Wednesday News and Notes from Laser Sheen

Smidge inspects his kingdom. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Cauffman. Smidge inspects his kingdom. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Cauffman.

Some retired horses are pasture puffs, but Smidge is especially special as he gets to help with the gardening. Stephanie Cauffman’s former two-star ride Smidge is now a dressage schoolmaster for her mother Cindi, Area II volunteer extraordinaire. Polite horses get to go where others don’t, and in this case Smidge shows off his ground manners by being a lovely guest amongst the daffodils.

U.S. Weekend Preview:

Fitch’s Corner H.T. [Website]

Full Moon Farm H.T. [Website]

Silverwood Farm Summer H.T. [Website]

The Event at Rebecca Farm CCI, CIC, & H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times]

Apparently Boyd is having to lay off the beer and hot dogs. During a Q&A with NBC, Boyd mentioned that he needed to lose a few pounds in preparation for the Olympics. Not many athletes bound for Rio would admit that their belt was fitting a bit tightly! Was Boyd having a bit of a joke at the mainstream media’s expense, or is he legitimately soft around the edges? Read and decide, EN. [Q&A with Boyd Martin]

We all have events that for whatever reason, we just never succeed at. Mine is the now-defunct Maui Jim where one year a torrential downpour during my dressage warm-up blew away our chances of a relaxed test and the second year I skipped a fence on the cross country. Blogger Camilla Mortensen’s was Inavale, where she had fallen twice at the same Training lever trakehner. This year, Camilla finally got to conquer her demons. [Demons Conquered]

Tina Cook is ready to travel to Rio with Billy the Red. After being called up to become the traveling reserve to Rio, Tina admitted it’s a slightly awkward position to be in, since you don’t compete unless another teammate has misfortune. Still, she is looking forward to Billy the Red’s first plane trip and promises to do her best should she be called up to represent. [Tina Cook Excited by Call-Up]

Weekly Business Tip from Mythic Landing EnterprisesDepending on the size of your business, it can be a good idea to put together an e-newsletter that you send out to just your contact list monthly or quarterly, versus an e-blast which can be sent out to a much broader list. These e-newsletters are a great place to highlight your team’s successes and feature upcoming events, new services and sponsors. If you do have an e-newsletter, you will want to make sure that there is an easy way for people to sign up. Many companies, such as Constant Contact, can provide a button that you can put on your website so that people can sign up for your e-newsletter right there and then be automatically added to your database.

SmartPak Product of the Day: C4 is now being offered on SmartPak, in a limited range of colors. If you’re like me and want to change up your look for the day, extra buckles are available now!. [SmartPak]

In a huge throwback, here’s Mark Todd, the immortal eventer, and his legendary Charisma tackling the course in the Los Angeles Olympics…thirty-two years ago. For the record, I wasn’t even born until two years later, and here he is, ready to compete at yet another Games. #legend