Every day, I suspect we get closer and closer to Boyd Martin adopting his true form: that of a badly-behaved, very fluffy tomcat. There’s no reason to panic, though — I’m picturing this as a scenario in which he’s still able to event at the upper levels. You know, like the midway stage of an Animorphs cover, or similar. Which means I’m now probably going to spend the rest of the day imagining eventers as various animals and photoshopping them into old Scholastic book covers, because my life really is truly interesting in the off-season.
Events Closing Today: Rocking Horse December H.T.
Tuesday News & Notes from Around the World:
An oldie but a goodie here from Sinead Halpin: you never know who’s keeping an eye on you at events, and if you’re lucky, it’s the people who want to spread education throughout our sport and will take the time to reach out to you, even if it stings a bit. Read her memories of her earliest ventures at the upper levels here.
Zimbabwe is quietly making its way onto the world stage for eventing, thanks to the efforts of Olympian Camilla Kruger and, now, Julia Norman, who swapped her nationality over at the start of this year. She caught up with the FEI’s media team to share Zim’s plans for the development of the sport and their aim to have a team ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics. Check it out.
Let’s go behind the stall door with Capitol H I M, the highest-placed US finisher at Maryland 5* this year. Hannah Sue Hollberg’s oversized, Labrador-eyed gelding has plenty of little secrets to share – a lack of front teeth being one of them, weirdly enough — and you’ll definitely fall in love after getting to know this sweet dude better.
I’ve got a box of test sheets shoved into a wardrobe in my house that I can’t quite bear to part with. But even so, have I really, truly used them to their advantage and given myself a month’s worth of ‘free’ riding lessons out of them, or have I winced my way through a cursory first glance (look, I get a lot of 6.5s, okay) and then shoved them in the box? Don’t be like me — instead, take this sage advice about how to milk all the goodness out of a test sheet, both before and after you’ve actually done the competition.
Sponsor Corner: Pop Quiz! How soon before temperatures drop should you start feeding your horse forage?
A: Wait to give extra forage until the cold snap hits.
B. 12 hours.
C. 24 hours.
D. Don’t feed extra forage at all– throw on that extra blanket instead.
Find the answer on Kentucky Performance Products’ Instagram page (@KPPUSA)!
Watch This:
Let’s cruise around the Prelim at Rocking Horse together — and, of course, with Elisa Wallace and Tullymurry Fifi!
