My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
When I was a child, I read Marguerite Henry’s fabulous book, White Stallion of Lipizza, which tells the tale of a baker’s son who wants to become a rider at Vienna’s famous Spanish Riding School, training the famous white Lipizzan stallions. Against many odds, he succeeds. That was a time when the dream didn’t include girls. Breaking […]
Read MoreReiner Klimke’s victory lap on Ahleric at the 1984 Olympics is the stuff of legends. With apparent ease, he and Ahleric performed 75 consecutive tempi changes as the lapped the arena. All while he rode with one and and waved to the crowd. To make such an accomplishment looks so effortless is remarkable. Which is why it […]
Read MoreAccording to Princess Haya, the president of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), the status of equestrian sports at future Olympics is precarious. In a recent interview she stated that there is no guarantee that horse sports will survive beyond the 2012 Olympics. The problems? Interest in dressage is low, there have been complaints about the […]
Read MoreForget mucking stalls. Don’t worry about the rising price of hay, or whether your horse has enough turnout. These horses come with an on/off switch. Interactive mechanical horses were first developed to help jockeys recover from injuries suffered during racing and jockeys are still one of the major users of these simulators. However, manufacturers have […]
Read MoreMany of us dream of finding horses with International potential in a backyard barn or turned out in a field. There are two horses competing this year that fall into that category — they started out in careers that did not generally lead to Olympic success. Poggio II, Amy Tryon’s eventing mount, worked as a […]
Read MoreThere’s something incredibly cool about sitting in your living room and watching the first equestrian events of this year’s Olympics. Especially when they are in Hong Kong and you are in Boston. The live feed is available for free at: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html Right now I’m watching the dressage but I can’t wait for the cross country […]
Read MoreAs we wait for the Olympics to begin, it’s really interesting to get a window into the life of some of the competitors. There are several Olympians who are keeping blogs . . . just be careful, reading them can be addictive. Enjoy! General Overview: Brian O’Connor is the announcer of the equestrian events: http://special.equisearch.com/blog/brianoconnor/ […]
Read MoreWhen I was horse shopping 12 years ago, I wasn’t in the market for a Trakehner. I didn’t really have any breed in mind. Mostly I wanted a horse to event. A horse that would have good enough movement to produce a decent dressage test, enough jump to keep me out of trouble, and brave […]
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