Drinking Lots of Tea and Keeping Busy
Wednesday, June 22 2011
Life across the pond has been complete madness! Today went something like this: Rode my young horse, jumped two young horses for Laura Collett, took one of Laura’s to the gallops, came back and took Bree to the gallops, jumped yet another young one for Laura and then, oh wait, can’t forget about getting Harvey to the pool for his swimming workout! It’s all getting a bit crazy but don’t worry too much, we have Laura’s mom forcing tea down our throats at least every half an hour. Too be honest, I’m surprised we don’t spend the entire day in the loo with all of the tea that we drink! I couldn’t be happier. The horses are on top form, the Collets have been amazing to work with and I am at my best when working long days with nice horses and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Harvey, my advance horse, relaxing in the spa. He goes in the spa everyday except on days when he has to do his swimming workouts!
- Published in Onward, Upward, 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
Looking Ahead
Sunday, June 12 2011
Two weeks ago tonight a fire destroyed the barn housing horses trained by Boyd Martin on the ground floor and employees on the second. In the days that followed the community was numb with the aftermath, the loss of lives of horses, the injuries, the immediate need of the human survivors for a somewhere to live and something to wear. Everyone knew someone intimately who had lost something dear. Ever mindful of the irreplaceable, friends moved into action to take care of the practical. Among many others throughout the country, a “boots on the ground” fundraising effort was begun in anticipation of the Horse Trials planned for Plantation Field in Unionville this past weekend. Phone call and email solicitations for contributions to a bake sale were sent out and resulted in a table overflowing with cupcakes, snickerdoodles, cake and brownies. Priced to sell at “donation”, business was brisk and resulted in a first day total of over $1000. The second day recovery is as yet uncounted. I personally ate a brownie with peanut butter drizzle, its purchaser informing me that it was a $40 tray of brownies – worth it? Quite tasty.
Hooray for Some Good News!
Sunday, June 12 2011
Thank goodness the worm has turned! This past week has brought some serious changes. After a few days of feeling sad about my perfect little advanced horse being injured I quickly realized that I now had to figure out how I was going to pay for his vet bills. I also had to come to grips with the fact that my little operation of three horses competing was not paying for itself. With these two motivating factors I did what I thought was the only option . . . call everyone I know asking for riding work! Luckily my prayers were answered and my friend Laura Collet offered me a job producing her young horses. And, even better, she has now said I can move my horses to her amazing yard just up the road so that all of the horses I need to ride will all be in one place . . .
- Published in Onward, Upward, Z-Blogs
Upperville – Saturday’s Action Under The Oaks
Sunday, June 12 2011
Well, we are really behind this morning: we got up uber-early and galloped through a gazillion photos from Saturday. We missed a few of our favorite classes, but were fortunate to snag some pix on the run, so to speak, of the Silver Foxes (Piedmont Invitation) winner and third place, but totally missed the Family Class (we’ll probably beg a photo of the winners for print coverage), and the rains came after we shot Connemara Mare and Stallion (purebred) champions, but not before we turned in time to catch Tracy Weinberg and Larone scorch to the win in the $10,000 Junior/Amateur Jumper Stakes – they’re trained by Joe Fargis
- Published in Lauren Gallops, Z-Blogs
Upperville – Proving Ground For Talent
Saturday, June 11 2011
Upperville: ask any show rider who lives somewhere in Virginia about the Upperville Colt & Horse Show and you’ll get chapter and verse about what it means to compete under the hallowed oaks or across John Mosby Highway in the jumper rings. Upperville is Mecca – it’s not the only version of Mecca, but here in Virginia, it’s a showcase for horses and riders, a country atmosphere that retains its unique and individual voice, a place where the shops offer goods ranging from tack and horse-related supplies to high fashion to riding fashion to jewelry to whatever might capture your fancy. Tori Colvin won the $25,000 Welcome Stakes, sponsored by Windsor Farm and Friends, on June 10th
- Published in Lauren Gallops, Z-Blogs
Thursday at Upperville
Friday, June 10 2011
With that old saying in mind that one picture is worth a thousand words, you all must make do with pixies as yesterday was a very long day and we collapsed as soon as we got home and fed our dog, who also collapsed after a long day accompanying us via golf cart on both sides of John Mosby Highway at Upperville. Because Upperville is too huge for one person to cover with a camera, we decided to concentrate on the jumpers on Thursday, because that’s part of the soul of Upperville and there is a committee to raise funds to improve the jumper rings similar to the hunter side which boasts great footing. Upperville show manager Tommy Lee Jones told us to speak with committee leader, rider/trainer Joe Fargis, and we caught up with him early Thursday evening. More on that later: if we don’t post photos and get out of here pdq we won’t get to ride our pony and that is one of our greatest joys… So, here are a few pix and ‘deep captions’ to describe Thursday at Upperville. Allen Richards and Copper Futures in the Adult Amateur Jumper class where they placed 2nd to Alison Wichman riding Mrs.
- Published in Lauren Gallops, Z-Blogs
Tissue Regeneration?
Thursday, June 09 2011
We’re doing it all wrong. To effectively treat lameness conditions in sport and race horses we need a paradigm shift in how these animals are managed by horsemen and veterinarians. Attending the North American Veterinary Regenerative Medicine Conference here in Lexington last week underscored that belief. Here is the quick and dirty of what I learned at that meeting: Stem cells injected into a joint are not magically finding their way to areas where the cartilage is worn off, and planting themselves there to generate new cartilage. Bummer. I was really hoping there was some possibility here, after other (non-equine) studies showed that stem cells might “home” to injured tissue.
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
Upperville – Under The Oaks
Wednesday, June 08 2011
This is the 158th year of the Upperville Colt & Horse Show – the oldest show in America boasts some great improvements, but more than anything else it is a timeless tradition in the heart of Virginia’s horse country. The week is young, but already competition is heating up on both sides of John Mosby Highway just east of the picturesque village of Upperville. Here are a few photos to make you wish you were there… Oh, and we have to tell you that we were very remiss about jotting quick notes while catching quick pix of winners and we simply can’t figure out who is on #149 or what class it was on Tuesday, but the shot is win-win all the way. Be sure to check out the results on horseshowsonline – Upperville has two listings, one for Hunters and one for Jumpers. First stop at Upperville - get your golf cart! We do a lot of running back and forth between hunter and jumper rings.
- Published in Lauren Gallops, Z-Blogs