I'm on the road to Lexington, Kentucky and took a brief break from driving to eat at my favorite fast food restaurant, which we all know is Steak 'N Shake. Other than Steak 'N Shake and the fact that Sharon White rides here, there's not much I like about West Virginia. It's most abundant natural resource is probably fat people or coal, the later of which is harvested by destroying the environments and local communities.
I'll be writing and producing ridiculous videos from the Young Riders cross country tomorrow. David was the YR course and the word is that it looks great but pretty straightforward. David designed both of my Young Riders XC courses and those competitions turned into essentially combined tests, but we will see how it all works out tomorrow. The 2* XC begins just after 8am ET.
Link: Young Riders Ride Times
The Chincoteague pony swim and auction took place on wednesday. Anyone who knows about this should be excited and anyone who doesn't should go buy a copy of Misty of Chincoteague. You will thank me.
In other news, the Zara Phillips Musto publicity blitz continued today. This is my favorite article so far. Amidst hilarious quotes like "in her smoky, basso profundo, sexy bronchitis voice" and "that unrighted snaggle tooth" the author presents a picture of Zara that makes her sound pretty down to Earth.
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Other events this weekend
Catalpa Corner Charity HT: Live Scores
Stoneleigh-Burnham HT: Homepage
Horse Park of New Jersey: Times/Scores
USPC East Champtionships: Homepage
Olney Farm HT: Times/Scores
Go eventing.
The photo isn't blurry, you just need glasses
1. Kelly Loria and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 40.0
2. Claire Kelley and Clifton Peekachu 42.5
3T. Kendyl Tracy and Ever So Lucky 48.5
Go eventing.
3T. Rowdie Jo Adams and No Money Down 48.5
5 Katherine Martineau and HM As Spirits Go 49.0
The hometown Area VI, VII, & VIII team are leading the team competition, with Jon Holling's Area IV squad lurking in second, just four points back.
Link: Burghley Entries
JER was kind enough to let us know that the Burghley entries have been posted. Wonderful Will and Michael Pollard are the only US entries. Great Britain has 63 entries. There are several potential WEG horses in the list, including Miners Frolic which presents an interesting situation since Burghley is only a few weeks before the Games. Go eventing.
It's finally Friday! And time for another Lower-Level Event Rider Profile. We've met Nation members from all over the US and the world, and today we're paying tribute to Montana (tip of the hat to Rebecca Farm) to meet Brigit. If you wish to be featured in an upcoming profile, fill out the Questionnaire and email it to VisionaireEN@gmail.com. Have a happy weekend!!
FEATURED RIDER:
Name: Brigit
Age: 15
Location: Montana
Primary horse's name: Amstel- "Dawkins"
Age, breed, pertinent info:
2002 (7 coming 8) Thoroughbred gelding. Has competed Prelim and (before I bought him) was ready to go CCI*. I bought him almost exactly 1 month ago. We bought him from Hawley Bennett, and he is already a strong eventer although he's only been competing for a year and a half. He LOVES jumping! Dressage he will tolerate and can actually be a quite nice mover if you ride him right and get him going. But jumping is really his strong suit, particularly cross country because he can, and likes to, gallop fast.
Level currently competing: Training
Short term goals this spring/summer:
Move up to Prelim, continue to go clear at all events at Training level and Prelim, and I'm really hoping to do really well at Rebecca Farm at Training level this year! Since it's my only "local" (3 hours compared to 11) event, and it's such an amazing one, I would really like to do well!
Year-end goals: Compete in the CCI1* at Galway Downs in November
Overall goals?
I want to compete in the NAJYRC at 1* and hopefully at 2* as well. I know Dawkins has the potential to go VERY far in eventing, so I want to get myself going at a high enough level to get HIM there. I want to improve our dressage, and not have ANY stops. Obviously, there's the classic overall goals every 15 year old eventer has as well, which are all my goals. Rolex, Olympics, etc.
What's the best thing you've learned recently?
