Good Morning Eventing Nation! Welcome to Friday! If you’re anything like me, you probably have no idea who you need to buy Christmas presents for, where you’re planning on buying them, and most importantly, what you are going to buy. I am terrible with gifts, I always think the occasion is farther off than it actually is (a procrastinator’s main excuse), so I never both to sit down, make lists, and figure out the gift logistics. I’m the person you see frantically running around the department stores December 23rd at 10 o’ clock at night, trying to buy those last couple gifts before the stores close. Once again this year, I am behind on getting most all of the gifts I need to buy, but I actually have got John’s present bought, wrapped, and dropped off at the post office. It’s a Care Bear, the pink one, and I think he’ll really like it.
To start the morning off, I think a huge congratulations is owed to Boyd Martin and his team. If you didn’t already know, Neville Bardos has been nominated as USEF Horse of the Year. If it were up to me, Neville would be my pick for the award hands down. Coral Reef Via Volo (Beezie Madden) and Weltino’s Magic (Steffen Peters) are wonderful horses, but there’s something about coming within an inch of death, making a miraculous recovery, and finishing in a top placing at the World’s toughest Three Day Event within three months of the fire, that makes Neville seem like the obvious choice. But the choice is not up to me, Eventing Nation, it’s up to you. Let’s make it a point to take a few seconds out of our busy lives and vote for one of the most talented horses in our sport, and certainly the one with the biggest heart. [HOTY]
Since we are close to Christmas and all, I’m sure someone out there is looking for a new Dressage saddle. One of our readers sent an ad to Leslie at Sport Horse Nation asking if she wouldn’t mind posting the ad quickly as she needs to sell this saddle in order to pay for veterinary procedure that her horse really needs. We’d really like to help this girl out, so if you or anyone you know of is looking for a saddle, don’t hesitate to give her a call. [SHN]
And now onto the rest of the news…
It was just announced that the New Zealand Eventing Team will receive an extra $250,000 in government funding in addition to the $1 million already allocated to fund their quest to the 2012 Olympics. It really is a wonderful thing that the sport of Eventing is gaining so much recognition over there, we (both American and Canadian) are really going to have to watch out for this team next year. Clark Johnstone is just one name of many that have consistently been rising to the top ranks of the international scene. Gone are the days when the New Zealanders had to beg and borrow to fund a team trip, and sell their horses after the event to pay the rest of the debts. That was the case in the 1978 World Equestrian Games, but certainly won’t be in 2012. [Horsetalk]
Geoff Teall, hunter rider extraordinaire, wrote an excellent article for the Chronicle explaining his decision to downsize his business and refocus his attention on what’s truly important. I think so often with successful riders, new successes attract more attention, more business, and pretty soon, riders wanting a small, manageable operation find themselves at the center of a zoo with horses and students forming a line out the door. For someone like Geoff who is interested in other aspects of the sport, like judging, or holding a role as a governing official, downsizing his program is proving to be just the ticket. [COTH]
If you weren’t lucky enough to make the trip to Nashville for the USEA Convention last week, you can still download the audio files from some of the presentations to listen to at your leisure. The USEA always does such a great job of picking the right speakers and the right topics that makes for an educational, entertaining weekend. [Download here]
If you haven’t listened to this week’s Eventing Radio Show, you might want to download it to listen to as you do the dishes, or go for a walk, or run errands. Chris Stafford, along with co-host Bobby Costello really assembled a star studded guest list for this week’s show, including : John Nunn, Brian Sabo, Jon Holling, Max Corcoran, Karen O’Connor, and Jacqueline Mars, oh, and of course the coach himself, Mark Phillips. [Listen here]
This should come as little surprise to anyone that follows eventing in England, but Andrew Nicholson (although he’s a New Zealander) has topped the British Eventing Rider Rankings once again. Just to show the depth of horses Andrew has, as well as the type of rider he is, he finished 200 points in front of two other dominant forces in the sport, William Fox Pitt and Oli Townend. Maybe Andrew and William will open a bottle of bubbly together for their respective successes this year (cue laughter). [Wiltshire Times]
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Have a great Friday!
