Pony peach picking! Photo by Erin Brooke Harrington
Y’all better take this weekend to rest and relax, reinvigorate your brain cells, and get your stats in order, because next week is pure insanity, even by our standards. Burghley? American Eventing Championships? Yeah, why not have them on the same week. Sure thing! The entries are stacked on both sides of the Atlantic, and it will be hard for any of us to focus on anything silly like jobs or cooking dinner or paying attention to kids. How could you when SO. MUCH. EVENTING!! Jk, please don’t forget to feed your children next week, but also it’s totally possible to monitor pasta while running a live stream, just sayin’.
Burghley starts NEXT WEEK! Keep it locked onto EN – we have some awesome content headed your way.
Defender Burghley: [Website] [Entries] [Program] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]
Eventing is dishing up an equally exciting week in the US, with the American Eventing Championships happening in Lexington, Kentucky. EN is beavering away on both sides of the Pond to bring you all you need to know from the AEC too – so go nowhere, and go eventing!
#AEC2023 (Lexington, KY): [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [Schedule] [Volunteer] [EN’s Coverage]
U.S. Weekend Preview
MARS Great Meadow International (The Plains, VA): [Website] [Entries] [Tickets] [Schedule/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Live Stream] [Volunteer] [EN’s Coverage]
Shepherd Ranch Pony Club H.T. II (Santa Ynez, CA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer][Scoring]
Town Hill Farm H.T. (Lakeville, CT) [Website] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
News From Around the Globe:
While Tamie Smith rides and competes in eventing on many types of horses, Thoroughbreds are still one of her favorite breeds. While she hasn’t had a full thoroughbred at the 5* level yet, Tamie always considers the amount of TB blood her horses have in their breeding, and has recently selected several horses with more Thoroughbred in their lineage. Her experience has taught her that a higher percentage of Thoroughbred blood makes the higher levels a bit easier, but they’re equally suitable for lower aspirations. “I think each horse is individual. I’ve had full Thoroughbreds be very appropriate for amateurs and even beginning riders. So it really depends on the personality of the horse.” [Tamie Smith on Thoroughbreds in Eventing]
Training young horses is tricky business, no matter which way you cut it. One of the biggest questions is how to balance doing juuuuust enough work with each horse at each period of mental and physical growth. While there is no one right answer, blogger Lauren Sprieser has managed to find a system that works best for her over the years. As the current owner of an 18 hand four-year-old of above average talent, she shares some of her training in this article. [The Fine Line Between Too Much & Not Enough]
Cheryl White changed the landscape for equestrians in 1971 by becoming the first licensed black female jockey in the US. She raced on Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Quarter Horses, Paints, and even Appaloosa Horses, racking up about 750 wins in her career. She was also the first woman to serve as a California racing steward in 1991. You can learn more about this admirable woman by (virtually) attending a town hall discussion on September 1st, with Sarah Maslin Nir, co-author of The Jockey and Her Horse, and Abriana Johnson, founder of Black in the Saddle and the authenticity reader on the book. [The Jockey & Her Horse]
The mere mention of the word “equitation” in eventing circles is often met with rolled eyes and raised hackles. No doubt for many eventers the word conjures up images of expensively clothed stick-people with overly arched backs posing as riders on their overly prepped mounts. Those images do not represent what the word describes, nor do those images represent how the discipline of correct and effective equitation has served the great icons of equestrian sports in all three disciplines, such as William Steinkraus, Reiner Klimke, and our own Jim Wofford. [The Importance of Equitation]
