I had the great joy of heading over to Pippa Funnell’s place last week to write some training pieces based on her Windrush training sessions, which serve to help young up-and-coming riders make the next step in their careers – and now that the January session has wrapped up, those riders are back at home putting Pippa’s exercises into practice. Basically, what that means for all of us mere mortals is that we can scour their social media and steal those exercises for their own use. Love that for us.
Black History Bit of the Day: Have you ever heard of Ruby Nicholas and Dorothy Cumbo? I hadn’t either, but now I’m fascinated by this tough duo who organised horse shows for their community at a time when Black people were banned from most major venues.
National Holiday: It’s National Send a Card to a Friend Day, which is a notion I find totally appealing. A bit of post that isn’t a bill is always so exciting, especially if the friend in question has had a rough time of it lately. Consider it the simplest, nicest act of kindness you can do today. Oh, and it’s also Grenada’s Independence Day today – they gained freedom from British colonisation on this day in 1974.
US Weekend Action:
Galway Downs Kickoff H.T. (Temecula, Ca.): [Website] [Results]
Sporting Days Farm February H.T. (Aiken, Sc.): [Website] [Results]
Three Lakes Winter I H.T. at Caudle Ranch (Groveland, Fla.): [Website] [Results]
Global Eventing Roundup:
The first CCI4*-S of 2022 wrapped up over the weekend at the Zeep Summer EA Horse Trials at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia, with Aussie superstar Megan Jones taking the win aboard RLE Barina. Second place went to Murray Lamperd riding ex-racehorse Secret Mojo, and Sam Jeffree took third with Woodmount Lolita. Meanwhile, the CCI3*-S class went the way of local rider Yona Lloyd with Ballahowe Ayurvedic, and Mollie Kennedy took the CCI2*-S with Lavender Rise Ferghus, giving herself a hat trick of recent wins.
This is an unusual venue for Australia’s season opener four-star, which we usually see in March at Tonimbuk, but our friends in the Southern Hemisphere have been under lock and key due to tough Covid restrictions and now, as the country reopens for business, officials are making some major changes to ensure riders and horses get enough early season outings and point-earning opportunities. We’re excited to see our Aussie brethren getting back into the swing of things as their summer season continues on apace.
But let’s not forget the fine folks of New Zealand, who are also in the midst of a summer season after a seriously tough period of restriction. They hosted the only other FEI event of the weekend at the Troy Wheeler Contracting Springbush Horse Trials in Papakura, where there were CCI2*-S and CCI3*-S classes on offer. Jasmyne Speake took three-star victory on Pioneer Jeepers Creepers, while Charlotte Penny and SD Amourosi were victorious in the CCI2*-S.
Your Monday Reading List:
The FEI has ruled that it will not suspend several members of the Blenheim ground jury, plus TD Patricia Clifton, after a mix-up at the 2021 renewal of the event. The issue arose after a rider was allowed to continue on after a fall on cross-country, and has been deemed to be the result of a communication mix-up.
Amateur riders are some of the hardest working people in the sport, and after two years of this pandemic, I have a renewed respect for those who balance medical careers with riding and competing. Meet Brooke Krbec, who splits her time between a fellowship in Boston and her string of hunters – oh, and she’s recovering from a major surgery herself. Here’s how she gets things done.
The USEA’s Instructor Certification Program has been developing a training handbook, which details a consistent format of expectations through the levels. This’ll be put into practice in this week’s ICP Symposium at Barnstaple South in Ocala, but if you want a sneak peek at how some of the levels are laid out, you can take a closer look here.
If you’re preparing for a move-up, chances are, you’ve been pretty tough on yourself at some point in the process. But as blogger and dressage rider Laura Adriaanse discovered, sometimes you’ll reach the end result a bit faster if you go easier on yourself.
The FutureTrack Follow:
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Need to brighten up your feed? Muddy Mayhem‘s signature brand of sweary equestrian humour and motivational memes will do the trick.
Morning Viewing:
Join me in my happy place — the British Pathé archives of Badmintons past. Bliss.
