Packing up after Equine Affaire: life is too short for two trips! Photo by Bill Ramberg.
I just returned to Minnesota from Columbus, Ohio after a long but wonderful weekend at Equine Affaire. In addition to promoting my small business and the equine safety business that I manage full-time, I had the opportunity to get to know some truly inspiring horsepeople from all backgrounds. In addition to the countless shopping opportunities, I love expos like Equine Affaire because they house many educational symposiums and clinics with professionals from various disciplines, and performances like breed demos and truly badass spectacles like Gladius the Show.
Events Opening Today: Waredaca H.T. (MD, A-2), Poplar Place Farm H.T. (GA, A-3), Carriage House Farm Combined Test (MN, A-4), IEA Horse Trials, Classic Training & Novice 3-Day Event (IN, A-8), The Colorado Horse Park Horse Trials (CO, A-9)
Events Closing Today: Riga Meadow Combined Test (CT, A-1), MCTA H.T., Inc (MD, A-2), Heart of the Carolinas 3-Day Event & H.T. (SC, A-3), Poplar Place Farm May H.T. (GA, A-3), CIC2*/CCI1* Weatherford and Greenwood Farm, Inc. Horse Trials (TX, A-5), Penny Oaks H.T. (IN, A-8),
News and Notes:
Rolex riders can “Go Low for the Dough” with SSG: The $25,000 SSG “Go Low For The Dough” Contingency Bonus Prize Award is returning to Rolex for the third year in a row. Rolex and Burghley competitors wearing SSG Digital riding gloves have the opportunity to win a number of generous cash prizes for outstanding performances. [PRO: $25,000 SSG “Go Low for the Dough” Promotion Returns to the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day for a Third Time]
Albino filly fascinates scientists: A rare albino filly born with brown eyes (instead of the usual red or pink eyes found in albinism) has led researchers to question the genetic causes of her coloration (or lack thereof). Once her genome is sequenced, Via Lattea’s (“Milky Way” in Italian) DNA could unlock some secrets of equine coat color genetics. [Horse & Hound: Scientists baffled by albino horse with brown eyes]
Equine 2015 to study horse industry: Starting in May, a wide-scale horse health study will investigate important horse health issues in 28 US states. Random equine operations in these states will be contacted to participate in the study, which will gather data on trends on horse care, lameness and infectious diseases, parasite control, costs of horse health care, and the collection of equine sera for use in future studies. [Horsetalk: Major US equine health survey targets 28 states]
Best of the Blogs: This popular blog written by the talented and cheeky draft cross Jitterbug tackles the subject of classifying mud. Have you ever heard of “post rainstorm earth snot”? What about “Kentucky quicksand”? Keep those muck boots handy! [COTH: Jitterbug’s Mud Classification System]
Video of the Day: Watch Lisa Martonovich and Nicole Czyzewski, the talented performers of Gladius the Show, wowing the crowd at the Equine Affaire’s Fantasia:
