More than a few combos have entered KY pre-Badminton to only run through dressage in recent years.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the event organizers encouraged them to do it.
And in this case, Thomas and Boyd have a fan club. Having them there for dressage only is better than them not competing there at all.
He’s entered both for KY and Badminton because Cue has had sore feet. They’ve made some shoeing changes but if she comes up sore in her prep then he has Thomas still entered at KY and he may try to route her to Badminton. Like I said, many variables.
Cue is also in her last year so I’m glad that he’s giving each horse their own spotlight.
Even before you add in the Olympic year this is such a big thing.
My trainer has run at the 5* level. She hasn’t been back there in a long time not for lack of trying but because it’s really hard to stay there consistently when you’re supporting it all yourself and only have one upper-level horse in the pipeline at any given time. Add in a string of genuine bad luck with a few of those one horses one after another and suddenly someone who’s perfectly capable of being there as a rider is absent for a decade. Make that happen to fifty of those riders and, well…
Factor in the Great Recession, COVID, and the cost of living situation of the last few years on top of the Olympics, and it makes perfect sense. It’s not ideal and I wish we had 75 5* entries that would actually run in Kentucky, but I get why we don’t right now.
If teams are announced early enough, Lumuhlen is going to have an incredible entry list this year.
It seems like everybody who’s in real contention for all the big teams are going the 4*S route (which is understandable). But a lot of people who are really good aren’t going to make their country’s 3-person team and probably have Lumuhlen as plan B.
There are probably 10 or so on the Kentucky 4S list that are proven 5 horses.
The shopping sounds ok enough to get me there, but what about the availability of drinks for my husband? He is a BIG fan of Maryland for this reason alone 
Usually Tito’s has stands everywhere. Sometimes there’s a line for drinks but you can also bring your own 
Blade and Bow usually have a stand right behind the stadium. Very convenient for refills during the dressage and jumping.
Ask me how I know 
Two years ago at KY, arguably the trickiest cross country combination of the entire day was in the 4*, not the 5*. I ended up having more fun watching the tricky coffin in the 4* that than the 5*, which surprised me.
So yes, its disappointing there aren’t more 5* entries but at least personally that wouldn’t make me feel like its not worth watching Kentucky cross country. But of course, YMMV.
at least 6 have withdrawn from the 5*
41 entries currently to my count.
I could not tell you the difference between a 5* course and a 4*course. They are both scary as he… and I love watching both.
Has anyone else started their shopping list? I have. Nothing exciting except maybe finding a dressage saddle pad to,fit my petite 15.2 on a good day mare. She needs a pony size pad I think!
A new dressage bridle has been on my shopping list for awhile now.
Upthread I said I truly needed nothing. I thoroughly cleaned my bridle yesterday and for years it’s had a strap keeper that came undone on one side. For years it’s been driving me nuts even though I’ve done nothing about it.
I’m using it on a relatively new to me horse though I’ve owned him for almost 6 months. He’s been on stall rest for a deep cut for most of that time and we just started tack walking him 2 weeks ago.
I think he deserves a his own new bridle for being such a good boy.
I am also going to clean out my boot sock stash of all the old worn ones to make room “in case” I find some cute ones.
I’m a planner. I am soo ready for Kentucky. We are camping in an RV on site & my BF is coming for the first time.
Currently I am sad that the vendor list has not yet been updated. It says it will be updated closer to the 2024 event, but I feel that we are pretty close!!
If anyone else is looking for info, if you pretend that you are a vendor looking for a spot & you can see the vendors for the trade fair (“Apply here”)! I’m excited to see some new faces different from years before. But also not seeing some others that I have bought from in the past 
(Only for the trade fair. “The Hill” is not shown there - yet!)
I have a few things on my list I will be looking for!
Correct Connect reins
Correct Connect breeches
possibly a new short girth
show coat
brushing boots
fetlock boots
In my shortcut to looking at vendors, I noticed that:
Boyd Martin has his own fan shop
Looks like devoucoux & CWD may have been moved? Or there will be multiple vendors selling the same saddles, TBD. Once we have the hill layout, we can speculate more.
But the Boyd Martin shop is interesting. Will we have more riders with their own fan booths in the future?
I have the Correct Connect neck strap and love it. I didn’t know they have breeches…… edited to add Correct Connect has their own booth!
I want to check out their Free Motion breastplate. Don’t need it yet as we’re not jumping but have my eye on it for the future.
Just looked at the current (As of 4/15/24 at 2:40pm) version of the FEI calendar for Eventing in America. The Virginia Horse trials has 2 FEI events on the schedule. But neither has a 4*. Both currently have a 1*, 2* and 3*.
https://data.fei.org/Calendar/Search.aspx
Em
A pitch in the shopping area at both Badminton and Burghley is so highly prized there is a years long waiting list to get one. And fees are high.
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