The 2018 edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games™ will be held in Mill Spring, NC, over thirteen days from September 11-23rd, 2018 at Tryon International Equestrian Center. Tryon 2018
Since I get restless as a spectator, I prefer to volunteer. I need something to DO. So, I filed out the form. AFAIK, this doesn’t constitute an offer from them, nor a commitment from me.
I have volunteered on the big stage before: WEG in Rome and Lexington and the Olympics in Atlanta. OTOH, I’ve been out of the horse show/event volunteer world for a while [Kentucky Memories]. Organizers want to – understandably – work with people they know.
We shall see.
If you are interested, here is the contact form, WEG – Volunteer Inquiry
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Rodney continues to extend his vacation. His lip is healing. Now he is missing a shoe. To recap, ankle -> back bite -> lip -> shoe. [Tests The Vest, Rodney Lately]
When I feel like a vox crying in a helmetless wilderness, I always know there is one person on my side. Been There, Done That and I have been horsing together for, well, enough time to have the stories to show for it. (Really, my eyes weren’t covered for that long, and the road was empty.) She wears helmets. She writes about wearing helmets, The Chronicle of the Horse: It’s Only Your Brain Afterall. For International Helmet Awareness Day, I asked her to talk about her plan to wear a helmet in a discipline where I’ve never seen a competitor wearing a helmet. Ever. Welcome BTDT.
My father rode jumpers internationally. When I was a horse-crazy kid, he made me promise that I would never, ever get on a horse without a helmet. I have kept that promise for over 50 years.
I finally quit riding (that’s a long and not-very-nice story with which I shall not bore you) after 35 years as an on-again off-again professional, and discovered that I still wanted to stay involved with horses in one fashion or another. The Rodney’s Saga blogger, whom I have known for ages, lured me into the world of driving the American Saddlebred. This is a whole new world.
I got very lucky, in that her trainer has some of the nicest and most tolerant school horses I’ve ever run into (and I’ve run into quite a few), and a good many of these are ride/drive chaps. I got involved in the Academy section of ASHA shows (Academy is designed as an introduction to riders who are new to the sport, who aren’t sure if they really want to show; gives them a chance to get their toes wet without undue expense or travail).
Very few competitors in ASHA shows wear helmets. When a specific venue mandates that juniors must wear helmets, the outcry astonishes me. By the time I’d participated in a couple of shows, I was the only driver wearing a helmet consistently. Most of the women drive bare-headed, with a fascinator, or with a straw picture-hat; the gentlemen wear porkpies.
Since I am now considering moving out of the restricted and into the open ranks (where looks and presentation do count), I started looking around for a way to wear my helmet without appearing glaringly out-of-step. So I got in touch with Debbie Navelski of RodeApple Hats (she works through Etsy) and she made me this!
It fits right over my helmet and will go perfectly with my suit and dress!
Full Circle Horse Park, in Cropwell, AL, had a dressage, combined test, and lower-level three-phase schooling show last Sunday. We took Milton over to look around. He was fabulous.
Look at that. And that. And those horses over there.
As soon as he got off the trailer, he greeted his 15 new best friends. Although he stared at everything, he failed to dance and fuss. He was a bit distraught when Greg walked him down to the XC, away from the new friends. Note to self, Milton doesn’t like to be alone. I wonder how this will play out in competition.
Milton’s first showground warm-up.
Milton behaved so well that Greg harnessed up and did groundwork off in a corner. The original plan had been to go to SSF to hitch. We decided this was equally valuable experience.
After working, Milton was over the novelty of it all.
The only misbehavior was going home. He stared at the step-up into the trailer as if he couldn’t figure it out. ‘It’s too hiiiiiiigh.’ and ‘I can’t lift my feeeeeeet.’ Being stymied by height is not good news in a jumping horse. Not such a big deal in a driving horse. We gave him a few tries and one ‘Seriously, Horse?’ He got right on.
The new paradigm seems to be “portable” jumps strewn about an open field.
Full Circle Horse Park is a new facility that plans to be both a boarding barn and a full-service competition venue. Right now they have a ring, a jumping area, and Amoeba & Tadpole cross-country. Bigger courses and more facilities are in the works. Gonna be a nice resource to have close to home.
And me? How did I survive surrounded by tall boots, jumping horses, and cross-country fences? Shrug. I’ve given up so hard it doesn’t even hurt. Much.
Virtual Brush Box 