The Close Call Fall.
Saturday, April 16 2011
Who among us hasn’t had one of those am-I-or-aren’t-I, eyeballing the ground, thrown up the neck, hanging on for dear life close calls? You know what I’m talking about – when you’re very, very close to ending up with your butt in the dirt, but at the last possible second, you pull your shoulders back with a mighty effort, your horse puts his neck back up instead of farther down, and you’re saved -this time- from picking sand out of your shirt collar. It’s the close call fall. John French experienced a very public close call fall yesterday afternoon during the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby class at the Blenheim Spring Classic III in San Juan Capistrano, CA. With six mounts entered in the class, and being the freakishly consistent competitor that he is, John rarely leaves a high level derby without a ribbon in hand. And yesterday was no different; he placed 4th with Pimm’s Cup, owned by Whitney Miller. But after fence 1 during the handy round, a big, bright white wall going towards a crowd of spectators, his round on Oscany Inc.’s Clooney took a surprise turn. ”I don’t know what happened,” said John after the class.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Mainstream In All the Wrong Ways.
Thursday, April 14 2011
Guess what? Horse sports are making mainstream headlines this week! Is it all that On the Line was hoping and dreaming for in the previous, heartwarming post about stellar horseman Buck Brannaman’s big-screen debut? Are previously uninterested riders considering taking up riding themselves, and spreading love for horse sports around the globe? Sadly, no. This horse news is, in fact, the opposite of what On the Line was hoping for. The shining spotlight of the mainstream news media has been squarely focused on one event that has caught attention in all the wrong ways: The Grand National.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
End of Days.
Tuesday, April 05 2011
The sun is shining, the champion is here... Just one more reason that we all wish we were Laura Kraut….. above, Laura walks Cedric out of the ring after being awarded the Oliver O’Toole Perpetual Memorial Trophy during Saturday’s Parade of Champions on the second to last day of the 2011 Winter Equestrian Festival. Laura and Cedric were the top money winners over the 2011 WEF season. Who can guess how much they won? Anyone? Let’s see, they won three big classes this season: $75,000 Adequan CSI2* $150,000 FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale CSI5* Grand Prix And placed in a slew of other classes.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Their Moment to Shine.
Wednesday, March 30 2011
Semi well-behaved polo stallion. There’s never a dull moment in Wellington. Even though the show jumping season is winding down, polo season is still in full swing, with the U.S. Open brackets being fought out during most of April. And last night the 2nd Annual National Polo Pony Show was held over at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center, which normally hosts CDI dressage shows, and of course, the recent Masters. But with nary a dressage horse in sight, polo ponies had their night in the spotlight with this event, dreamed up by one of polo’s most talented female players, Sunny Hale
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
Cream of the Crop.
Monday, March 28 2011
And the hooooome of the, braaaave...... Photo ©Kym Ketcham Because if a skydiver trailing an American flag hadn’t touched down in the International Arena just as Ki-Juan Minors sang the final, pitch perfect note of the National Anthem, the night would have seemed incomplete, somehow. Fortunately, that is how the 2011 WEF season’s finale class opened, and the 7,000 show jumping fans filling every available space in the International Arena (a sight that warms On the Line’s heart) were thoroughly impressed.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
If Louboutins Were Saddles, They Would Be Called Voltaire.
Thursday, March 24 2011
Va-Va-Voltaire! When was the last time a saddle was likened to Sex and the City, or designer shoes? I would venture to say, um, never ! Until now, that is. If you hang around horse shows, chances are you’ve already met Brice Goguet. The tall, 32-year-old Frenchman is on quite the mission to tell the world about his Voltaire saddles. With a prime vendor booth at WEF that is right on the path where all the warm ups intersect, Voltaire has been impossible to miss all season
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
A Star is Born.
Monday, March 14 2011
For the first time in six weeks, trainers all over the West Coast are gratefully waking up without the assistance of an alarm clock. HITS Thermal wrapped yesterday as a great horse show should – with an exciting finale grand prix and top notch riders battling it out over a difficult course to the sounds of an enthusiastic crowd. Designed by Olaf Peterson, the $200,000 Lamborghini Grand Prix of the Desert drew 53 star studded entrants. But no one, not Rich Fellers, not Jill Humphrey, not Hap Hansen, not last year’s winner Jill Henselwood, could get the best of a certain blond haired girl with a pixie face. That was how I described Lucy Davis when I interviewed her less than one year ago, after she won her very first Grand Prix in Los Angeles. That article, which ran in Sidelines’ August 2010 issue (and is reproduced here for your reading pleasure,) introduced a promising young rider. I write about a lot of talented youngsters like her, but with changes in horses, college, and other roadblocks, only a few of them go on to make a bigger impact in the industry.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
He’s The Man.
Friday, March 11 2011
It may have been all sunshine and Lamborghinis in Thermal yesterday, but in Palm Beach, dark and stormy clouds unleashed enough rain to cancel Thursday’s classes at WEF. Luckily, the highly anticipated Exquis World Dressage Masters CDI5* were beginning down the road at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center under a much appreciated covered arena.Purely a fan of dressage with no desire to ever pick it up myself (where these people find their endless tolerance for flatwork, I don’t know), I nonetheless can appreciate how very difficult it is. And beautiful. And fluid. And when performed correctly – harmonious. Steffen Peters traveled from California to prove as much with the great Ravel, scoring miles above the 2nd place finisher with 80.87% in the Grand Prix test. We can safely say that they’re the favorites heading into today’s Grand Prix Special and Freestyle classes….dontcha think?
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs