It’s been a huge year for top-level retirements, but I’m not sure any of us were prepared to bid farewell to the fierce and feisty legend that is Bolytair B, who will hang up his horseshoes after jumping successfully around several of the world’s biggest tracks with Dom Schramm in the irons. Kudos to Dom, though, for making a sage call for his horse, and for sharing the words of wisdom that “there’s no trophy for squeezing the last drop out of a horse”. That’s something we could all do with remembering.
National Holiday: It’s National Pamela Day. All hail our lord and saviour, Ms Anderson.
US Weekend Action:
The Event at Archer and Area IX Championships (Cheyenne, WY): [Website] [Results]
Caber Farm H.T. (Onalaska, WA): [Website] [Results]
Genesee Valley Riding & Driving Club H.T. (Geneseo, NY): [Website] [Results]
Huntington Farm H.T. (South Strafford, VT): [Website] [Results]
Ocala Summer H.T. II (Ocala, FL): [Website] [Results]
Waredaca Farm H.T. (Gaithersburg, MD): [Website] [Results]
UK Weekend Results:
Blindley Heath: [Results]
Frickley Park International Horse Trials and Area Festival: [Results]
Solihull (2): [Results]
Global Eventing Round-up:
It’s been a double-dip weekend of Nations Cup action, with legs in both Canada and Belgium over the last couple of days. Here’s some highlights from each:
FEI Eventing Nations Cup CCIO4*-S + International H.T. (Bromont, Canada): [Website] [Results] [EN’s Coverage]
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Team USA took top honours in the three-team competition in Bromont, while Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C were victorious on the individual leaderboard after a seriously tough day of cross-country.
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FEI Eventing Nations Cup CCIO4*-S + International H.T. (Arville, Belgium): [Results]
Meanwhile, over in Belgium, the home team was successful in both the Nations Cup competition and on the individual leaderboard: they beat Germany by an impressive margin of 17.3 penalties, while Italy took third place. Tine Magnus became the Belgian National Champion after winning the CCIO4*-S with Champagne Pia Z, who climbed from 13th after dressage after adding just 5.6 time penalties across the country and tipping a rail in showjumping – such was the intensity and influence of this competition. The top six placings went to Belgian riders, with Manon Minner taking second aboard Cool Dancer and Laura Loge finishing the weekend in third with Absolut Allegro. Just two of the 59 competitors went clear inside the time: fourth-placed Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, who’s based at Arville, managed it with Ducati d’Arville, as did Germany’s Anna-Katarina Vogel and DSP Quintana P, who finished seventh.
Your Morning Reading List:
When it comes to producing young horses for future success and longevity in the sport, there’s no one set way to do things. Some riders prefer to take all the pressure off in the formative years, while others factor in plenty of outings to help their baby horses realise that leaving the farm is no big deal, and I always find it fascinating to dive into the philosophies behind each decision — and all the other decisions that go into plotting out an education. In this piece, Tamie Smith goes through her general plan for hitting the ground running with a youngster — and how that worked for some of the horses who would go on to be stars of her stable. [How to train your dragon — erm, event horse]
We’re calling this one as a member of the 2035 British Pony Europeans team right now. Dressage supremo Charlotte Dujardin has announced that she’s pregnant with her first child, and is looking forward to welcoming her daughter to the world early next year. No word yet on whether the little one has been practicing the flying change aids in the womb. [Talk about a performance pedigree]
If you’ve had a bad day out eventing, it can be incredibly hard to put that aside on your next trip out. That’s particularly true if you’re a one-horse rider, because you might have weeks between competitions to dwell on what went wrong — but it can affect the pros, too, who need to be able to compartmentalise and get straight on the next horse with an unblemished frame of mind. In any case, learning to take control of your own thoughts will lead to some of the biggest gains you’ll experience as a rider. [Here’s how to get started]
The FutureTrack Follow:
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I’m really enjoying following the journey of Sarah Clark, who’s made the long trip over from Australia to tackle her first Burghley with five-star partner LV Balou Jeanz. Give her a follow for some fascinating insights into her biggest adventure yet.
Morning Viewing:
Rewind to 1991 with this vintage footage of Mr Stickability tackling Blenheim’s CCI4*-L aboard Park Grove.
