Races & Events

Next up: Dressage in the Rockies. Three days work of horse showing, and lots of hours in the truck. Is it worth it?

Sometimes when I catch horse sport coverage on TV it really makes me cringe--especially on the mainstream channels like NBC. Best coverage is certainly when the former OLN now Versus captures Spruce Meadows or one of the Budweiser series. Instead of treating the audience like imbeciles, they show many complete rounds and narrate knowledgeably.

Occasionally Animal Planet will weigh in, with its new Sporthorse Cup. It does a fairly horrible job with horse coverage, missing important moments, editing out entire sections of rounds, and basically cobbling moments here and moments there together.

The USEF announced its dressage and jumping squads for the upcoming Rolex World Cup in Las Vegas. The teams are a bit of the same-old, same-old--but that's okay considering how well some of these riders did in Aachen, Germany in September at the World Equestrian Games. Rumor has it that Catherine Haddad, who rides and shows in Germany, is all that and more, and if she gets a chance to show it could be the clincher for the U.S team.
Dressage:
(Rider/Residence /Horse/Age, Breed, Sex/Owner)

Steffen Peters/San Diego, CA/Floriano/17-year-old Westphalian gelding/Stephen and Laurelyn Browning