After 8 years of waiting, “Waity Katie” no longer has to wait. After a brief split in 2007, Prince William has finally proposed to Miss Middleton during their holiday in Kenya several weeks ago. In a recent article William and Kate discuss the engagement, their brief split and their future. William proposed with the engagement ring of the late Princess Diana saying that he wanted his mother to be a part of this special time. I know ladies, wipe your tears. We must face the fact that William will never belong to any of us. However, for those who are more of the party type, I hear Prince Harry can dance almost as well as our beloved John.
For those of you who were hoping to attend the wedding, Eventing Nation will be selling a few advanced tickets to those who qualify. So please, if you are someone of importance, email me your information and I will forward your qualifications to the Queen to get her approval.
Now for some news and notes…
-The Badminton blog has put out a short interview with Hugh Thomas on the progress of continuing cross country safety. Hugh discusses his slightly strained opinion of giving penalties to those who break frangible pins and the importance of the pins breaking appropriately and not too easily. Thank you EventingSafety John for sharing the link and to Monty White for producing the video.
-Dressage rider, Robert Dover, blogs about his concern for eventing. While Dover was once an Eventer, he makes it very clear that he does not support putting horses into an extreme sport that can lead to a potential death when the horse does not have a choice to participate. He also states that he is not pretending to have answers to furthering the safety of cross country, he is just trying to put the questions back out there saying that he hopes “our mutual love and commitment for horses will keep leading us to a better way.” I think many of us can appreciate where Dover is coming from.
– In England, a pony was found dead and tied up by his legs where he was left by the entrance of an electrical substation.
– On a lighter note, Oliver Townend is finally showing his true colors (and talent) while trying his hand at vaulting. Personally, I wish Oli would always wear this outfit as it is very stunning on him. Anyone who can snap a similar picture of him at the USEA Annual Meeting will get a very big Eventing Nation surprise.
– Our good friends at SmartPak have ranked number 2894 on Inc. magazine’s Inc. 500/5000 list of the nations fastest-growing privately owned companies. I have always found SmartPak to have an amazing company and frequently thought, “why the heck didn’t I think of that?”
-Finally, I must say, my heart breaks for Michael Jung. As a top level rider, you rely heavily on the support of others to keep your horses going at the highest level. After coming off such a big high at the WEG, the drama that has unfolded in regards to the selling of Sam must have Michael distraught. While the hope is the horse will stay with Michael through 2012, they would just like to come to a reasonable agreement in a “clear and straightforward way.” Michael’s father, Joachim, is worried that the actions of Sabine Kreuter will leave her without any money in the end. I think everyone in the eventing world is hoping that agreement will leave Sam in Michael’s hands.
Best of luck to everyone at the Asia Games! Go Eventing and Go Kate Middleton.
