In Homage to Ralph Lauren

10/19/10 3:06 PM

To my dearly devoted readers (hi mom) it seems to me that in all the excitement of the WEG I forgot the most important figure in the horse world – the Colgate equestrian team. The English team will compete in their first show this coming weekend at Skidmore. Good luck, riders – GO TEAM! The western team will take to the arena in early November with their first shows at Morrisville (the team competes in two shows per competition day). Having already covered so many super cool sports here in Champion and a Half (that name seemed so much cooler when I was a freshman), I think that it’s officially time to study the one sport I would give my left hand to play: Polo. In its simplest terms, polo is a competition between four person teams whose objective is to strike a wooden...

Onward to Normandy

10/14/10 12:09 PM

Alright, I realize that I sort of dropped the blogging ball last week, but since it was midterms I’m thinking I have an excuse. Despite my exclusive bonding sessions with Case Library last week, the equestrian world did manage to continue on without me as the WEG rolled through week two, ending on Sunday. It would be totally impossible for me to tell you about all of my favorite moments in the competition and still find time to do all the schoolwork which magically appeared on my desk after fall break. So, here it is my favorite story from the last week of competition in Kentucky: As we’ve discussed, vaulting is really, really great, but despite how cool I may think it is vaulting is not a very well known sport in the US. That is why I was so excited to see the US take gold in...

Bringing Back the Top Hat

9/30/10 12:20 PM

It has been a busy couple of days in the dressage arena down in Lexington as both the team and individual medals were decided. Maintaining their teammates’ momentum, Tina Konyot on Calecto V and Steffen Peters on Ravel rode well, earning the US a fourth place finish. The team competition was won by the Netherlands with Great Brittan and Germany taking silver and bronze. After the team competition wrapped up, the Grand Prix Special Individual title was decided. Having placed in the top 30 during the team phase (Peters and Ravel took 3rd with a score of 78), Peters, Konyot, and Bateson-Chandler all qualified to compete for the individual title. For this phase, the riders all performed the same test (just like they did in team competition). Ravel and Peters rocked it out, taking home...

The WEG: Weekend One Report

9/28/10 12:58 PM

As lovely as the WEG opening ceremonies probably were (you can watch them at USEFnetwork.com), I was unable to watch due to schoolwork. And, to be honest, I am far too wrapped up in the riding to focus on anything else. The reining competition was, as usual, so much fun. What I found particularly interesting was watching the enormous talent of international riders in a discipline that originated in the US, as you can tell by the country’s continued success in the sport. At the WEG, in the team competition, 29 nations were represented. By Sunday afternoon during the final rounds, the US was already leading, but victory wouldn’t be decided until the end as the US took the gold, Belgium the silver, and Italy the bronze. This gold medal finish, though not a surprise, is very...

The Four-Legged Ones

9/23/10 8:37 PM

A few days ago, USEF released a fantastic article highlighting the equine members of the team which will be representing the United States at the WEG in two days (but who’s counting? I mean, I am, but hey…). Although all the competitors will be a ton of fun to watch and cheer for, here are a few of my favorites: This year, the dressage team will not feature a mare for the first time since 2002. This is particularly interesting to me because I still remember (and occasionally re-watch) the incredible performance of the mare Bleu Hors Matinee and Andreas Helgstrand for the team from Denmark at the 2006 WEG in Aachen, Germany. Although it is not a particularly big deal that there are no mares on the team, it is an interesting turn of events. On the endurance team, all of the...