Valentine’s Day News & Notes from SmartPak

The age of wee eventers begins! Photo via Andrea Davidson’s Instagram.

It seems like quite a lot of eventers have been procreating lately and with that comes an era of photos of wee future eventers tackling their first lead-line classes. Just look at that tiny pink Charles Owen … it almost makes me want to go buy one despite not have a child of my own!

National Holiday: Valentine’s Day! (If you do not celebrate Valentine’s, it is also National Ferris Wheel Day.)

U.S. Weekend Preview:

Rocking Horse Winter II H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Results]

Paradise Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Live Results]

Fresno County Horse Park H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Results]

Your Wednesday News & Notes:

Check out the familiar faces hanging out at WEF. Phillip and Boyd took a skeleton crew of their top horses down to WEF on the advice of Erik Duvander. With just their top horses to concentrate, they can really work on getting them adjusted to competing in atmosphere for both jumping and dressage. [Big Names in Eventing]

Those hunters all look happy in the ring, but not all of them have happy-go-lucky personalities. Hunter champion Small Affair knows how to put on a game face that helps him win but at home he’s a bit of a grump. One thing besides his job that cheers him up is a hard peppermint…but don’t try to give him a puffy one. [Behind the Stall Door]

The weekly OTTB critique is quickly becoming an interesting regular read. This week, 4* rider Jenn McFall evaluates a 2008 gelding named Symphonic Hero, a war horse with 59 starts. [ERQI Now Available]

Podcast of the Day: The roll-out of the ERQI has arrived with some confusion as to what the rating actually means for individuals. Diarm and Sam, co-founders of EquiRatings, join the USEA for a Q&A on how best to interpret the scale. [Introducing ERQI Podcast]

SmartPak Product of the Day: For Valentine’s Day, it’s 20% off all SmartPak brand merchandise, which means it’s a perfect time to re-stock your schooling pad collection. [SmartPak]