EN tipster Lara Knight sent us this photo of Buck (arm still in a sling) and Jon Holling
Finding Red Hills at night is easy when compared to landing an F-18 on a moving aircraft carrier at night. After stopping in a gas station to pick up a Gatorade–because hey, what the heck, I’d passed the same gas station three times–I finally found my way to the bumpy dirt road that leads to the magnificent show grounds at Elinor Klapp Phipps Park (although God help you if you tell your GPS to take you to Elinor Klapp Phipps Park). This is my fourth trip to Red Hills and I always seem to arrive at night and I always seem to get helplessly lost despite the fact that the directions are really quite simple.
I have been distracted this week with fighting to get the right components in place for our now well overdue and setback-plagued server transition as well as with work outside of eventing websites and horses that I really should catch everyone up on someday. This is my first chance to formally welcome Abby to the team–we’re very excited to have her on the team here and I’m grateful that she has promised not to let her professionalism rub off on the rest of us.
Last year we left Red Hills amidst the developing US coaching controversy, a story that almost overshadowed the event itself. This year all eyes are on the competition and we will leave Tallahassee with a group of frontrunners well on their way to the Olympics.
Meter for meter I regard Red Hills as one of the toughest courses in the United States at prelim through advanced and it’s the most intimidating course I have ever ridden. The terrain is relentless and the jumps are huge. But before all of that fun we have a full day of dressage on Friday. The action starts at 8am. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the weekend–it’s going to be a great competition.
[Weather, Live Scores starting at 8am ET, follow Samantha on Twitter for live updates]
Go Red Hills.
