Thursday News & Notes by Stable View

Jonelle and son Otis share a cuddle before the prize giving at Pau in 2021. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

I swore up and down before having my son almost three years ago that I wouldn’t let being a mother get in the way of my riding or my career. And I kept that promise on track, at least for a while. I was back in jump lessons five weeks after giving birth by C-section, my abdominal incision held together by a thick band of Vetrap wrapped around my waist, my baby asleep in his stroller ringside. I was more productive than ever, writing late into the night in between feedings.

But as he grew older and more “awake,” his demands on my energy and time increased while childcare options dwindled down to nothing due to the pandemic. I certainly don’t regret starting a family, but there’s no denying the enormous toll it has taken on those two aspects of my life I had vowed to protect — my riding, and my career.

I have absolute respect for multitasking moms who seem to manage it all, all the time. But I know that they, too, struggle. It’s an uphill climb, and there needs to be acknowledgement that perhaps our sport’s “level playing field” for men and women isn’t quite as gender-neutral as we entertain it to be.

Women’s History Bit of the Day: 

Are women really equal in equestrian sport? It’s a question that Sarah Eder tackled in this 2017 Horse Network article. One point she brought up was the impact of child-bearing: “Unlike a corporate job where you can take maternity leave, the equestrian sport doesn’t allow for time off. Everyone knows you’re only as good as your last win, so why would you have a child and risk losing your spot on the world stage?”

Two years later, in 2019, the FEI took a step toward implementing change in dressage world ranking rules to enable riders–male and female–on maternity leave from competition to keep some points. Show jumping riders had already been benefiting from a ranking freeze since 2010. But, as New Zealand five-star champion Jonelle Price pointed out in this FEI article last month, the change still hasn’t been extended to eventers.

“Bizarrely, the World rankings don’t recognise maternity leave for women in eventing though they do in jumping, so having two children in the last four years took quite a hit on my rankings, plummeting from No.7, I think, prior to the first, to about No.250-odd!” Jonelle said.

Clearly, there’s still plenty of work still to be done.

U.S. Weekend Preview

Red Hills International CCI4*-S (Tallahassee, Fl): [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [Volunteer]

Full Gallop Farm March H.T. (Aiken, Sc.): [Website] [Entry Status] [Volunteer]

Meadowcreek Park Spring Social Event (Kosse, Tx.): [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]

SAzEA Spring H.T. (Tucson, Az.): [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times] [Volunteer]

Southern Pines H.T. (Raeford, Nc.): [Website] [Entry Status] [Volunteer]

News & Notes: 

The USEA’s Young Event Horse (YEH) yearbook countdown continues with the class of 2016. Several of that year’s 5-year-old graduate horses who went on to reach the highest levels of eventing include Woodford Reserve, Ally KGO, Quantum Leap, Quality Time, and Eclaire. [USEA]

Mark Todd has been given an interim suspension by the British Horseracing Authority. The suspension occurred after a video on social media appeared to show him hit a horse with a branch. [BBC Sport]

Functional mobility in children with cerebral palsy can be improved through physical interaction with horses, fresh research shows. A team of researchers from Korea and the United States investigated physical interaction metrics between horses and children with cerebral palsy during hippotherapy and published their study in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. [Horse Talk]

How does she do it? Read the story of how 2021 USEA Adult Amateur of the Year Katie Lichten juggles school and upper-level eventing. [USEA]

Video: #ThrowbackThursday to Pippa’s Grand Slam win – which requires a rider to win Kentucky, Badminton, and Burghley in any consecutive order –  in 1999.