We can agree to disagree.
It goes without saying that a hurricane is on the coast and then becomes a tropical storm inland. Most people do understand that, I hope.
This hurricane was predicted to move slowly and turn into a tropical storm with very heavy rain over land. The weather was not predicted to come inland to Western N.C. until now, and now it has.
Off to watch replay of x country now!
Tryon is over 300 miles inland. We lived in the Piedmont when Bertha hit. It really is just a big storm. But as someone who grew up and lives now where big summer storms are fairly ordinary it wasnāt much different. Others may not feel the same. I have a strong recollection of my CA relatives crawling under tables during a typical midwest thunderstorm.
The rain will end tonight and it looks fairly dry next week. The arenas are built to drain, people will do whatever they have to do to adjust outside venues where it is necessary for conditions. Heavy rain happens anywhere there is horse competition, people deal with it as necessary. 
Itās time to look forward to whatās coming up next.
I intend to use that FEI TV sub to watch some disciplines I almost never see in action!
Hope they have the reining available on demand. I want to watch the first non-U.S. individual gold medal winning round.
spam reported
The story of New Zealand riders bringing horses to a competition in the US with the plan to not bring them home but instead sell them on in the US due to funding constraints is not a new one. I am sure they would have had no trouble finding a home for that horse. Selling off partners to fund the next one (or even to fund the trip in the first place) is unfortunately a big part of international competition.
Local trainer did just that in the early 1990ās. Withdrew on x-c at Badminton (extremely deep slick mud). Horse was by then 16 yr old. Her $1500 horse was by then quite valuable (2nd at Rolex) but shipping home was beyond the budget. Gelding stayed with a BNT who adored him. I think her horse had a kinder outcome than Karen Lendeās Nos Ecus at the same event. I cannot believe the dissing of the NZ endurance horsesās owner.
I didnāt read it as he was planning on selling the horse because of this comment ābut āno one is going to buy a 20-year-old horseā, he saidā. To me that read as though they were planning on euthing him after competition? Didnāt entirely make sense to me.
Brown Derby,
Refresh our memories?
I think her horse had a kinder outcome than Karen Lendeās Nos Ecus at the same event.
KL was pretty eager beaver back then and did not pull up when he was struggling. He was PTS at Badminton. KL acknowledged the error of her ways and how it changed her. I was not there. A college student I used to ride with was there as a groom. If I recall I believe she said the footing at some points was knee-deep mud. My point was it was kinder to leave the horse in UK than overburden it on course despite every intention to fly it home in luxury.
He may have been hoping to give him away as a pasture pet or babysitter, not sell him. I do not read it as euthanasia was the plan when the horse left NZ.
The owner stated he wanted to give the horse to an endurance person as a schoolmaster type and had a home lined up for it.
So he said.
I had a better look at the cross country replay yesterday (the online footage was spotty, the television was better). The footing looked good. I assume that people were worried about the āall weatherā part at the end, not the former golf course that was the majority of the course?
Iām so glad that it went well. It was good luck that the worst of the storm skirted the grounds as well.
I hope that the rest of the WEG will be trouble free.
Do you have any real reason to doubt what he said; ie seen anything in print or reported otherwise?
I was not worried about the all weather footing, just about the grass. I saw pictures last week that showed the sod lines still visible in front of at least one cross country jump, which made it look like the footing must be pretty new. I did not know the part about the course being built on the old golf course until it was mentioned on tv. Any combination of wet weather and grass footing is cause for concern in my book. Iām glad the footing held up so well. Hopefully everything will be more smooth for the second week.
No, but I havenāt seen any independent confirmation of it, either. And the 20 year old horse who did not have a return plane ticket ended up being euthanized, after competing at a high level for that same owner for almost a decade. Itās very sad for that horse. He deserved better, in my opinion.
Maybe there really was a wonderful retirement home all lined up for him right up the street from WEG. But unfortunately he didnāt get the chance to see it, either way. That stinks.
In all honesty, the members of the NZ team would not be ones I would lump in the with the horse abuser crowd at all. And a 20 year old Arab really isnāt an old horse at all, heck a 27 year old completed Tevis this year.
As of the writing of this article, there was no home lined up for the horse.
https://times-age.co.nz/farewell-to-barack/
āIt was not uncommon for a horse to be sold while overseas to avoid return quarantine costs, but āno one is going to buy a 20-year-old horseā, he said.ā
āThey are hoping he will find a new home at an endurance riding school somewhere in the USA.ā
All the reports Iāve read said the horse was euthanized due to kidney problems. Knowing that a horse being euthanized during the competition would have a full necropsy, maybe really, truly, it was kidney failure?
I guess I donāt see gremlins hiding in every cornerā¦
yes. A leading cause of kidney failure is fluid loss, ie dehydration, it is entirely likely that riding a horse too hard during the WEG conditions could lead to kidney failure from dehydration. I donāt see the conspiracy theories at all but when I hear hoofbeats I try to see horses, not zebras.
that article was in February! Plenty of time to line up a legit home. Honestly if there was a real need I am sure any number of us would offer. Condolences to the connections.
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