The Rolex

It's been a minute since I've posted, but the main reason was that I went and took a horsey vacation to Lexington, KY at the end of April.  For those Eventing fans out there, you know that this is Rolex time.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Rolex, it is the Kentucky 3 Day Event which is sponsored by Rolex.  Apparently, according to the announcer at the stadium, it is one of the only sporting events known as its sponsor's name.  So for my non-horse constituents out there, 3 day eventing is the triathlon of the equestrian world.  Day one is dressage, day 2 is cross country, and day 3 is stadium jumping.  These 3 days are grueling for both the horse and rider and it is the ultimate challenge in the horse world.  To up the ante this year, its an Olympic year and the Rolex is a qualifier.  If you are an American rider you are doing everything you can to finish this event and finish well.
At the start of the event there were 57 horse and rider teams, an all time high for the Rolex, and only 27 made it to the final day of stadium jumping.  The cross country course was the equalizer.  Some of the top riders and horses like Karen O'Connor on Victoria and my personal favorite Becky Holder and Courageous Comet didn't make it through.  It was heartbreaking... But, I did find a new favorite, Boyd Martin on Otis Barbotiere, simply known as Otis.  Great name and a beautiful mover.  He caught my eye in dressage

See, isn't he hansom? Otis is a 10 year old French-Bred Selle Francais and this was his first four star event.  He is supposed to be a great prospect for the future, but this guy finished 3rd.  Pretty amazing...

Other big names that were there included William Fox-Pitt who is Britain's super star eventer on Parklane Hawk as well as Phillip Dutton with Fernhill Eagle and Mighty Nice, Andrew Nicholson on Calico Joe, and Michael Pollard on Icarus.

It was an amazing 3 days, I highly recommend this event to any horse enthusiast.  Day 1 is a little slower because it is dressage, but if you rent the headphones, you get to hear some great commentary on how this event is judged.  It makes it much more interesting because you can really see the difference between the good horses and the great horses.  Day 2, cross country day, is always exciting.  We got to see 2 great wrecks including Karen O'Connor's fall on Victoria and several refusals.  The cross country track starts and finishes in the same spot and is 4 miles long.  So, you get to walk all over the course and see different jumps from different angles, it really is amazing.  On day 3 you are back in the stadium, and rent those headphones again for commentary.  But you are literally on the edge of your seat urging each horse over the jumps.  Or maybe hoping for a dropped rail here and there...  It was wonderful and I hope to make it back in future years.  It has also inspired me, I would love to get into eventing.  So, once I graduate in July, I'm going to start some dressage lessons and go from there.  Who knows, maybe we can make an eventer out of Chief...

I got some great pictures from the weekend, scroll through them:

William Fox-Pitt on Parklane Hawk.  Parklane Hawk 16.3 Hand New Zealand bred Thoroughbred.  He was a former race horse that wasn't fast enough... but he can jump!  They finished in 1st place.

 Phillip Dutton on Mighty Nice.  Mighty Nice is a 17.1 hand Irish Sport Horse.  They finished 10th

Andrew Nicholson on Calico Joe a 16.2 hand English-Bred Thoroughbred.  They retired shortly after jump 5 on the cross country course.

Karen O'Connor on Veronica a 16.1 hand Dutch Warmblood.  As you can see Karen has lost her stirrup, the horse took the next jump and she fell, they were then eliminated.

Becky Holder on Courageous Comet a 16.2 hand Thoroughbred.  They had a refusal on the Normandy Banks jump and Becky came off and they were eliminated.

Becky Holder this time on Can't Fire Me, Courageous Comet's brother.  Can't Fire Me is a 16.3 hand Thoroughbred as well.  You can see in this picture the cut on his right leg.  The judges held him for inspection and determined he was unable to continue.  I told you it was a rough course...He was okay though, no serious injury.

Allison Springer on Arthur a 16.1 hand U.S. Bred Irish Sport Horse.  They finished 2nd.

Boyd Martin on Otis, they stumbled hard after this jump, but recovered nicely and finished 3rd overall.

Otis in stadium jumping on day 3

Allison Springer on Arthur

Kate Brown on Mojito.  Another great name, Mojito is a 17.2 hand Argentinean Warmblood cross.  They finished 22nd overall.

So those are just a few of my favorite shots... But, if you want to see the full results or investigate attending next year, check out their website at www.rk3de.org.  

Also, recently NBC did a great piece on Boyd Martin and another one of his horses Neville Bardos, you can check that out here:  http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rock-center/47364509#47364509

Now, are you ready for the Olympics? I know I am!  I believe they pick the team in June so keep an eye out for the official team.

Good Reads

So this past weekend Chief and I hit the trail, I must say though it was pretty darn cold.  That's right early spring came and slapped us in the face this weekend with lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's.  Yes, this is cold to a born and raised Southerner like myself.  So I broke out the cold weather gear for this ride.  Despite the cold, it was beautiful out, sunny with white puffy clouds, see:

Looks like it's fake doesn't it?  Well its not and I took it with my iphone!  That piece of technology never ceases to amaze me.  But that is Chief and his handsome self!  We then took to the trails and even though it was cold, the Mountain Laurel is coming out.  If you've never been to Tennessee in the spring, you are missing out.

Mountain Laurel is this pretty white flowering bush and it grows wild in Tennessee and usually covers the hillsides.  Gorgeous in the spring...

Our route this time was the New, New Trail connecting to the Workout Trail connecting to the Rocky Top Trail a.k.a. Indian Rocks down to the gravel road and back via the Creeks Trail.  All in all it was another 1 1/2 hours to add to my Ride America log with the APHA.  Not bad for a cold Sunday.

Ever since about a month ago, Chief and I have really been working on picking up the correct lead.  So every time I ask for a canter, I ask for either the left or right lead, if he picks it up correctly, he gets lots of praise.  If he gets it wrong, I slow him down to a trot and ask again, and again, until he gets it right.  Before I was using solely leg commands but I've found that turning his head to the opposite of the lead I'm asking for, he picks it up better.  So if I ask for the right lead, I turn his head to the left.  Today I stumbled upon a great article about teaching correct leads and decided it would be an easy thing to put into practice.  Check it out:http://americashorsedaily.com/lead-on/.  This comes from the American Quarter Horse Association.  My Mother-in-Law has a Quarter Horse so I follow them on Facebook as well as the APHA for lots of good articles and information.

Lastly for this week, I wanted to let you know I am going on a horse vacation later this week.  We are going to the Rolex!  By "we" I mean my husband and I, Chief and I definitely aren't ready for that yet.  But, I found a great blog post about the Rolex today too: http://eventingnation.com/home/confessions-of-a-first-time-rolex-owner.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=confessions-of-a-first-time-rolex-owner.  I love Reggie's Rules at the end.  Chief also abides by those rules!  I typically root for Becky Holder and Courageous Comet but Rafferty's Rules and Sharon White will have to be added to the list of those to watch.  I'll be sure to share photos from this weekend's events.

Til then!