I spent all of last winter riding dressage. I didn't have a horse to ride, so I was taking 2-3 dressage lessons per week on dressage horses at my barn. Although I didn't jump a fence for 8 months, when I finally had the chance to jump again (when trying out Dawkins), my jumping was 1000 times better than it had been. Dressage really is the foundation for everything. A solid dressage base will improve stadium and cross country and you'll do so much better in eventing!
Dawkins also settles in to dressage better if I sit the trot rather than post. I have no idea why, but when he starts getting tense and flipping around in dressage, if I sit the trot he settles down almost instantly.
Favorite eventing moment/story?
My favorite moment so far in eventing happened just this past weekend at Inavale Horse trials! I was out on the cross country course, and we were coming to the jump that I had been nervous about since I had walked the course, the Trakehner. Until I jumped it in the event, I had not jumped a trakehner on Dawkins, and had only jumped one twice before on a horse who had no business jumping something that size and I actually ended up falling off. So I was NERVOUS. I had been reassured by Hawley that he did FINE at trakehners, but I was still so nervous, especially because so many people had fallen off at that jump already! So as we came up to it, I was already putting my leg on, probably a lot more than I should. I know I was tense and not riding as well as I should have. But Dawkins just headed up to the trakehner and popped over it without a second of hesitation or a peek into the ditch. It's one of my favorite moments because I know he really will do anything on the cross country course!
Link to blog or website, if applicable: http://eventer4life.wordpress.com
Photos or videos: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dzYj91uh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKdy2me0Zlg&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jK1SUyXH_E&feature=channel - after owning him for 1 week. My second course on him ever.
Puerto Rican Tony Hatcher*
Jon Holling is a busy guy. He spent last week coaching the Puerto Rican team at the Central American Games, and this week he is in Lexington coaching the Area IV YR team. I had a chance to catch up with Jon Thursday morning to chat about the Central American Games, which will hereafter be called the "CAGs"--not the same ring to it as "WEGs", but functional.
A few years ago the higher-ups at the USEF and FEI decided to get top riders to help develop eventing teams in Central America. Ignoring the fact that the US has such a sterling record of sending experts to equip and train people in foreign countries, this coaching exchange program seems to have been a big success at the CAGs. And by 'exchange program', I mean that US riders like Jon Holling and Allison Springer gave their valuable time in exchange for the satisfaction of knowing they helped spread our sport.
The CAGs were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is south east of Miami by about 1000 miles. There were 35 competitors from 6 countries, including Puerto Rico (Jon), Haiti (coached by Allison), and Mexico (Brian Sabo). Eventing is still a developing sport in Central America so the competition was held at the CIC* level. In speaking with Jon, he was impressed with the quality of horses and riders. The winning dressage score was 44--by one of Jon's students. That said, Jon was very critical about the preparation of the XC course by the organizers. The organizers had not put sufficient turf over the course and so the horses were either galloping over "straight mud" or crushed limestone roads. Try studding for that combination of surfaces.
Most of the competitors were converts from show jumping or other disciplines. Two of Jon's Puerto Rican team members had worked with Jon in the US for the past year and they were the most experienced competitors at the CAGs, having competed in 12-13 events each.
Jon said that he was most impressed by the enthusiasm of the Central American crowd. Several thousand spectators showed up and cheered loudly for all the riders. According to Jon, XC day almost had the feel of a football game in the States, which bodes well for the growth of eventing in Central America. By the way, Mexico won the team competition.
Thanks to Jon for taking the time to chat with me, and, more importantly, for his never-ending quest to improve and grow our sport. Jon operates Holling Eventing, with his lovely wife Jen, in Ocala, FL. I'd highly recommend Jon as a coach, and I'm grateful that he is going to be a leader in our sport for many years to come. Go eventing.
*Note: Just to clarify the photo of Tony, the red tape is running parallel to the horse's direction of travel, and is of course not in the landing area after the fence like the unfortunate red tape at the Central Russian Games (CRGs) that caused so many problems.
Anisa Tracy and Tigger VIII represented Colorado eventing well today by taking a 6.5 point lead at the Young Riders 2* on a 45.4. Anisa's strong dressage score also puts the Area V & IX team into the lead, just ahead of the Flying Carters from Area III.
