Good Morning Eventing Nation! I hope your morning has been pleasant so far. I don’t know about you, but already its looking to be a busy day. As John mentioned in an afternoon post yesterday, definite progress is being made in the preparations for the Pan American Games scheduled for this upcoming October. It’s been announced that the Mandatory Outing will be held at Richland Park, making this otherwise top-class event even more of a draw for this year. I think its going to be really interesting to see how the team selection plays out for the Pan Ams, simply because of the huge range of applicants. On the one hand, there are the A-lister professionals with some nice, albeit less experienced horses, then there are the pairs with plenty of Advanced and 3 star level experience but still wanting a shot for riding on their first team, and then there are the applicants in the young rider range, a lot of them very good riders mounted on good horses. If one things for certain, it’s that there will be plenty to choose from. [Applicant PDF List]
Some big news of the morning is contained in the new bill to prohibit horse drawn carriages from operating in New York City. I was honestly a little surprised to come across that headline as I hadn’t ever really seen carriages as a problem before. An entire website is dedicated to the cause, it can be viewed here, and they definitely make some valid points. Contained in the first clause of their mission statement,
“Carriage horses are out of place in midtown’s congested streets and belong to another century when there were far fewer vehicles and pedestrians. When cabs are mixed with cars, taxis, buses, pedestrians, bikes and emergency vehicles – fire trucks, ambulances and police cars – they are a recipe for disaster. Hansom cabs traveling to and from the Central Park area on 9th and 10th Avenue interfere with emergency vehicles going to and from Roosevelt Hospital – and the many vehicles going to the Lincoln Tunnel or the West Side Highway. Over the years, there have been many accidents where both horses and people have been seriously injured and some in which horses have died.”
What are your thoughts, Eventing Nation? Should horse drawn carriages be banned or kept alive as a part of the city?
Speaking of horse welfare, fifty wild horses in Romania just escaped slaughter by the narrowest of margins. Evidently, the horses were gathered from territories in the eastern part of the country and in route to a slaughter house, when police officers intercepted the operation mid route. The horses are now grazing on a private farm, but their fate still hasn’t been decided. There are an estimated 2,000 horses remaining on the territory from which the fifty were seized, but the divide lies between animal rights activists fighting to protect these horses, and environmentalists fighting to protect the native lands on which the horses are grazing. The Police Force’s Operations Director, Paul Gardescu, explained the delicate situation by saying, “Many environmentalists argue that the horses are affecting the fragile equilibrium of the Delta Reservation where other thousands of plants, birds and animals live. Many of these species are unique and specific for this area. On the other hand, the treatment that the horses have suffered is far from being legal and human.” [Horsetalk]
PRO just published their latest guest blog, “A Look Back at Rolex with James Alliston”, which is definitely worth the read. I hadn’t seen him ride before Kentucky, but I was really impressed watching him on Saturday and Sunday. He doesn’t have the most classical style of all the riders, but he has a great deal of effectiveness, especially seen in the way he rode two horses of very different types to considerably good results. It’s too bad he doesn’t ride for us!
Today is a good day for the Dressage divas, as thanks to the generous gift of Betsy Juliano, four extra ‘Elite Dressage Rider Clinics’ have just been announced to be held this fall, all under the tutelage of Steffen Peters and Anne Gribbons. It wouldn’t be dressage without the many formalities, and this case is no exception as the clinic participants will attend on an invitation-only basis. [COTH]
Nominations are now being accepted for the annual FEI year end awards! The chance for us, the non-royal, non-elected commoners, to influence anything related to the FEI is an occasion, to say the least, so we should all take a few seconds to nominate our favorite riders for eternal FEI glory. The awards are multiple, in fact, and the categories include: Best Groom, Against All The Odds, HSBC Rising Star, Development, and REEM ACRA Best Athlete. Nominate here.
Best of the Blogs: A horse trials in pictures
I thought this video, of the winning Freestyle ride of Dressage at Bromont, served as a good preview for the upcoming Bromont Three Day Event. Courtesy, as always, of ECOGOLD.
That’s all for now, Eventing Nation. Be sure to check back soon, you should know by now that the excitement never ceases!
