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Eventing News and Notes: July 2010 Archives

Friday Night Notes from somewhere in West Virginia

By John on July 30, 2010 8:03 PM, Filed Under
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.


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


Finally, if you are out bar hopping tonight, I hope this happens at your bar:

Go eventing.
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Amy Tryon leads the advanced at Rebecca Farm

By John on July 22, 2010 10:58 AM, Filed Under
Rebecca-Farms-014.jpg
Photo courtesy of Hannah Burnett

Amy Tryon and Leyland delivered a 31 to lead the Rebecca Farm advanced division going into the jumping.  Amy is also placed third on Coal Creek with a 33.7.  It is a great sign for US eventing to have Amy back competing and a good run this weekend goes a long way to solidifying her spot on the WEG team.  Titanium, who was added to the short list earlier this week, is placed second with a 33.0.  The CIC3*-W dressage is on Friday.  To accommodate nearly 500 entries, many of the lower levels are competing dressage and jumping before the weekend.


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In other Rebecca Farm news, the USA Today has written a very brief article about the start of Rebecca Farm, which is another sign that the Rebecca Farm publicity team is one of the best in the business.  Our latest 'local media writing about eventing' award goes to the Daily Interlake:

"Often called "horse ballet," dressage is the least action-packed of the three events and certainly the most meticulous."  Translation: bring your kids on Saturday.
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photo-1.jpg

Top eventer and Eventing Nation favorite Chelan Kozak is on scene at Rebecca Farm with her camera, laptop, and trusty margarita mixer.  That's what we call a recipe for fun.  

From Chelan:

Of note on Thursday was the competitor briefing. Yes, you got it right, the briefing. It is a very big deal that 17 horses from the East coast are here to compete at at Rebecca Farm. Rebecca Broussard has been a tremendous supporter of this sport through running top class events in area 7 as well as owning and part owning many ADV horses over the years. During the briefing, the Broussard owned horses were paraded by the riders- All Star, Quintus 54, Nicodemus, Fernhill Eagle, and of course Truluck, who had to show the crowd how special he is and prance sideways and spin. This prompted, of course several gasps from the riders who all know that every single one of these horses is a millisecond away from hurting themselves!  Amy Tryon introduced the horse parade, and on a personal note, I am delighted that she is back in the tack and competing this weekend.

Other fun R Farm notes are that Nigel Casserley is the main announcer, which of course reminds us all of the 'other' big R event earlier this year. And, R Farm provides free ice to competitors, due to the heat (although no humidity and temps are currently about 80 only during the day, very pleasant!) I went to the office today and paid them $20 in advance to secure contraband 'non-horse-use-ice'. Good to drink with a clear conscience!! 

boobytrap.jpg
The 'booby trap'

The state of Montana in general notes are that we are in the WEST- a plethora of 'guns don't kill people' bumper stickers, and a free living attitude which breeds such laws as the no helmet required while riding a motorcycle. The same law applies in idaho and the Dakotas. Truthfully, when I see these crazies busting a move on the interstate all I can think of is how easily one's noggin could split open on the asphalt! But maybe that is just me...
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As a final note, two stories we have been writing about for a while are starting to gain some momentum today, as the Horse and Hound has written about both the high WEG ticket prices, and the Parelli "incident".  

Finally, Regarding Horses, a well respected horse blog that I really enjoy, has written a more in-depth article today about the WEG price gouging.
1

18 horses arrive by plane at Rebecca Farm

By John on July 19, 2010 5:39 PM, Filed Under
 
airhorseone3.jpg
Inside Air Horse One on the way to Montana

The east coast horses competing at The Event at Rebecca Farm this weekend have landed from their flight and are all safely settled in at the incredible Rebecca Farm facilities.  The 18 horses and their grooms packed aboard a charter airplane in Baltimore Monday morning and landed a few hours later in Kalispel, Montana, just 15 minutes from the show grounds.  Word is that the flight went well and that the charter company did a great job handling everything.  The horses flew from the east coast because a trailer ride would have taken several days.

airhorseone2.jpg


Big names such as TruLuck, My Boy Bobby, Inmidair, Titanium, Mandiba, High Patriot, and Cavaldi all made the flight.  Rock On Rose was also on the flight, but the word is that she has recently sold and is making her way to her new home in California.

airhorse1.jpg


Some have wondered why so many riders decided to fly their horses out to Rebecca Farm instead of waiting for an advanced or CIC3* on the east coast in just a few weeks.  The main reason is that Rebecca Farm is one of the premier eventing facilities in the country.  Part of the reason is that Rebecca Farm helped subsidize the flight, reducing the cost for the riders.  Another part of the answer is that Becky Broussard has ownership interest in several of the horses that shipped out.  A final reason is that a lot of the riders wanted to honor Becky for her incredible contributions to US eventing.