Individual:
1. Anisa Tracy and Tigger VIII 45.4
2T. Kelly Pugh and Copycat Chloe 51.9
2T. Devon Brown and Dynamic Image 51.9
4. Karen Shull and Fernhill Figaro 52.4
5T. Lauren Lambert and Baba Creek 52.8
5T. Danielle Dichting and Tops 52.8
Link: Individual Scores
Team:
1. Area V & IX 158.7
2. Flying Carters 163.0
3. Canada 166.3
4. Area II, IV & VIII 174.3
5. Area VI & VII 176.0
Link: Team Scores
Anisa works with Jan Byyny in Virginia, so a quick shout out to Surefire eventing. Just don't jump miscellaneous bank complexes in the water on Saturday Anisa. Glancing at, at least one of the names on the 2* list, I'm ok with the idea of advanced pairs competing at young riders, I just don't root for them. The CH-J* dressage is on Friday. I'll be traveling to Lexington for Saturday and Sunday to write about Young Riders by day and hang out with friends from high school by night. Needless to say, I will probably not be live blogging the Sunday morning jog. Go eventing.
Ruy Fonseca
The Brazilian World Equestrian Games eventing team has been announced according to Eventing Worldwide:
Guto de Faria & Ritz Carlton: Competed at Sydney Olympics, rides in Brazil
Guega Fofanoff & Ekus TW: Former Pan Am gold medalist, competed at 3 WEGs and 3 Olympics
Jesper Martendall & Land Jimmy - Based in Brazil and short listed for Beijing Olympics
"It's a good mix with experienced riders and some promising young horses. This will be a big step up for them, and we hope they will be in their prime for London 2012. We will then be looking ahead to Rio de Janeiro 2016. [Coach] Nick (Turner) is doing a fantastic job and must be one of British Airways best customers at moment! Next year our goal is the Pan American Games in Mexico (Guadalajara City) where we hope to qualify a Team for London 2012."
I was going to include a funny photo about Brazil, but I was afraid I would get abducted. Seriously, go find a US team member from '07 Rio and ask them how excited they are to go back to Brazil in 2016.
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If you ever want to see an Australian get really excited, just say two words: "Steven Bradbury", winner of Australia's first winter Olympic gold medal.
Now for the Aussie team--as we reported a while ago, the Australian team is being very patient about naming their short list. Camilla, an EN reader who is always very kind to keep us updated on all things eventing 'down under,' has sent us this report on the Aussies WEG prospects. According to Camilla, Heath Ryan summed up the probable short list in this month's The Horse Magazine in Australia. These are his picks and Camilla's information on the riders:
--Team--
Sonja Johnson and Ringwould Jaguar: Despite Jaguar's age, he is still sensational - and fast!
Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester: Winner of the Kihikihi (NZ) WC qualifier, best placed of the Aussie Silver medal team in Hong Kong.
Paul Tapner and Inonothing: Badminton winners
Sam Griffiths and Happy Times: Great results in the UK, including the Chatsworth WC qualifier
--Individual--
Chris Burton and HP Leilani: winners of the Sydney WC qualifier
Stuart Tinney: on either Vettori (winner of Adelaide 4*) and the gorgeous Panamera.
The final 'hit-out" for the Australian-based eventers will be at the Sydney International 3DE (August 26-28), which will also feature a WEG showcase of all the eight equestrian sports. This won't be a real event for the team horses, rather they'll do the dressage, run a modified XC (probably part of the 3* track) and showjump.
Thanks for the report Camilla and go eventing.
Tuesday of last week, I made the (right) decision to scratch my preliminary level entry; the ground was hard, and that horse really didn't need to go. On a whim, I asked the event secretary if I could substitute a lower level entry. She agreed (bless her!) and I had to choose a horse to enter. My preferred (somewhat experienced) novice candidate was suffering from lost-shoe-itis, making him more or less unrideable for the past two weeks. I was left with Rocket, the ex-broodmare, and the possibility of going beginner novice. Keep in mind, she has only been in riding work since February. She learned to jump at the end of March. And her first attempt at cross-country was six weeks ago.
