Normal behavior. Photo courtesy of Kate Samuels.
As you can see, being a weird horse girl is a lifelong affliction. Pictured here is 13-year-old me, hanging upside down on the neck of my first (and clearly very forgiving) horse after a series of less tolerant ponies. He was an off-the-track Thoroughbred, and my shenanigans did not amuse him. I realized upon seeing this photo that not much has changed in my life, and I’m still clambering all over my horses in absurd ways, and they still tolerate me.
U.S. Weekend Preview
Galway Downs 2023 Kickoff H.T. (Temecula, CA): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Sporting Days Farm February H.T. (Aiken, SC): [Website] [Entries] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Three Lakes Winter I H.T. at Caudle Ranch (Groveland, FL): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
News From Around the Globe:
Amanda Walker took a chance when she bought Runaway Romeo in 2018. Their first ride was not auspicious, and mostly included a lot of running sideways. “Roman” had been found at an auction a month earlier by Julie Copper of Copper Horse Crusade, an Ohio-based organization that saves slaughter-bound horses, and he was still skin and bones when Amanda took him. Unsure of his past, she worked for years to earn his trust, and now the two are successfully competing and winning at the Novice level. [Rescued Runaway Romeo Finds His Calling]
Interested in meeting the horses in Tamie Smith’s string? If you’re near Galway Downs this weekend, you’re in luck! Next Level Eventing is hosting a meet and greet with lunch provided by EquiFit tomorrow at Kingsway Farms. Do some pony petting and get some lunch! [Meet NLE Horses]
In news of sh*t we just shouldn’t have to tell you, a harness trainer in NZ was banned this week for injecting his horses with vodka. Phillip Burrows admitted to injecting a horse with 30 milliliters of vodka and to tubing it with a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, Epsom salts, brown sugar and water. Somehow, this man truly believed that shooting this into their veins would be a performance enhancer. I can’t. I just can’t. [Don’t. Inject. Horses. With. Vodka]
Stephanie Tassos-Reimers has always been a rider, but came to eventing after trying a lot of other disciplines. Once she got into eventing, she didn’t hold back: Around careers in energy trading and commercial development, Tassos-Reimers has competed through the intermediate level, groomed at the country’s biggest events and volunteered for the Area V Council and her local Greater Houston Combined Training Association, as well as pursuing her technical delegate’s license and her ‘r’ judging license. For her contributions to the sport, Tassos-Reimers was recognized with the 2022 USEA Amateur Impact Award during the USEA Convention. [Amateur Impact Award Winner]