Thanks to Hannah Burnett for the photos and video.  Much more from Rebecca Farm soon.  Go eventing.<:OBJECT width="560" height="340">

 



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Thursday night reader

By John on July 15, 2010 10:05 PM, Filed Under
It's been a long day and I'm leaving for an event tomorrow morning so I'm including everything in one big post.  As you may have noticed, I misspelled our email address (eventingnation@gmail.com) in the Ecogold contest post this morning.  It has since been corrected, but if you submitted a photo and did not receive a reply from a member of the EN Team, please resend your entry.  Sorry for the mistake, just call me 'Forest'.  

The WEG medals and trophies have been unveiled sent to everyone in a press release.  The medals look almost exactly like every other FEI medal I have ever seen, but the trophies are cool.  Can I have yours Edward Gal?

The government has halted the Nevada BLM mustang roundup--for now.  We should just send Pat Parelli after the BLM--I'm sure he can 'persuade' them to leave the Mustangs alone.

Forgive me, I know not what I do.

Betting is being offered for the show jumping at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen.  Yes, Eventing Nation will be offering betting on the WEGs, including a prop bet for how often the French team surrenders to WEG security.  But seriously, if you want to make a sport twice as popular overnight, let people gamble on it.



Watch this video.


But definitely don't watch this one.  Buzzterbrown did not send it to me.
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Lastly, here's a quick heads up to keep checking in with our new event horse classifieds site.  I've been shocked at the high number of classifieds we have had submitted so far.  Remember that posting a classifieds costs only $15 and takes just 10 minutes.  Just email the following to classifieds@eventingnation.com:

-Title (less than 50 characters):
-Description:
-3 adjectives that describe the horse:
-Picture (in .jpg format):
-Location of the horse:
-Price (either a specific number, or a price range in alignment with the price categories in the Sport Horse Nation sidebar: 0-5,000, 5,000-15,000, 15,000-30,000, 30,000-50,000, 50,000+.  These categories are meant to be broad enough to respect the privacy of the seller but also specific enough to help the buyer find the right horse.)
-Contact informaiton:
-Youtube video (optional)

Payment can be processed using either check or credit card per the instructions on Sport Horse Nation.  

I have heard great feedback from people, including Mary Kate who was kind enough to write us to say "Thanks for getting it up so quickly and for providing such a great service! I will certainly keep EN in mind for my other horses, if for no other reason than the ad was so easy to submit and affordable!"


Prelim level 16.1 11 yo gelding

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Wednesday WEG Notes

By John on July 14, 2010 1:13 PM, Filed Under
Greetings friends, how are you?  I never feel like I have time to write irrelevant ridiculousness anymore--just relevant ridiculousness.  Regrettable, I know.  With that in mind, we have two quick stories out of Lexington this afternoon regarding the World Equestrian Games, so let's jump right in:

1) The Lexington Herald Leader is reporting that WEG organizers have sent a cease and desist letter to the International Equestrian Festival that accuses the IEF of 'ambush marketing.'  The IEF is an equine expo that will be held in downtown lexington (about 15 minutes from the Kentucky Horse Park) during the Games.  Joe Terry, a well respected lawyer and member of the WEG Foundation's board, said that the letter asked the IEF to stop "attempting to market their event using the Games as a marketing feature."  The Games are a big economic opportunity for many businesses, and the question here is about whether the IEF is overusing the WEG brand.  There's no doubt that the IEF wouldn't happen without the WEGs, so the situation is obviously complicated.

2) LEX18, which is the best bad local news station in Lexington, reports that the WEGs are offering a 30 percent discount on select ticket sales from July 15th to September 6th.  Dressage, endurance, eventing, jumping, and reining tickets from early sessions are available at the discount.  There will be no refund of previously purchased tickets, but, if you don't have tickets, this is a great chance to get some.  If you already have tickets, get your friends and family on board.  Last month, we reported that WEG ticket sales were 55% below expectations.  Click here to buy tickets.

3) Continuing the slow but noticeable trend to clone top sport horses, TheHorse.com reported yesterday that the French lab Cryozootech has successfully cloned Top Gun La Sillia, a successful show jumper from the 90's.  The gelding Top Gun died in 2005, and, after years of cloning attempts, his progeny was born on March 16 and is called Top Gun Cryozootech.  No word yet on the little guy's jumping form, but his name is ridiculous enough to make him a great show jumper.  Technology inevitably gets more reliable/cheaper with time, and, as that happens with cloning, expect to see much more cloning soon.  Next up: Northern Spy Cryozootech

4) Pegasus44 has sent in a link to live feed from the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen that also includes archived video during the night in Germany.  The website has footage of many FEI disciplines, but mostly I just like to see the venue and hear the announcers speak in German.  Dressage always looks better with a German announcer.

