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Monday, January 23 2012
Attention horse world: A Thoroughbred racehorse was born yesterday in Kentucky. Rachel Alexandra's first foal was born at Stonestreet Farm in Lexington, KY While you ponder that momentous event and fawn over his famous pedigree (Curlin x Rachel Alexandra), stop and consider this: If this little guy doesn’t inherit his parents’ talent for speed, will he be looked after by good owners for the next 30-odd years of his life? Call me a downer, but the collective oohs and aahs and cute baby foal pictures that saturated social media feeds this morning were a reminder that only a small percentage of Thoroughbreds make it to the track, and an even smaller percentage become successful racehorses. What of the adorable foals just like Rachel Alexandra’s first colt, that don’t cut it? Without jumping into the dredges of the horse slaughter debate (that’s Lauren Gallops ‘ job), I give a nod to all the throwaway TBs of the racing industry that are somewhere out there right now. Many of them started life in a bed of thick straw on a beautiful Kentucky farm, too
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Not Ridiculous At All.
Tuesday, October 11 2011
Just when walking the dog past multi-million dollar mansions inside a gated country club has started to feel quasi-normal, one is reminded once again how very surreal the winter equestrian capital of the world really is. And it’s not because of the pet zebra that my horse stares at every morning while hacking around Wellington.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Big Money = Big Sport: An Exciting Day at the Pfizer Million
Monday, September 12 2011
The scene by the ingate was tense. The crowd lining the hill grew with riders and their connections as the class went on and rider after rider came away with one rail, two rails, six rails. When Duncan McFarlane, 21st to go, finally notched the first clear round, the crowd was overjoyed. As Duncan is based in Northern California, On the Line was especially overjoyed to see a hometown rider shine on the other side of the country in this incredibly difficult class
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Grooms Unite!
Thursday, August 11 2011
I’ve shined boots that were not my own. I’ve cleaned the stalls of horses worth more money than I can ever hope to earn. I’ve swept the same aisle multiple times per day, and still suffered a disapproving stare for missing a single shaving along the way. Have you? If so you can relate to grooming. Being one, that is
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Dog Days at the NAYRJC
Friday, July 29 2011
The big news coming out of Kentucky should be all about the rounds, the rails and the leaders after day one of the 2011 Adequan FEI/North American Junior and Young Riders Championships. But these are the dog days of summer, and in Lexington, Kentucky, those days are stifling. At 97 degrees and high humidity, the juniors competing this weekend are battling each other, and the heat. Hunt coats were excused yesterday during Round 1 of the show jumping, but the heat didn’t stop Kaitlin Campbell of Zone 3, who led the day in the YR division, or Sydney Schulman, leader of the Junior division. Thanks to MacMillan Photography for sweating it out onsite at NAYRJC this week. They caught the opening ceremonies, the golf cart parade on Wednesday, and they’ll be there until the bitter (and hopefully cooler) end on Sunday
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Wherin It’s Learnt Once More; The Horse is a Humbling Creature.
Tuesday, July 26 2011
I met Allison Springer over the winter, while she was spending a few weeks in Wellington to get some extra show jumping mileage with Arthur. Allison was down to earth, totally approachable, and serious about her horses and their programs. She’s worked hard to improve Arthur’s show jumping style, and held an impressive ten point lead going into Sunday’s show jumping phase for the CIC3* at Rebecca Farm
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
All’s Well That Ends Well.
Monday, June 20 2011
On the Line just loves when things work out for the best, and few things beat a tale of a great partnership returning to the ring together after years away! Here is a great postscript to a compelling story (covered by yours truly for Sidelines and California Riding Magazine ) from over two years ago. You might remember Good Guinness, a California-based grand prix jumper that was the subject of a big cross-country horse mix up back in 2009
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Of Teen Novels & Green Monsters
Friday, June 17 2011
With all the energy dedicated lately on such gloomy matters as FEI complacency and airborne diseases , On the Line gratefully turns to a much lighter subject this week.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
EHV-1: Making the Case for Universal Microchipping.
Sunday, May 22 2011
“If one of them have got it, then ten of them have got it now, and if one of them gets out . . . we have got a very interesting problem!” Dustin Hoffman, “Outbreak”, 1995 That very interesting problem was highly dramatized in Outbreak, a gem of a movie about an African monkey carrying a highly contagious flesh-eating disease that landed in the U.S. and caused an outbreak that threatened the existence of a small town, of the country, and of the very world we live in. Did I already say highly dramatized
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs