At nineteen years young, Shane Rose’s Virgil isn’t actually the most senior horse headed to Paris, but boy, it must feel good to be taking on the world with such an experienced buddy. Shane’s run-up to this year’s Games hasn’t been the smoothest ride, so to speak. First there was mankini-gate , and then a serious accident that banged him up pretty bad. But, in keeping with the tough competitor that we all know him to be, he’s clawed his way back into the saddle and has booked his flight to France with the Australian team. Heads up, we have it on reasonably good authority that Shane’s said, on record, that he’ll wear a gold-kini if he wins the Olympics. I’m not sure whether that’s tempted me to cheer for him to take the title or not, to be honest – the sight of Shane letting loose in the orange ensemble is still burned into my retinas. But I’m all for a bit of fun, so here’s to Shane and his mankini. Go eventing!
U.S. Weekend Preview
Genesee Valley Hunt H.T. (Geneseo, NY) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
One & Done Horse Trials (Lexington, KY) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
The Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm (Adamstown, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Volunteer]
Wednesday News and Reading
The home nation have high hopes for even more Olympic medals heading their way this summer. They were on the podium in 1912, the first time the three equestrian disciplines as we know them today were contested at the Games, and have since seen huge success across the board. Take a look back at France’s equestrian Olympic history as the country prepares to play host to this year’s sporting extravaganza.
When you know, you know. Karen Woodhall was watching the racing one day when one of the runners caught her eye, so much so that she jotted his name down for future reference. Not because she thought he was a safe bet – he’d just come dead last. But she just ‘liked’ him – a feeling many horse people will be familiar with. Fast forward a decade and that very same horse has made himself at home in Karen’s yard and is thriving in his second career winning ribbons in the dressage ring. Read Top Notch Tonto’s sweet story here.
Chastising others’ parenting choices is mostly not cool, so I’m just going to leave this here. But honestly, horses aren’t kids. For a start, in my experience they’re way more demanding and expensive than the average kid. Also, if I asked my guy to take some time to think about his behavior, his response would almost certainly be “carrot”.
In Olympic news outside of horses, the iconic Moulin Rouge windmill is back looking its best, just in time for the torch to pass by.
Video Break
Need a pick-me-up this hump day? Well, I’ve got just the thing. We all thoroughly enjoyed Aachen, but @evangrooms appears to have really enjoyed Aachen. There’s a bunch of content on his IG account that’ll have you chuckling over your morning coffee.
