http://equisearch.com/equiwire_news/weg2010/eventing/wofforddiary2_092910/index.aspx
#5 http://equisearch.com/equiwire_news/weg2010/eventing/wofforddiary5_100310/
Thank you, Pony Grandma!
From the sounds of it, the eventing cross country might claim some sacrificial horses. I am not an eventer and have never jumped in my life, save the occasional hop over a trot pole. But I know that eventing has the black eye of being too hard on the horses. Do you think this course goes against the grain of making eventing safer? Isn’t that what all the eventing summits were for last year and this year, to make it safer?
As excited as I am for this World Event, I am sending out vibes that all the horses get to their finish safe and sound.
thank you for posting the link!
[QUOTE=winfieldfarm;5128573]
From the sounds of it, the eventing cross country might claim some sacrificial horses. I am not an eventer and have never jumped in my life, save the occasional hop over a trot pole. But I know that eventing has the black eye of being too hard on the horses. Do you think this course goes against the grain of making eventing safer? Isn’t that what all the eventing summits were for last year and this year, to make it safer?
As excited as I am for this World Event, I am sending out vibes that all the horses get to their finish safe and sound.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. I will be there and hope to see all horses around safely, having witnessed a fatal crash at Rolex a few years ago (Laine Ashker and Frodo Baggins). Never, ever want to see that again. Here’s hoping for safe rides all around.
We’ll have to see how it rides, but much of what Jimmy described was difficult and technical, but would invite a runout as the worst outcome if not ridden well. I think that’s the best kind of course: rider gets punished for not riding the line correctly, but not hurt.
3rd Installment
TKS! I changed the title. No one wants to miss these when they come up!
God I love his blogs - the David O’Conner’s buttons comments are too funny.
I got all blurry eyed reading his description of the images in the mist. Don’t we all take a big moment to just stand there out in those fields and reflect! So many camera moments are in my head for yrs of going to Rolex, since the original 1978. I still pay homage to the graves at the Head of the Lake. The KHP is an annual pilgrimage. So many ‘great’ horses and so many memorable rides. I love to stand and listen to the rhythm of the gallop and their breathing as they fly by in the lanes. I used that description with one OTTB that we had - he had a ‘Rolex gallop.’ It’s in my soul.
And I will have to get one of those hats!
That one was great, and I got a little blurry eyed myself, right before I laughed out loud at much of the rest of it. I loff Jimmy.
Love his blogs! #4 is also up but it is a short one. Can’t wait for his recap of xc!
P.
…Usually there is a mist coming out of the infield on the race course, and if you look closely you can see Might Tango thundering down to the finish of the 1978 World Championships, or Mike Plumb warming up, or Winsome Adante showing his disdain for massive fences, or hey, isn’t that… ? They are all there, if you look into the mist and wait for a minute.
:sadsmile:
[QUOTE=xeroxchick;5133178]
God I love his blogs - the David O’Conner’s buttons comments are too funny.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps he forgot the year he came out of retirement to ride Carawich at Rolex for Karen O’Connor who was in Australia; seems to me there were a fair few T-Shirts being spread around that read “The Show’s Not Over Till The Fat Boy Rides”!
You should have been at the cw. He was waxing poetic and spent the most time at the Lexington corner - the last standing jump from 1978.