5) British scientists are now convinced that the chicken came before the egg.  What's the big deal?  I could have told them that a while ago.

Lastly, be sure to stay tuned to Eventing Nation for a couple of fun contests with great prizes that we are panning over the next couple of days.  Tonight, lec will have a report on the interesting WEG team selections by British Eventing.  50% of voters in our weekly poll think Great Britain is the favorite to win the WEGs--really??  Go eventing.
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British WEG team announced

By John on July 13, 2010 10:48 AM, Filed Under
Just as lec predicted, British Eventing took the interesting step of naming their complete 6 horse WEG team on Tuesday:

Tina Cook riding Miner's Frolic
William Fox-Pitt riding Cool Mountain
Piggy French riding Jakata 
Pippa Funnell riding Redesigned 
Mary King riding Imperial Cavalier 
Nicola Wilson riding Opposition Buzz 

Alternates:
Daisy Berkeley (Spring Along)
Sharon Hunt (Tankers Town)
Oliver Townend (Ashdale Cruise Master)
Lucy Wiegersma (Woodfalls Inigo Jones)


With around 70 days until the WEGs, major 4* fitness prep is still ahead of these horses, and the odds are that the 6 horse roster named today will not be the exact same one that flies to Lexington.  The British team is comprised of some savvy veterans as well as some up and coming horses.  Pippa has been named to her first national team in 5 years.  Two things that I never thought I would see at the beginning of the year are Oliver being left off the team and Cool Mountain as William's horse.  It just goes to show the incredible ups and downs of our sport.  Go eventing.

USEF Short List: The USEF has made a few changes to the 2010 developing rider list on Tuesday.  We already have enough lists up on EN right now, but the press release should be available at the USEF press release page soon, or I'm sure someone else will copy and paste the press release so we can link to it.
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Tubber Rebel's short list preview

By John on July 12, 2010 10:03 AM, Filed Under
Remember how I mentioned that Dag Albert and Tubber Rebel were in 104th after the Barbury CIC3* dressage with a score of 91.5 (39%)?  Well, even though that photo might be the one and only moment in time when Tubber Rebel put his head down trotted with 2 beats, as I predicted, he made up for it in the jumping phases, adding only 5.2 to his score for the dressage and show jumping.  Tubber Rebel moved up 64 places and finished in 40th at Barbury.  Well done Tubber Rebel!  After some research, I learned that the pair competed for Sweden at the 2008 Olympics, so we might well get to see them in Kentucky.

Speaking of Kentucky, we can expect to see the additions to the US short list sooner rather than later.  To get an idea of who we might expect to be added, let's take a trip down memory lane.  This spring, US team vets inspected potential horses following major competitions including The Fork, Rolex, Jersey, and Bromont.  The Fork evaluation included horses like TruLuck and Bobby who decided not to run Rolex and were included in the original May short list.  After Rolex, team vets examined 7 horses (Comet, Pawlow, Mandiba, Woodburn, Neveille, Remington, and The Foreman) and all 7 made the May short list.  As part of the May list, the USEF announced that it might add names following Bromont and Luhmuhlen; the short list submitted to the FEI can include up to 18 pairs.  After Bromont, vets looked at Tipperary Liadhnan and several other horses, but my understanding is that all the Bromont exams but "Paddy's" were more of the 'looking to next year' variety.  Clear as mud?

The May short list:
Buck Davidson and BallyNoe Castle RM (11th Burghley 09, 15th Rolex 09)
Buck Davidson and My Boy Bobby (3rd Rolex 09)
Phillip Dutton and The Foreman (2nd Rolex 05, 2nd Burghley 05, 6th Rolex 10)
Phillip Dutton and TruLuck (4th Burghley 09, 9th Rolex 07)
Phillip Dutton and Woodburn (12th Rolex 09, 9th Rolex 08, 2nd Rolex 10)
Will Faudree and Pawlow (15th Rolex 10)
Becky Holder and Comet (since '07 - 2nd Rolex 08, 42nd Olympics 08, R Burghley 09, 3rd Rolex 10)
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos (9th Rolex 08, 4th Rolex 10)
Boyd Martin and Remington XXV (12th Rolex 10)
Karen O'Connor and Mandiba (E Burghley, 44th Olympics, 7th Rolex 10)
Amy Tryon and Leyland (13th Rolex 09, 14th Burghley 09)

In the several weeks after Luhmuhlen, US team vets have looked at about 5 horses to evaluate their candidacy for being added to the original May short list.  I've heard expected names like Last Monarch kicked around, and also unexpected names like Brandenburg's Joshua.  Rock On Rose's name has also reentered the mix as the word is that her circumstances may have changed.  The more that I hear the more interesting I think the additions to the short list might be.