What the heck, I figured she could probably do it. It wouldn't be pretty, we wouldn't be competitive, but I believed she could handle it. I made the necessary arrangements (things like a last-minute Coggins!) and crammed as much preparation into her as I could in four days. A quick jump, a brief xc school, and two days of "intense" beginner novice flatwork. I had mostly worked on her relaxation and rhythm...not doing precise transitions at particular points around the arena (this proved most difficult). But c'mon, any horse can walk, trot, canter a few big circles, right?
Saturday morning we were off to the show. I worried how she would act once we got there-- would she settle in her stall? Would she be a "screamer," stall walking and whinnying her head off? She's used to living outside 24/7 in a herd situation. Would she eat and drink normally? How would she handle being in a tent? What about a crowded (and often CRAZY) warmup? She'd hardly worked around other horses before. There were lots of questions to answer, outside of the "can she finish three phases of a horse trial."
I needn't have worried. She settled in like an old pro, munched her hay and enjoyed the activity around her. She made friends with her neighbors, but did not become attached to them. She was polite, respectful of her stall guard, and just extremely pleasant in general. I was encouraged, though I knew the riding part would still be a challenge.
I'd already accepted that dressage was going to be ugly. She'd never been in a dressage arena; I knew there would be gawking at letters, and possibly deer-in-headlights looks at the judge's booth. I figured transitions would happen "in the general vicinity" of a letter, most likely inverted. I just wanted to keep all four feet inside the arena, and not run over anything. In that respect, it was a success. She actually had two or three rideable moments, and her transitions were relatively prompt. Yes, she was tense; yes, she was above the bit a lot; but she did her best, didn't dodge sideways at the letters, or prop and duck at the judge. It was an ugly test to be sure, but considering her inexperience I was very proud. We barely managed to break 50 (you know it's bad when your best comment is "Nice Turnout!"), putting us solidly in last place out of 16, but I was happy.
The show jumping course seemed fair enough for the level; I still saw lots of potential challenges for such a green horse, but I didn't think it would overface her. She warmed up quite well, after nearly stopping cold at the first crossrail. The chaos of BN warmup (kids on ponies flying around, others in minor panic) didn't seem to bother her at all. We went straight into the show ring (surrounded by the flapping temporary tents) and she focused completely on me and the jumps in front of her. Yes, I took the "scenic route" making big loopy turns...she still lacks a bit of balance, to be sure. But Rocket approached the jumps with enthusiasm, and felt great. Her only green moment came at the very end of the course-- the two-stride combination. She came boldly through the turn, but did a typical green-horse prop-and-wiggle when she realized there were TWO jumps right there! I gave her a kick and she jumped in anyway, knocking the rail (deservedly so), but straightening herself to jump out nicely. A rail and three time penalties...I was pleased with her performance, and moreso with the confidence she displayed. We moved up from 16th to 14th place; I told you I didn't expect to be competitive! (LINK to photo)
Cross-country seemed well within her capabilities. Granted, that's the first BN course I've walked (with the intent to ride) in about eleven years...but given how well she has schooled (um, twice in her life) I thought she could do it. I expected her to be green starting out, but I knew her confidence would build as we went. As it turned out, she blasted out of the startbox (so much for trotting!) and attacked the course from the first fence. Rocket settled into a great rhythm, and I hardly had to kick at anything. The water had caused several issues for my division-- it was a narrow entrance, and too many riders were walking their horses to the beach and then letting them stop. I cantered up to it, she broke a trot, but I kicked her on positively and she went right in.
We finished the course with hardly a hesitation. Just as that first xc school, her ears were up and her eyes were beaming, looking for more. I had the same big grin on my face... now I *knew* I had myself a new event horse. Yes, it was only beginner novice. I have no idea how far she will want to go. But overcoming her inexperience to perform as well as she did, with her confidence growing all weekend-- that's the best you can hope for from any horse.
To top it all off, she moved up from 14th to 7th after cross-country. A pretty purple ribbon...well-earned, and well-appreciated.
...ooops, not those...
