Eat your heart out, George Morris. Photo by Kate Samuels.
I’m not usually susceptible to this kind of thing, as I must not be very tasty, but holy hell I got eaten ALIVE this week by bugs of all kinds. I have huge itchy bug bites on the very worst parts of my body, and I cannot control myself. I’m having a flashback to when I was a kid with chicken pox and nobody could stop me from scratching. I’ve been using the horse steroidal anti-itch cream, and I’m still a mess. Tight riding pants are NOT great. Please send help.
National Holiday: Mint Julep Day
Major Events:
Tattersalls: Website, Entries and Live Scores, Live Stream, EN’s Coverage, EN’s Twitter, EN’s Instagram
U.S. Weekend Preview:
Poplar Place Farm June H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Equestrians’ Institute H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]
IEA H.T. & Classic 3DE [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]
Colorado Horse Park H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Genesee Valley Riding & Driving Club Spring H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]
GMHA June H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
NJ Region H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Waredaca H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
Ocala Summer I H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
News From Around the Globe:
Accuracy in your approach to a jump is imperative for all levels of Eventing. No, we’re not even talking about what distance you get to the jump, but more about how you can choose and hold a line, and keep your horse between your aids. Jonty Evans recently taught an arena cross country clinic, and gave us all some quick and easy tips to think about for improving your approaches to fences. [Jonty Evans’ Top Tips For Jumping]
So you’ve gotten your horse to the show in his prime condition, but how do you maximize his recovery after an event? Your warmup is incredibly important, not only in how you practice for your test or your round, but how you physically warm up the muscles, and increase elasticity with the tendons and ligaments to prevent injury. When cooling down, you want to throw water on them and scrape it off, and if necessary, hand walk until their heart rate and respiration have come down. There is no down side to offering water, and sometimes electrolyte supplementation is a good idea too. [Sensible Recovery Strategies for Equine Athletes]
The USEF has released a clarification for the CBD drug testing rule. While many of us thought this was a new rule, apparently it is not. According to the USEF, this rule has been in place for a long while, but has not always been strictly enforced, due to their inability to test for CBD reliably. When it became clear to them that it was being used more frequently for performance enhancing purposes, they developed better testing and decided to remind the public not to use CBD on competing horses. [USEF Clarifies CBD Rule]
Poplar Place Farm is looking for volunteers this weekend! They’re hosting the Area III Championships and could use some friendly faces around the cross country as jump judges. If you are a member of Area III Young Riders OR a college eventing team, Poplar Place Farm will donate $10/he PER VOLUNTEER to your team. You can sign up at www.eventingvolunteers.com.
Video: Spotted on the May-Daze at the Park H.T Beginner Novice cross country course … Jumper Nation editor Meagan DeLisle!
