Annette Reals and Knight’s Tale celebrate a Century achievement at WindRidge H.T. in North Carolina. Photo sent in by Alison Schutt.
We’re kicking off our Tuesday with some FABULOUS news and congratulations for Annette Reals and her Clydesdale/Thoroughbred gelding, Knight’s Tale, who at the combined age of 100 have just completed their Century Ride at this weekend’s WindRidge Horse Trials. Annette and “Willy” took home the blue ribbon in their Starter division, to add on to the pile of achievements.
What is the Century Ride? The USEA Century Ride Achievement Award, sponsored by Spokane Sport Horse Farm, recognizes horse and rider pairs whose combined ages total 100 years or more. For achievement, the horse and rider must complete any level of eventing competition, there is no minimum score requirement. Both the horse and rider must be USEA members at the time of achievement, and the achievement must take place at a recognized USEA event. Three riders earned the award in 2025, and according to this website Annette may be our first one of 2026!
U.S. Events Opening Entries Today
U.S. Events Closing Entries Today
Waredaca Classic Three-Day Event & H.T. (MD); YEH West Coast Championships & Last Chance Qualifier (CA); Bouckaert Equestrian International (GA); Windermere Run H.T. (MO); Hitching Post Farm H.T. (VT)
In the News
- If you’re a human with breasts, you’ll understand the toils that are involved with finding the right sports bra for riding. Compound that with the fact that many bras aren’t really research-backed, and we don’t actually know much about breast movement while riding — until now. Thanks to a research study conducted by Hartpury University in collaboration with University Centre Sparsholt and the Research Group in Breast Health at the University of Portsmouth, we have a little more insight into the specific movements and physics involved in finding the right fit for equestrian sports and activities. Read more on the study, or view the published study in full here.
- Why one British five-star rider is throwing a Halloween charity ball this month.
- Plan your weekend at the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final at Morven Park (Leesburg, VA).
Recommended Reading & Listening
- Racehorses’ second career success requires buy-in from the origin: In a recent opinion column, Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills shares his thoughts on the Thoroughbred industry’s impact on racehorses’ futures and how a better future for all horses could be created.
- Grooms don’t only want awards: They want fair pay, protection and humane hours. We’ve made a lot of progress in many ways, but are we missing the mark in some ways still? Research indicates this may be true.
Sponsor Corner: Kentucky Performance Products
Eventing and its three phases ask a lot of a horse’s muscles, and those hard-working muscle cells are exactly where vitamin E does its most important job. As the body’s main fat-soluble antioxidant, vitamin E helps protect cell membranes from the free-radical damage that builds up during intense exercise. When a horse’s vitamin E stores run low, the risk of exercise-induced muscle damage goes up.
The research backs this up across very different kinds of equine athletes. A 1992 study found that markers of oxidative stress rose in all horses during exercise, but rose even more in horses with low vitamin E levels. Work at Virginia Tech linked higher vitamin E intake to less oxidative stress in endurance horses, and a study of polo ponies, built for short, intense bursts not unlike a cross-country gallop, found supplemental vitamin E especially helpful late in the competitive season.
Not all vitamin E is created equal, though. Most feeds rely on synthetic vitamin E made from petrochemicals, but research in horses and other species shows the natural form is two to three times more potent, because the body preferentially absorbs and retains it.
That’s where Elevate from Kentucky Performance Products comes in, offering a natural, highly bioavailable source of vitamin E to help keep your horse’s muscles protected from the first horse trial of the season to the last.
Learn more at kppusa.com.
Coaching Corner
- Master the Rein-Less Half-Halt Using a Bucking Strap
- Try out Laine Ashker’s grid of the day, focusing on gymnastic exercises but without the need of tons of fences and equipment.
- One more pole exercise for balance and rideability
Go Eventing
Nothing to see here, just some fast Corgis:
