Good morning EN! Unfortunately, we are still on high alert for the Bernardo Fire near San Diego, which has already caused several well known barns full of top level horses to be evacuated. Over 20,000 homes have already been evacuated, including the farms of Grand Prix Dressage riders Steffan Peters, Christine Traurig and Guenter Seidel. The Chronicle has been keeping us well informed on the progress of the fire and the horses affected, so be sure to check out their update page. All other updates can be found on KPCC’s Fire Tracker page.
Events This Weekend:
CHC International CIC and H.T.: [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times]
Otter Creek Spring H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]
Hitching Post Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Times]
CCC Spring Gulch H.T. [Website]
Kelly’s Ford H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]
Greater Dayton H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Times]
Fair Hill International H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]
Kent School Spring H.T. [Website]
News From Around The Globe:
Today marks the 100 day countdown to the World Equestrian Games!!! French artist Christophe Dumont created a spectacular piece of sand art featuring enormous horse hoof prints in a huge ‘100’ on the famous Normandy beach. The artist and a team of 20 people battled against time and tide to produce the unique artwork, so that it could be captured on camera before the waves washed it away. Check out the pics here! [100 Day Countdown]
What are Badminton winners Sam Griffiths and “Brocks” doing now that they’ve returned home? Basking in the glory, as far as I can tell! Brocks is hanging out in her adorably hand decorated “champion” stall, and posing in a variety of handsome ways with her trophies and her coolers. So adorable. [Pictures of Brocks and Sam]
One of my favorite Badminton stories was the success of Harry Meade, who shattered both his elbows in a fall just nine months ago. Harry says that he secretly worked out on paper exactly how long he could wait before he had to start riding again in order to be ready for Badminton, but he certainly didn’t tell anybody of his crazy plans! His third place finish there is his best four-star result yet, and we can tell that he’s just over the moon with the result. [Harry Meade: Back From The Brink]
Carl Hester & Charlotte DuJardin have the “best bred colt in the world” coming up through the ranks right now. With Valegro at the top of his game, and almost unbeatable at this point, Charlotte and Carl are looking for their next superstar. So what do they have? A three year old colt that is out of Weidyfleur II (Valegro’s full sister) and by Uthiopia. This makes him incredibly closely related to two gold medal winning grand prix dressage horses! Check him out, grunging about in his paddock. [Meet Euphoria]
Did you know that there was a 2014 Muddiest Horse Contest? Yeah, me neither, but looking at these pictures sure made me appreciate what little grooming I do on my horses after they roll in the grass. [Muddiest Horses Ever]
I’m just going to leave this here…