It's a slow night for eventing news so I thought I would do what I do best--ramble about potential WEG horses. One of the most intriguing WEG short listed horses is Kim Severson's Tipperary Liadhnan. After a fourth place finish at Bromont, "Paddy" has yet to make his summer competition debut--the same goes for (off the top of my head) Joshua, Chip, Arthur, Woodburn, and Comet.
Paddy is an interesting horse to watch right now because his WEG selection essentially hangs on one question--what will he do in the show jumping? Of course, the answer is never clear, but that's why we pay the selectors the big bucks, right?
Kim and Paddy spent last week in Kentucky competing at a jumper show with Katie Prudent, the team show jumping coach. Word is that Kim and Paddy had just one rail in three rounds, although the jumps were just under four feet. If that carries over to Richland and the AEC's then I would be hard pressed to leave them off the team.
A lot of the riders are eager to take advantage of Katie Prudent's expertise, and some of the VA and PA short listers were at Katie's farm in Middleburg today taking lessons. Katie is one of the best coaches in the business, and, although she can be abrasive at times, the riders seem to like her coaching. I'll say this: Katie doesn't care who you are or what you have done in the past when you ride in her arena, and I definitely respect that. Go eventing.
Go Kim and Paddy. Someone here predicted that after Rolex Kim would do everything humanly possible to get Paddy to respect the colored rails and that is what she has done, I bet. With her on our team we will be that much closer to a medal!!