Yep--that's right--a red hoodie. The line includes other revolutionary items such as fleeces and soft-shell jackets. I can't wait for the clothes to go on sale in August because every time I'm riding, especially in August, I think to myself wow, I could really use a hoodie right now. Go eventing.
It seems like a millennia ago now, but Lauren and I were teammates on the Area 8 YR team in '05 and '06. The team in '06 was stacked--we had one Rolex horse, Bru McGuire, two future Rolex horses in Lauren Kieffer's Snooze Alarm and Hannah Burnett's Keep the Faith, and my horse was a XC machine. To make a long story short, everyone on our team had high hopes, but by the time I started on course we already had two throw-out scores. I'm glad that Holly, our coach, didn't tell me because I doubt I would have gotten around clean if I had known that we were out of the team competition. Looking back, I was never that rider who was fanatically excited about Young Riders. I always looked at Young Riders as just another three-day, but I did really enjoy being a part of a great team and having my score matter for more than just the individual result.
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O Young Rider's Championships, where to begin... well I guess technically that's not what it is called, it's the NAJYRC..LNOPQYRST. It's been adding letters for as long as I have done it. I competed at the NAJYRC three years in a row, '05, '06, and '07, and it was basically an epic fail, but I don't regret a minute of it and took away a huge amount of life experience. The whole process is a great experience for Young Rider's whether you are just doing it for the fun of it or whether you want to go on to be a professional. Some of my closest friends were made during the camps, training sessions, and competitions, and we are still close today. Here are a few tips I can pass down to you going to your first NAJYRC or looking to go in the future.
As an aside, I still tell the story about Bru McGuire being the only horse I have ever seen trot over the drop into the Head of the Lake at Rolex. I was back in the vet box watching the live feed and all of the riders started to freak out, but, honestly, it never seemed like a bad strategy to me. There's no way that horse was going to stop and it prevented him from running at the log. But I digress.
Lauren was kind enough to take a trip down memory lane and send in a few words of advice for this year's Yong Riders. Thanks for writing this Lauren and thank you for reading.Young Riders '10 starts today at the Kentucky Horse Park, where a new set of memories will be made by a new group of talented young riders. Please be sure to check out our new question of the week, which is about Young Riders. Links: CH-Y** entries, CH-J* entries, NAYRC Blog
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Lauren at YR '07
1. Plan ahead. I have known way too many people who decided they wanted to do NAJYRC but didn't do their research into qualifications and in the end couldn't go. Or just counted on doing it at the last minute and missed out because of a silly runout at one of their qualifying runs. If considering going to Young Riders at all in the future make a schedule and go over it with your area's Chef d'equipe or Coach, even if you don't know them yet that is what they are here for, just shoot them an email ask their opinion.
2. Use your area's camps and training session to your full advantage. Even if you are several years from being ready for Young Rider's go watch and get to know and understand the process.
3. Talk to your area's Chefs and Coach. For a lot of us from smaller areas the NAJYRC is really our first experience with jogs, qualifications, CICs, and CCIs. Take advantage of your Coach's professional experience and ask questions, nothing is worse then going into it all without a clue, trust me, I was clueless my first year and it just makes it that much more confusing, they are there to help you.
4. Be a team player. Stick together and help each other out.
5. Last but not least, Enjoy it! I have so many memories from NAJYRC and very few of them are from the actual competition, of course that could just be me wanting to forget haha. It's most of our first experience with being on a team and you would be amazed how close you can become by the end of the week with people that were merely acquaintances at the beginning. Of course maybe in my teams case it was more of a bond formed by a vow of secrecy to never confess to all the pranks we pulled....
So, I was going to write a serious post--no, honestly, I was. It was going to have something to do with a British show jumper having a rotational, and the donkey parasailers getting let off the hook on animal abuse charges. What? The Russian justice system failed again?!? Shocker of the century. But then I realized that we should get to the second half of voting to pick our Ecogold XC boots finalists.
