Eventing News and Notes: June 2010 Archives

Firstly, I mentioned in our weekend preview that Mandiba was entered at Surefire.  I have since heard that due to hard ground resulting from the Virginia drought, Mandiba will wait to return to competition on another weekend. 

Phillip has just returned to PA from training with Oded Shimoni on Woodburn and TruLuck.  Phillip also explains in his blog that The Forman and Connaught are back in work and doing well.  TruLuck is scheduled for Rebecca Farm in July.

Nancy Jaffer has an excellent interview with Courtney King-Dye and breaks the news that Courtney has been released from her rehab facility.  Courtney still struggles with some physical tasks and speech, but she is a testament to her inner strength and modern medicine.  Wow, two links to EquiSearch in one day--kinda makes me feel like river dancing.

Lisa Slade wrote a recap of day one at the USEF Para-Equestrian WEG selection trials in Illinois. 

Let's just keep on sharing the media love with this preview of the AEC's from the USEA.  Can you spot the Canadian rider in the video?

If Land Rover gets three minutes worth of shameless plugs in that video, then surely you will permit me to say that if you need to get anything for the barn remember that it helps support Eventing Nation if you buy it from SmartPak.  If you don't need anything from the barn, just clicking on the SmartPak banner in our sidebar (with the picture of PDizzle) and browsing the SmartPak site makes us look good and has been scientifically proven to give you EN Karma.  We also have two new sponsors that I am excited to introduce very soon.

I'm at an undisclosed event this weekend trying to lay low and enjoy a light competition with a young horse who is just coming back from a spring injury.  I'm about 6'4", have an Australian accent, my hair won't sit evenly, I wear zebra stripes and a Point-Two on XC, and otherwise you will find me in a green Devoucoux jacket.  Come find me and pour cold water on my head.  

Go eventing.

Ginny Elliot said "So far in 2010 14 Irish combinations have competed at four-star level and these six have come through very strongly. There is a really good mix of youth and experience and I just hope they all stay sound and do well in their upcoming competitions."  

"I had an MRI and MRA that showed my artery is completely healed and the blood supply is normal, so I have started riding more seriously. I got on the first day and walked, trotted and cantered and it felt great! I've been riding Syd, J.R., Waterfront, Wyatt and Max now for two weeks and I'm getting fitter all the time. I've even jumped Syd, Wyatt and J.R. a bit, and that feels great as well. I don't have very much control of my right hand so I have to be really aware of holding onto the reins--I have to look down to see myself holding them because I can't feel the reins at all. When I was on Wyatt I actually jumped a jump and let go of the reins--luckily he was very kind to me and pulled up! 

I'm not ready to go to an event tomorrow, but the fact that I can ride and feel comfortable is great for my morale. Right now, three feet seems really big! My flat work is fine, but jumping will take me a little bit longer as I have to get used to having no feeling in my right hand. Some people thought I would have a hard time jumping because they equate my stroke injury with a brain injury, and they thought my timing would be affected. My timing is great to the jump, the problem is I can't count the striding quickly enough in my head, and counting is how I always kept my rhythm. Now I have to feel the rhythm and that helps me out."  Link: Jan's website

I met Jan and her parents at the Rolex cocktail party and Jan was doing great.  They were the classiest and most wonderful family you could imagine, and I left convinced that Jan would be back in the saddle after her wrist healed.  This is terrific news for eventing, and I can't wait to see Jan back competing soon.  Go eventing.

Everyone in Kentucky and the eventing community, including Eventing Nation, is 100% supportive of the Games, but this story is a big problem.  I know a lot of riders who won't be making the trip to the WEGs because of the expense, and those are the horse people who everyone hoped would show up for sure.  We still have a long way to go and hopefully sales will pick up.

Lastly, check out more video of Luhmuhlen, again with a horrible soundtrack:

We have a big week ahead of us here at Eventing Nation.  Here are a few quick news and notes from the weekend.

(1) Pippa Funnell won the Bramham CCI3* on Redesigned.  From my perspective, Great Britain's best riders haven't distinguished themselves yet this year in terms of WEG selection.  Of course William won Rolex, but that was on a horse that was his 3rd or 4th best starting the year.  Great Britain is sending more than 10 pairs to Luhmuhlen, and, like with the US squad, a great performance in Germany will probably be good enough to make the team.  Speaking of the US, I've been hearing word in the barns for the past week that at least one of the four US Luhmuhlen entrants won't be making the trip, but that's unconfirmed as of now.  All 4 US names are still on the Luhmuhlen entries list as of Monday morning.  For pictures from Bramham, click here and scroll down.

(2) The Belmont was this weekend, and mostly just reminded everyone that once again we don't have a Triple Crown winner.  The question is: how many people care anymore?  The sad reality is that horse racing is declining in the US and has been for some time.  Bennett Liebman of the New York Times has a good article about the reasons horse racing is declining.  

A few days ago we had a big debate here on EN about what to do about unwanted horses.  There are a lot of good answers, but from my perspective the problem of unwanted horses is a supply issue and needs to be dealt with before the horses are born; there is no good solution when you have 100,000 unwanted horses on the ground.  I like horse racing as much as anyone  from Kentucky needs to, but horse racing does produce tens of thousands of horses every year and doesn't need most of them by the time they turn 5.  Less horse racing probably means less unwanted horses.

(3) In the USEA Area II Chairman's Letter, Ducan MacRae explains that the Adult Team Challenge has been moved from Waredaca to Millbrook HT in New York (Aug 5-8).  A little bird told me that the change was apparently due to scheduling conflict with a summer camp at Waredaca.  Either way, I'm glad to see that the ATC has a new home.

Go eventing.

(1) I don't mean to preempt Leslie's Video Saturday, but a good friend of Eventing Nation just sent us this amazing video.  Thanks S. for the laugh!

(4) I'd like to thank Mother Nature for knocking electricity out at my house with a massive thunderstorm yesterday.  The power company seems to be applying the BP theory of disaster management and nothing has gotten done to fix the problem.  No worries though, it's not like I need to use any electronic devices anyhow, right?

-It's amazing how a simple problem (oil coming out of a pipe) can become such a big crisis under extreme circumstances (oil rushing out 5 miles under water).  

-The bad news is that spill now covers nearly 12,000 square miles.  The good news is that the Earth has, if memory serves, nearly 200,000,000 square miles on its surface.  

-The Daily Show captured the situation pretty well by saying that instead of picking the oil out of the water and wildlife, we're now picking the wildlife and water out of the oil.

-CNN is brilliant for putting up that counter of the gallons spilled.  People will watch scrolling counters for hours on end, especially if the counter is counting something bad.

-How the heck are we are supposed to litigate and prosecute a significant portion of our country being destroyed?

(6) In a tragic story, a 10 year old girl from Tennesee died in a riding accident on Thursday.  The story of how the girl fell is unclear.  For all the fun we get from riding, situations like this remind us that every single moment on a horse contains an element of danger.  Let's take this chance to remember all the riders who have lost their lives doing what they love.

Go eventing.