equestrian sports

1) Barbaro's blowout
2) The outpouring of well wishers during Barbaro's treatment
3) Beezie Madden's nearly flawless World Equestrian Games performance on Authentic.
4) Andreas Helgstrand's unbelievably fantastic Grand Prix Special and Freestyle Performances on Blu Hors Matine.
5) Beezie Madden's wreck on Authentic at the Rolex World Cup in Las Vegas.
6) Karen O'Connor's 14.1 hand pony Theodore the Great coming in 3rd at the Rolex Kentucky 3 Day.
7) Amy Tryon's horse pulling up lame at the same event, and having to be put down a few days later.
8) Watching Brianne Goutal, star of Animal Planet's TV series about the Medal McClay, move rapidly up the ranks of the show jumping world.

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.

Word comes this morning from USEF that Andreas Helgstrand and his stunning gray mare Blu Hors Matine, withdrew from the World Cup (Dressage) after Blu twisted her pastern. The injury isn't serious and the mare would have likely recovered in time to compete, but she still showed signs of lameness in the trot-out prior to the event.

The pair stunned (see the video we have posted in the video section) World Equestrian Games spectators with their performances in the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle, earning a silver medal. Both tests were nearly flawless. With a few more months of maturity (Blu is only 9), the pair was a favorite to bring home the gold in the World Cup. More importantly, though, spectators were looking forward to watching Blu Hors and Hegelstrand perform.

I know you're out there. I saw my traffic today, and there are a lot of you dropping in, but now I want to hear from you... Just a word or two. A story about your horse. What funny things does he do? What was your best show performance, ever? What is the one thing that makes your horse spook? What's his favorite treat (and please don't tell me "McDonalds").

Write your stories! Today!

I'm looking for some good novels to read on vacation next week. I want to read horse-y novels but there are so few good ones out there. Anyone have any suggestions?

Every time I come back to the site I find someone new! Today it was Prince and Patches from Illinois, and Kaley4 who joined our little and growing group. I notice there are some members out there who haven't yet posted--I'd love to read your stories and see your photos and videos. We've got a diverse and interesting group started, with members in Austria and the Southwest US and Russia and the UK. I'm hoping our community continues to grow, so send yourhorsesports on to your horse friends and riding buddies.

You know, when I left a boarding stable and moved my horse (Volare, the one-eared wonder) home, I worried I'd miss the social life of the barn aisle. After all, for us horse-types, often that's our only source of friends (at least it was for me). But in time I realized that horse friends can come from anywhere--down the street, up the valley, and across the world. I made some new horse friends in Europe last time I went over--it's all because, while our passports are different colors, our passions are the same.