After a frustrating morning getting our server fixed, things seem to be more under control this afternoon here at the Eventing Nation corporate headquarters. Here are a few thoughts to wrap up a long and exciting weekend of eventing.
(1) When I think about Fair Hill, the first thing that comes to mind is that I am so happy for Hannah and St. Barths. Like many great eventing partnerships, Hannah and “Nike” had a humble beginning. Hannah started riding Nike while he was recovering from an injury. Nike was a very tough horse to ride, but Karen and David trusted Hannah and guided her throughout the road to Nike’s recovery, and now remarkable performance at the 3* level. Nike’s owner, Mr. Dick Thompson, is one of the best owners in eventing and our country is very fortunate that he has entrusted such a great up-and-coming rider with one of his horses. As an aside to the story, Hannah is also one of Omega Alpha’s sponsored riders. Hannah has been a good friend of mine and Eventing Nation for a long time and word is that she will be joining us for a live blog on Tuesday evening so stay tuned for the full announcement on that.
(2) The second thing that comes to mind is of course sadness for JB’s Star. About everything has been said regarding the situation that needs to be said, however the speedy recovery of the injured riders from this weekend will help us move forward as a sport.
(3) Part of me feels badly for the Boekelo riders because they had an absolutely wonderful weekend but did not get as much attention as they deserved because of Fair Hill. Before the weekend started, if you had told me that we would finish with three clean rounds and three riders in the top 21 out of 100 starters, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. For the US team to show up in Europe and take 2nd place in the team competition was a really good achievement that should make the US team very optimistic about our developing rider program. The Boekelo riders and horses are traveling back to the US and we look forward to welcoming them home.
(4) I had a couple of long conversations this weekend about the US coaching search and all I’ll say about it right now is that a lot more people are applying than you might expect. Heck you get all the cool hats you could ever want–who wouldn’t apply?
(5) The eventing season will calm down slightly now that the WEGs and Fair Hill are over, but there are still several critical three-days left on the calendar, such as the Galway CCI3*, Pau, Chattahoochee, and many more.
(6) EN Karma is a highly scientific phenomenon which means that if we mention you on Eventing Nation you are likely to win and I know everyone will be relieved to hear that my fantasy football team rebounded yesterday with the help of some live blog EN Karma and leads by 10 points going into Monday Night Football.
In other news…
Mark Todd got a ticket from the Netherlands police for 2,000 pounds
Boyd bought a new 3 year old from Bruce
Best of the blogs: Valerie Vizcarrondo had a great weekend at Fair Hill
Sadly, Mark Todd pulled a rail to drop out of the Boekelo lead:
