OH MY
There’s no conflict with Olympics & World Championships in the spring. In theory, during those cycles the best 5* horses would be at those competitions which would preclude them from vying for the 5* national champion title.
That being said, “5* national champion” is a completely arbitrary title that’s never really been viewed as much more than making sure there’s a storyline for an American rider.
What an absolutely stunning pony!
So I am JUST NOW getting around to catching up on this thread. I was at KY Wed through Sun this year, and it was a WILD ride.
As far as Emporium’s fall…I was right there by the water when it happened, actually caught the whole thing on very clear video. I was confused on why they kept saying his shoe was caught in his throat latch, from the video I have it looked more like his front shoe was caught up in his girth or something so he couldnt get his leg up under him and was nowhere near his head. But he was thrashing a lot, and ended up facing the other direction so maybe it got caught up in the throatlatch then. Though they had the bridle off at that point so who really knows.
It was horrifying though. The thrashing in the water after he fell, he knocked a volunteers legs out from under her at one point. Then the panels came up and people were saying they heard he wasn’t breathing, or that they were putting him down (this was after they sedated him so he had stopped moving which made everyone even more worried). Then the trailer came, and it took so long to get him it we were sure it wasn’t good news. Everyone was crying. Definitely made me question if I actually want to event again. We were SO RELIEVED when we found out later in the day he was okay. Watched the video I had about a million times to try to piece together what happened to him while we were waiting.
Other very good, fun things happened that weekend too, but I’d been meaning to share what I was front row to as far as that fall.
We were there when it happened too, but walked away. Can still hear the thrashing in the water. Heard so many different things about how they got him out of the water into the trailer, everything from being pulled with a winch to walking right on. Was shocked and incredibly happy the next day to hear that the horse was fine. What an ordeal he went through.