had — a first five-star win and a surprise proposal at the final press conference will be pretty hard to beat, though we suspect her wedding itself will be every bit as epic. In any case, it was the perfect fairytale send-off for this extraordinary ‘pop-up’ five-star competition, and one that we hope has bolstered the hopes of eventing’s stakeholders, fans, riders and supporters after a seriously tricky 18 months. We’ve often said there’s nothing that the eventing community can’t do when we unite our efforts and energies — and that’s an exciting and reassuring notion to see confirmed once again.
National Holiday: It’s Labor Day! Informally, it’s the end of summer — but formally, it’s a celebration of the laborers who were behind America’s enormous growth, and who were finally given rights and representation in the form of trade unions in the late nineteenth century. These days, we recommend using it to raise a glass (or three) to the hard work you’ve been putting in, managing to juggle full-time jobs, your studies, parenthood, horses — whatever you’ve got going on, and however you make it happen, we know our readership is full of some seriously hard workers, and we salute you. (We’ll leave the searing op-ed on why we should use this as an opportunity to reconsider how we pay and treat grooms and other stable staff for tomorrow. Enjoy your picnic today.)
U.S. Weekend Action:
#AEC2021 (Lexington, Ky.): [Website] [Results]
Bucks County Horse Park H.T. (Revere, Pa.): [Website]
Chattahoochee Hills H.T. (Fairburn, Ga.): [Website] [Results]
Equestrians’ Institute H.T. (Cle Elum, Wa.): [Website] [Results]
Silverwood Farm H.T. (Camp Lake, Wi.): [Website] [Results]
UK Weekend Action:
The Chedington Bicton CCI5*: [Website] [Results] [EN’s Coverage]
Richmond (2): [Results]
Sapey (2): [Results]
Your Monday Reading List:
After spending the week in Devon reporting on the inaugural Bicton CCI5*, I’m enjoying catching up on everything that went on at the AECs – and my favourite bit, as always, is finding out more about the amateur and junior riders and their horses, whose incredible hard work and a lifetime of dreaming led them to the Kentucky Horse Park for the ride of their lives. One of those riders? Junior Samantha Manning, who helped her Morgan x Mustang back from the brink after a scary injury and competed in the Beginner Novice Jr Championship last week. [Manning And Good Luck Molly Overcome The Odds To Get To The AEC]
We all spend a lot of time thinking about our horse’s limbs, particularly when we compete regularly and want to avoid tendon injuries. But what about their backs? Even if you have a well-fitted saddle, could jumping sessions be causing soreness? A student at Michigan State wanted to find out, with help from a hunter-jumper rider. [Study: Does Jumping Generate Back Pain in Horses?]
Horse Sport Ireland has appointed a new CEO after a slightly tricky Olympic year, which saw a well-publicised controversy emerge when the country’s dressage team — the first one it had ever qualified — wasn’t sent to compete. Dennis Duggan will being his tenure in January 2022. [Horse Sport Ireland Appoints New CEO]
The FutureTrack Follow:
You can never follow too many eventing photographers, and one of Britain’s best is friend of EN Hannah Cole, whose images you may have seen illustrating some of our reports and content this year. Make sure she’s on your feed if you want to follow along with what’s happened on the UK scene and beyond.
Morning Viewing:
Want to rewind to Blair Castle’s emotional, exciting CCI4*-L? You can relive the winning round here.
