It’s a rough life, being a Training horse. Photo by Maggie Deatrick.
As a one-horse amateur with a full-time day job, I’ve been living ‘the dream’ this winter, flying in and out of Aiken to ride and compete on weekends while my trainer is riding my horse in-between. Sounds great, right? But I’ve quickly learned that my riding skills are deteriorating faster than I had hoped, particularly for a green horse, and I’m struggling more than ever to keep up with my fitness. Is winter over? I’m super ready for the horses to all come north again.
National Holiday: Public Sleeping Day (I am all onboard with this!)
Ongoing Events:
Full Gallop H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Results]
U.S. Weekend Preview:
Rocking Horse III H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Results]
Sporting Days H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Results]
Twin Rivers Winter H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Results]
Your Wednesday News & Notes:
Last call to book your spot to ride with Irish Olympian Joseph Murphy in Ocala! He is returning for another cross country clinic at Horsepower Equestrian on March 11-13. All levels welcome. If you are interested in riding in the clinic, email [email protected] ASAP. [Joseph Murphy Clinic]
The Brits are serious about not dawdling prior to the finish line. In case you missed it, the lower levels in Britain did not allow a stopwatch to be worn until 2017. Now that the watches are allowed, there’s been an endemic of riders slowing to a trot or a walk prior to the finish. The penalties for doing so have gotten quite still, ranging from 25 penalties, to disqualification in other divisions, to a monetary fine of up to £500! [Eventers Fined for Avoiding Time Penalties]
Best of the blogs: Nuance. Lauren Sprieser breaks down that intricate, precise feeling that comes from training dressage. Every motion has meaning and every horse has issues that must be broken down to the fundamental problem. Solving problems on the foundational level create a more educated horse down the road. [Nuance]
Lost-in-translation Spanish eventing drama, solved! In Tuesday N&N we issued a cry for help in decoding a rather lengthy and quite exclamation mark heavy Spanish rant we noticed on the Brancaleone Team website. Reader Christine Windsor came through, offering this synopsis: “The gist of it is that FEI rules demand ‘Clean Sport’ and Spain’s eventing officials do not apply that ‘law’ equally to all riders. Unfortunately for Spanish eventers, Spanish officials are willing to turn a blind eye to total defiance of the ‘laws’ of the sport whether it is judges coaching their own kids and then judging them at the same show and giving them great scores, or designers of cross country courses coaching their own students at a venue they designed. The writer is drawing a connection to Spain’s general disdain for laws to the problems in their FEI eventing. Basically Spanish Eventing is not living up to the FEI standard of Clean Sport.” [Brancaleone Team]
SmartPak Product of the Day: Equifit has a really sharp ear bonnet that stands out from the rest of the bonnet market. With a netting base and a leather trim, the bonnet will make your horse stick out from a crowd. [SmartPak]
