A photo from an EN reader in April of the freshly dragged Rolex stadium course
It is now just over 24 hours since the tragic fire broke out at the top barn in what will forever be known as the tragedy at True Prospect. In those 24 hours the story of the six horses who passed away has rippled across the worldwide eventing media, the eventing blogosphere, the national horse media, and the local Pennsylvania mainstream media.
Many people around the world will wake up today and move on from the tragedy, but in some sense moving on feels impossible. The fact is that the heroism continued well after the flames died down on Tuesday as friends of True Prospect worked together to assist all involved in the tragedy. Such heroism will continue well into the future even if it’s just someone who lost a horse finding a way to stay positive each day. I know that the sights and sounds from early Tuesday morning will be forever with those who watched that barn burn to the ground. There’s no doubt that I will remember the horses who passed and the sound of Boyd’s voice over the phone Tuesday morning for a long time. But time continues inevitably forward and so must we.
–I heard from both Boyd and Abbie Tuesday afternoon and they were extremely gracious despite their incredible sorrow. They expressed thanks for all of the support that Eventing Nation has shown and I know that with hundreds of supportive comments and thousands of silent prayers they know that we are all standing behind them.
–One thing on everyone’s mind is the condition of the horses at New Bolton. We wrote Tuesday that Neville is in the intensive care for smoke inhalation, Catch a Star is in intensive care with burns and Otis Barbotiere and Ambassador’s Rose were receiving fluids. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday afternoon that a fifth horse was taken to New Bolton later on Tuesday. The fifth horse that was evacuated from the barn was Minataure Du Passoir, known to his friends as Min, who is one of the hardest working horses I know. In all honesty, I didn’t want to bother anyone in PA with a bunch of phone calls Tuesday afternoon asking about the horses and I was trying to distract myself from thinking about the situation. We’ll have more on the New Bolton horses as we get word today. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
–Boyd is the most public of those affected by the tragedy, but I want everyone to realize how many people are affected. From the owners, to Lililan, Caitlin, and Ryan who were burned rescuing the horses and lost everything in the blaze, to everyone else who helped that night–many many people will be affected forever.
–As we posted yesterday, Denny Emerson is donating 50% of the royalties from his book sales of How Good Riders Get good to Boyd and Silva. After we posted the link the USEA store sold out and I believe they have added more books, but you can also buy it through Amazon here.
–Other businesses are following Denny’s lead. 50% of the proceeds in June from Doug Payne and Jimmy Wofford’s Riders Eye DVD will be donated to the TPF recovery fund [Doug’s blog]
–Additionally, Ecogold is donating 50% of saddle pad sales through this link to Boyd.
–The Jurga Report has posted a report on the fire that mentions that there are some positive developments in caring for burns on horses. The post also includes video from a local Pennsylvania news service. Warning: the clips of the burning barn are hard to watch. [TJR]
–In other news, the USDA has released a second EHV-1 report. There are now 75 confirmed EHV-1 or EHM cases that have been reported in 9 states, 58 of which were at the Ogden, Utah event. 11 horses associated with the outbreak have died. [USEA]
—Best of the Blogs: Olivia Loiacono is back in Virginia
–In a sign that things are still normal in the world, writers continues to criticize at the FEI for the reining warm-up debacle that I’m going to start calling reininggate. Erin Gilmore has written the latest article on Sidelines about the issue and has posted the original Epona video that started reininggate. In the video, one of the USA’s top reiners and–if one video can lead to judgment–complete ass Craig Schmersal is shown hitting Lil Miss Addy Tude in the mouth during a warm-up session before going on to place second in the competition. [Erin’s blog] I feel like even Patrick Kittel would be impressed with the idiocy in the video.
That’s all for now Eventing Nation. I’ll be back throughout the day with news from Pennsylvania and around the eventing world. We’ll try to get some lighter stuff on Eventing Nation as well if I can find the spirit to write it. Please take a second to make a quick donation to the recovery fund with the link in the EN sidebar. As always, wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your day.