I am confident that at least a couple of pairs will be added to the short list when the new list is released.  In my opinion, with just 7 riders on the May list, I think it makes sense to add a few more--right now we are two injuries (God forbid) to horses or riders away from not fielding a full team.  However, one thing to remember is that of the major nations who have released their short list, Germany's is the longest at just 13 pairs.

Speaking of injuries, a top vet told me that around 30% of horses drop out the last month before a 4*.  Two and a half months away from the WEGs, the US team's prospects will never look better than when we see that final complete short list.  I'm confident that Phillip, Buck, and Boyd will be on the team come October, but the other three spots will go to the riders who get on the final short list and keep their horse sound.  

I'm sure that when we see the final list some of us will have objections, but it's important to remember how difficult the job of selecting a team really is.  Having spent time watching all of the horses, looking at their records, and talking to people close to the horses, there is just no magic answer as to exactly which 6 horses are going to want to jump around the toughest course of their lives that first Saturday in October.  

When the final short list is released, you know where to find it first.  Until then, go eventing.

We've been writing about the US team a lot over the past few months, here are a few of our highlights: 
0

Monday Hot Links

By John on July 5, 2010 11:36 AM, Filed Under

Bellvue's fire chief, about the stampede: "This is just something that happens that we can't prevent," he said. "It wouldn't be any different from an accelerator sticking on a car and running through the crowd."

The Carrot: The FEI didn't rule that Sapphire's disqualification was incorrect
From The Carrot (blame them)


In other news, we have set up a handy-dandy weekly poll question sidebar to have a fun look at what Eventing Nation thinks about a variety of issues.  This week's topic relates to a great discussion we had last week on EN.

That's all for now.  Whether you are at work or on vacation today, go eventing.
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Developing: 1 dead, 23 injured in horse stampede at Iowa parade

By John on July 4, 2010 7:25 PM, Filed Under
Monday Update: The NYT is reporting that one of the carriage passengers has passed away

We have some sad news coming from Bellevue, Iowa, where several horses broke loose and ran wild through the crowd for several blocks during a 4th of July parade.  The two horses were pulling a buggy, and the police say that the horses ran off after one horse rubbed its head against the other, removing that horse's bridle.  The horses then stampeded in and out of the parade crowd for several blocks.  The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reported the horses ran for about eight blocks before they hit a large street sign. The impact flipped the buggy, throwing two people from it. The horses then ran another two blocks before slamming into a trailer.

Five people were critically injured, five others severely injured and 14 suffered minor injuries, police and fire officials said in a statement. The victims were as young as 2 years old and suffered injuries ranging from multiple fractures to collapsed lungs and abrasions, officials said.  I have not seen any word on the status of the two horses.  Eventing Nation's thoughts and prayers are with the citizens of Bellevue tonight.

4

FEI: McLain Ward's Sapphire was "incorrectly eliminated"

By John on July 2, 2010 6:24 PM, Filed Under

The FEI has issued a press release stating that the disqualification of McLain Ward and Sapphire at the show jumping World Cup in Geneva was incorrect: 

"After a full investigation into the facts surrounding the disqualification of Sapphire (McLain Ward) at the FEI World Cup Final in Geneva, the FEI has determined that the horse was incorrectly eliminated from the second round on 16 April 2010, however, Sapphire's disqualification from the final round of the World Cup remains in place.
 
McLain Ward will immediately be awarded all ranking points and prize money related to his second place finish in the second round of the FEI World Cup Final...."
 

The disqualification was allegedly due to the fact that FEI vets thought Sapphire responded to sensitivity tests, indicating that a chemical had been applied to the front of her pasterns, which would have made the mare more conscious about hitting rails. McLain, George Morris, and the USEF all vehemently opposed the disqualification at the time, and swab tests of Sapphire's legs came back negative a few weeks ago.  McLain and the USEF had sued the FEI over the matter, but today's press release announces that the suit had been dropped.  

Link: Full FEI Press Release

This is the admission of a very big error by the FEI, and I give the FEI credit for owning up to the mistake.  However, this press release was sent out at 6PM on a Friday night of a holiday weekend in the US, which is the classic time you would issue news if you don't want anyone to hear about it, which raises my eyebrow a bit.  Go eventing.

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