Recently in Good News Category

As if he wasn't already awesome enough, Phillip Dutton has announced a partnership with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  Phillip has agreed to make a donation to the Philadelphia chapter of MDA for every event he wins this season.  Considering he won 15 events last year, that's a pretty good idea!

"Our family has been touched by muscular dystrophy so we are looking forward to the opportunity to support this organization," said Phillip. "We hope our contribution throughout the season helps their research as they work to find a cure for this disease."

Way to go Phillip! 

Read the full press release [here].

 

Once upon a time, John had a crazy idea dream. His dream was that he could share all the things that make EN great--its sense of community, its behind-the-scenes reporting, its sheer ridiculousness--with an even broader audience. An audience that encompassed many different horse sports and wrapped around the globe. His dream was of a site that united horse people everywhere, where we could all laugh and learn and be neurotic together.  

But John was already on the verge of a nervous breakdown very busy. Then he met Wylie, a down-on-her-luck eventer who kept pestering him for a job. John told Wylie about his dream and Wylie said, "I can help turn your dream into reality." John said, "OK." Then John and Wylie told SmartPak about their dream and SmartPak said, "We believe in your dream. We believe in it so much we're going to give you this check." And that made John and Wylie very happy, indeed.

Today, Eventing Nation, we are ready to share our dream with you.  Officially introducing: Horse Nation, a site that we hope will become a hub for equestrian news, commentary, seriousness, hilariousness and--most of all--community. And while it's definitely still a work in progress, we expect that HN will grow into a site that you visit just as habitually and compulsively as you do EN.

Check out Horse Nation today at www.horsenation.com, and check up on us often as we add new writers and new features. Thank you for supporting EN, and we look forward to giving you many, many reasons to support HN as well.

Horse Nation: Because we're all in this together

Photo via Twitter @AndreGStock

 

2009 Preakness winner and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra delivered a healthy bay colt on Sunday afternoon, 1/22/12.  His sire is 2008 HOTY Curlin.  This little guy has a bright future ahead of him! [Full Bloodhorse story]

 

2010 HOTY Zenyatta is expecting her first foal, by Bernardini, sometime in early March.

 

Foaling season is such an exciting time of year!  Now if only I could decide who to breed my mare to...

 

Well, it appears EN has been honored with nominations in the 2012 Page Play Equestrian Social Media Awards.  Until a couple days ago, I didn't even know there was such a thing as the "ESMAs."  Apparently, it's right up there with the ESPYs, the Tonys, and the Oscars, for horse-related websites.  As we speak, I know John is busy sorting through dress ideas with Versace, so look for him to make a real statement on the red carpet.  He's having a hard time deciding between the shipping boots and the heels!

 

All kidding aside, we are really humbled to be nominated in three categories: Facebook, Most Informative, and Best Blog.  And a big congratulations to Samantha Clark, for her individual nomination in the Twitter category (she is the Tweet Queen!).  This site is a lot of work, and a lot of fun, and it's neat to be unexpectedly recognized as "Top Ten" by any measure.  We certainly would not be where we are today without the loyal readers who keep us on the path to insanity each day. 

 

I always thought it was silly when actors proclaimed, "It's just an honor to be nominated..." when they speak of awards shows.  (Really, George Clooney, was a nod that unexpected?)  In this case, EN is more like Zach Galifianakis from The Hangover (we are a wolf pack) taking on the stars of the stage.  And in this case, it truly IS an honor just to be nominated.

 

As always, thanks for reading and Go Eventing!

...Neville Bardos.

Congratulations to Neville, Boyd and their team--none are more deserving of this prestigious honor. Neville is one of those rare athletes that has not only excelled at his sport, but also managed to capture the imagination of a nation. A big pat on the neck from all of us here at EN, and here's hoping that irrepressible spirit of yours carries you on to great things in 2012 and beyond.       

