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CHIO Aachen has officially begun – and every year, one of the things that I really enjoy about it is that it picks a country as its focal point, which sets the theme for the Opening Ceremony, the branding around the site, and a number of performances through the week. This year, the country of choice is Great Britain, and so we saw a very English display, including racing Shetlands, show ponies, double decker buses, and more in the opening ceremony. It’s all a bit of beautiful chaos, and a fitting opener for all the world class sport to come. We’ll be taking you on a walking tour of the show over on our Instagram, and bringing you lots of content from the eventing competition and beyond right here on EN – so stay tuned!
US Weekend Preview:
Twin Rivers Summer H.T. (Paso Robles, CA): Website, Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scoring
Inavale Farm H.T. (Philomath, OR): Website, Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scoring
Summer Coconico H.T. I (Flagstaff, AZ): Website, Entry Status/Ride Times, Live Scoring
Chattahoochee Hills + Area III Championships (Fairburn, GA): Website
News & Notes from Around the World:
I cannot tell you how much I adore the equestrian wonderland that is CHIO Aachen. Particularly now that the old WEG format has gone by the wayside, it’s the only place in equestrian sport where you can see the very best of each discipline, all in one place – and the whole thing is designed to celebrate not just the athletes and horses, but the loyal fans, too. It truly is our Mecca, and this piece from Aachen first-timer Lisa Slade of COTH sums up some of that magic beautifully.
Is AI on course to take all our jobs? Maybe – but probably not. In this op-ed from Captain Mark Phillips, he explains why the human touch is necessary for picking championship teams – and why the task of selection will, or at least should, never come down to simply pulling numbers from a database, particularly in a season such as 2023, which has seen extreme weather conditions and some external factors skew those numbers in a way that the human skill of context would be able to parse sensibly. Read it here.
Being a mother is no walk in the park. Now, new research suggests that that’s the same for horses, too, who have to deal with peaks in their stress levels while carrying, birthing, and raising their young. Check it out.