In no particular order:
(1) Fridge Fun
bonus photo
My mother always said that if I wanted to do something challenging that I had to get my ducks in a row - see top of fridge - ducks in a row. Top middle is Jimmy Wofford. At first glance I thought that he was smiling at me but after many times staring at him I now know that he is actually laughing at me and saying in his head that he thinks that I am a crazy girl for actually trying to read all of his articles, books and recommended books! You can only imagine what George Morris is saying. My husband and I are at the bottom - check out the look on his face - sheer "holy crap what have I gotten myself into" face!! There is much, much more to see on the fridge. Everytime I see it I look for details not seen before, say strange comments to it, or go and get my riding pants on as I was severely procrastinating that day. On one final note - I attended a David O'Connor clinic last year and learned the O'Connor '5 necessities for a top rider' - I wrote them on a random piece of paper and put it on the fridge. I read them every day, several times a day and whisper to the fridge, "Oh, Mr. David O'Connor wait to you meet me - I have IMAGINATION your final and most rare quality of a top rider - just look at my fridge!!!!"
(2) Breyer Cubicle
Click the link below to view the rest of the submissions...
Continue reading Ecogold Photo Contest: "Horses at Work".
When a reader emailed me a link to JER's post about FEI yellow cards on the COTH forums, the FEI's decisions described therein struck me with that mixture of amusement and horror that our sport creates so often. As many of you know, JER is an EN and forum regular, and I have been begging asking JER to write something for Eventing Nation for a while now. Upon my request, JER was kind enough to modify her observations on the recent FEI yellow card list for Eventing Nation's reading pleasure. Thanks for writing this instant 'Best of EN' JER and thank you for reading.
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From JER:
Among the many obfuscated treasures of the FEI website is the List of Riders having received a Yellow (Warning) Card. This is the police blotter of international eventing, a compendium of crimes ranging from the serious - 'abuse of horse' - to the snickering - 'smoking in stables after repeated warnings.'
We all love a good police blotter. Especially when it involves our friends and neighbors.
If we look past the expected smatterings of 'dangerous riding', 'continued after 3 refusals', 'jumped obstacle after elimination', there are some real doozies on this list, proof positive that there are some truly fascinating people out there eventing at the FEI level. Like the aforementioned badass chick caught smoking (several times!) in the stables like a seventh-grader. Or the Italian rider who was ultimately red-carded and suspended for continuing on after three refusals twice. In one month.
But the list's standout offender is the Norwegian rider who was given two verbal warnings (but no yellow card) at the same event. The first was for not showing up for the jog and not giving permission for someone else to jog the horse. It's unclear how the horse was presented to the ground jury (presumably it showed up and jogged itself) but never mind, this story only gets better. The second warning was for - brace yourself - 'allowing a child to ride in the D box without a helmet.'
'Allowing a child to ride in the D box without a helmet.' How many errors of judgment and rule breaks can you squeeze into one short sentence? Is there a prize for this? Perhaps, because the rider placed fourth in the competition.
Next, consider the enigmatic case of a Dutch rider who was given a yellow for 'not stopping after several refusals on XC.' One would hope the official had a specific number of refusals in mind rather than a ballpark figure and one wonders if the punishment would have been more severe for 'many' refusals. There's also the dadaist conundrum of how it is that a rider can 'not stop' after 'several stops' but this is just another way in which eventers accomplish the impossible.
Some incidents appear to be the result of cultural gaps between rider and officials. This would explain why two riders at an event in Mexico were booked for 'dangerous riding / out of XC course on the rocks.' To most of us, that sounds like a typical weekend south of the border but the official apparently thought otherwise.
If you're looking for tips on how to avoid getting yellow-carded, here's one piece of advice: if your horse is out of control and you can't avoid going through or over the ropes, make sure you do it twice so you'll only get a verbal warning like German rider Frank Ostholt or a 25-point penalty like Portuguese rider Guimairaes Joao. Irish rider Brian Curran failed to heed this advice and jumped the rope only once for a full-on yellow card.
Come to think of it, this is no small feat, jumping your out of control horse over a line of rope twice. Which means that if you could do it a third time, you would probably incur no penalty at all. But you didn't hear that from me.
To see the full list, go to the FEI Warning Card page and scroll down to 'Eventing.' The list opens as a .xlsx spreadsheet. The FEI Warning Card system explained (pdf).
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