Photo courtesy of the awesome Katie Thornton

Congratulations to Michael and Nathalie Pollard on the birth of their fourth child this morning.  Axel Emerson Pollard was born 8lbs, 6oz and 21 inches tall at 8:16am this morning.  Congrats to Michael, Nathalie, Axel, and their entire family and eventing program.  Getting to know the Pollards has been one of the many wonderful things that has happened in my life as a result of starting Eventing Nation.  Michael of course won gold at the Pan Ams as part of the US team and Nathalie has been a mainstay in the eventing community for a long time, only taking brief pauses to pop out kids.  Before we know it Nathalie will be back to getting 13's in the dressage and in a few years young Axel will be carrying on the family eventing tradition.  Go Axel.

 

We love reader/tipster mail here at EN.  This was sent to us by Julie:

 

Hello Eventing Nation!

While these are not "recent" photos of Buck, they have always made me laugh, and seemed relevant since Buck is going to be crowned the new overall points leader in US eventing. Never thought anyone would ever catch Phillip, I'm not sure how many years he's been "King"--and always by a large margin!

The photos are actually from the summer of 2006, during my 2 years as Buck's Groom/Barn Manager/Bookkeeper/Business Manager/Babysitter/etc/etc. Much like his father, it is amazing how he can ride any horse (proven by him catch riding a mare at Rolex 2005 and finishing as Top Mare - trust me dealing with a nervous rider Saturday morning at Rolex is challenging enough, but the morning before their first competitive XC ride with said horse--crazy!). So this is photographic evidence of Buck meeting his match with this stubborn mini named Horatio who is owned by Buck's long time groom Kathleen Blauth. Just so not to give Buck too much of a hard time, I included the picture where he actually figured out Horatio's buttons!

Thanks for such a wonderful website that keeps me in touch with the Eventing World while I hibernate here in my native Nova Scotia, Canada (it's a small province North East of Maine - and trust me, you'd be surprised the number of Americans who would then ask me where "Maine" was!) 

Also congrats to Buck's owners who are also being recognized with horses on the top of the USEA leaderboards as well.  Buck's long time supporters Carl and Cassie Segal were actually the connection to this random Canadian girl getting the job at Buck's barn - I started working on their farm exercising some horses, including a young My Boy Bobby and I groomed for him at his first CCI* and several others.  There are a lot more juicer stories from my many, many hours on the road with the BDJ team, but I'm saving that for a tell all book in my retirement which I will write with Casey McKissock!

Thanks,

Julie

The Windurra driveway

Back in June I said I wasn't going to write about the True Prospect fire anymore, but a happier occasion calls for me to break that promise. By now you all know about the fire that killed six horses and injured five others and the year of ups and downs True Prospect and Windurra have both had. Luckily as of late there have been more of the ups; Boyd moved his business to his beautiful new farm in July and since then not much has stopped anyone at Windurra from going forward. Neville and Otis, both severely injured in the fire, were recently named to the USEF High Performance Training A List, a feat no one thought possible. Caitlin Silliman's Advanced mare, Catch A Star, is happily recuperating in the field looking as beautiful as always, Lillian Heard is tearing it up in Ireland, and a couple weeks ago the Windurra driveway got a new look: six bradford pear trees.

I'm struggling to find the words to do this post justice, because the image Boyd sent me that heads this post is so perfect and peaceful, the lighting just right. I can't think of a better memorial to the horses that died that night, one that seems to cancel out the chaos of their deaths. Each tree is footed by a plaque with their name (all kindly donated by Smart Pak) and in the spring the trees will bloom and you will probably have to endure me posting a photo of them every time I write the News and Notes. That's an exaggeration. Maybe.

Boyd asked me to share these photos with you all, and in doing so I cannot forget the help that all of our fellow eventers gave to us in the days after the fire, when many of us nearly lost our way in the dismal landscape of grief. So, for the hundredth time and certainly not the last, thank you all for your support, thoughts, and kind words, they did and still do mean more than you could ever know. And here's one last photo, for your viewing pleasure. Go Eventing.