Cheers EN! This morning’s post is dedicated to Team Great Britain, who has officially nailed down a team medal in every equestrian event at the Olympics. This is a great year for Britain, and not just because one team rider is a member of the royal family, or that the country has earned its first gold in team dressage, or even because the Olympics are taking place on English soil. It is special because Britain’s riders have worked incredibly hard to get to where they are (as have all Olympians, don’t make any mistake) and their dedication and training has paid off. It’s impossible to disparage anyone for achieving their dream in the horse world, where one simple misstep can derail a career, and everyone at EN is sending lots of kudos and carrots across the Atlantic to our British compatriots. BEF Performance Director Will Connell posted the following quote from British Dressage team manager Richard Waygood about yesterday’s dressage win following the show jumping medal: “It’s absolutely fantastic – the showjumpers yesterday… well the whole of Team GB, it’s fantastic, it’s like a snowball falling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger. Great medal count, great for equestrian sport. Yesterday really egged these guys on for today, it’s a fairytale story.” Congrats GBR and British Equestrian! [Will’s Blog]
Today’s Olympic Trivia: The Brits are giving the Germans a run for their money in total equine dominance this year- right now the tally for team medals stands at two team golds and a team silver to just one team gold and silver. However, they have a ways to go, as the Germans have won at least two equestrian team medals at every Olympics since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and West Germany won at least two from 1968-1984, the years when the country competed as two separate entities. Actually, it might be easier for me to list the years when Germany (or some manifestation thereof) didn’t win at least two team medals: 1960 and 1920 (when Germans only won jumping and dressage team golds, respectively). This year is no exception, and from the looks of things the Germans aren’t going to come off their winning streak anytime soon.
When you put the IOC, FEI, talented athletes, and world-class horses in one small area, there is bound to be drama, and this week it reared its ugly head in show jumping. Yesterday you may have read that Canadian show jumper Tiffany Foster was disqualified on Monday after her horse, Victor, failed a hypersensitivity test when a small cut on his coronet band caused a positive reaction during the test. You also may have read that Eric Lamaze, her teammate and coach, felt that her disqualification was extremely unjust and unfair, because “within a period of perhaps six minutes, five people poked at this horse’s leg 50 times. Yes, he does have a little superficial cut… [but] this was a simple injury that would not have put this horse in danger in any way and would not have made her gain any advantage in the ring. In such a short period of time, without watching a horse jog, without taking him out of the stall, without assessing him in the warm-up ring—you can just come to a conclusion and say the horse is hypersensitive?” Yesterday Lamaze put his money where his mouth was and announced that he will no longer ride as a representative of Canada on any team until the Equine Canada retracts an official statement it made supporting the decision of the FEI and IOC and declares support for Foster. Lamze clarified that his ultimatum includes national teams he has already been named to at Spruce Meadows and the Sunshine Tour (Spain). So far there has been no official reply from Equine Canada, but keep checking back for more updates. [COTH]
More Olympic links:
The British take first Olympic Dressage medal ever. [COTH]
Emotional victory for the British in Team Show Jumping. [COTH]
H&H salutes Britain’s Golden Boys: “Sixty years it’s been since we last won a showjumping team gold and at times it seemed we might have to wait at least another 60. There has been much hand-wringing and soul-searching in the years between when, yet again, our showjumpers failed to make it on to the podium. But no more.” [Horse & Hound]
Horsetalk aggregated comments and reflections from dressage riders after the team finals. Fun fact: Carl Hester learned to ride bareback and on a donkey. [Horsetalk]
Horsetalk also wrote up an overview of hypersensitivity rules and testing procedures in the wake of Foster’s disqualification. [Horsetalk]
Back in the US:
Area II’s Rubicon Farm has hosted its final event. The November event for this year has been cancelled on the heels of the cancellation of the June event, and farm owners and organizers Eric and Sheryl Williams told the Chronicle that demands from work and travel have become so great as to prohibit them from running a successful event. After a serious soul-searching, they have put the farm on the market. Sheryl is the full-time manager at Morven Park, another popular Area II event, and she is excited to move forward with “Morven Park’s ambitious new plan for the Equestrian Center, where she’ll oversee the implementation of a master plan, development and fundraising.” While it is sad to see one event disappear, it is very exciting to see that another may be expanding in its place- and if you’re looking for a farm with cross country jumps check out Rubicon. [COTH]
Shopping item of the day: the USEA Regatta polo is back in stock. [USEA]
Humane officers are in desperate need of information regarding six neglected horses that have gone missing from a property in Oregon. The horses are sought in relation to an ongoing animal cruelty case against their owner, who was cited in May after investigators found a dead horse on her property. It appears that the owner has taken them to a different location, as she has disappeared along with the horses. [Horsetalk]
The Humane Society has written a letter to the organizers of this year’s Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, outlining five propositions to prevent horse abuse in a sport widely known for painful and abusive training methods. The society has offered to work together with the organizers in order to implement the changes that it hopes will “curb horse abuse and ensure that the show competition could continue in a way that dramatically improved the public transparency and the welfare of horses.” [Horsetalk]
Best of blogs: Lauren Sprieser is inspired
Last but not least, our friends at Horse Quencher have a message for their rider Hawley Bennett, featured in the banner below. “Get well soon Hawley!! So glad you’re on the mend, and that our friend Ginny is doing fine. We look forward to seeing you in Normandy and Rio!” EN echos their sentiments. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Wednesday!
