Ecogold Launches Horse Junkies United, a Blog by Amateur Equestrians, for Amateur Equestrians!

We are very excited to announce.... that ECOGOLD has created a new website for amateur equestrians, “Horse Junkies United”, by and for amateur equestrians from different English riding disciplines.

The content is written by Amateur riders from across North America who are actively involved in dressage, hunter/jumpers and eventing. The goal is to provide cool, fun and meaningful content - with a point of view - that will relate to amateur equestrians across all English disciplines. The blog will cover all aspects of English riding including coverage of events and shows across North America, clinic reports, fashion, informative product reviews, and interviews with professional riders, special segments and of course contests!

The blog, which can be found at www.horsejunkiesunited.com, is the brainchild of Patricia Da Silva, ECOGOLD's Marketing VP. “After the successful Ammie Blogger Experience at Rolex Kentucky, where a team of amateur riders covered the event on ECOGOLD’s blog, some of the bloggers expressed an interest to keep going,” she said. “It just made sense to create a separate website and to bring in dressage and hunter/jumper riders to be more representative of the North American horse show scene.”

In 2011 ECOGOLD was the winner of the Equestrian Social Media Award for Best Use of Social Media in Category 14 - Saddlery or Tack Company - International.

ECOGOLD is proud to welcome CHARLES OWEN & CO. as their first partner. Danielle Santos of Charles Owen said, “Horse Junkies United is a great idea! Amateur riders across disciplines love to share their experiences and this blog gives them a place to do that. Charles Owen is proud to be involved in such an exciting new project.”

Another feature of the blog will be reviews of Boyd and Silva Martin’s training videos. The Martins, who are both sponsored by ECOGOLD and CHARLES OWEN and compete at the international levels of eventing and dressage, respectively, have created a series of training videos. One of the Horse Junkies United bloggers will watch the videos and write something about each one.

Carrie Braff, an amateur event rider from Ontario, Canada will be Blogger-in-Chief for Horse Junkies United. “We really want this site to branch out to ALL the amateur English Discipline riders out there.” said Carrie. “What better way than to have the content be written by amateur riders who are not only intelligent but funny, witty and somewhat crazy.  After all, if all of us horse junkies were normal, let's face it, we'd have nothing interesting to write about!”

While the blog will feature regular contributors, anyone can submit blog posts or get involved by emailing info@horsejunkiesunited.com

Check it out!!!!! www.horsejunkiesunited.com

Best of Rolex: The Ammies rocked!

The Ammie Bloggers were THIS great!

Having the Ammie Blogger Experience at Rolex Kentucky (amateur riders blogging about their experience and posting updates and photos on ECOGOLD's Facebook and Twitter pages) brought another dimension to the event.

In my job, I deal with top riders on a daily basis, so I tend to forget that they are a big deal to a lot of people.

But seeing the Ammie Bloggers every day with eyes full of stars, so excited and grateful for the experience, brought another dimension to "my" Rolex. I felt like Santa every single day! Kind of a "fake Santa" though, because I didn't think I was doing all that much for the amount of gratitude I received in return. I was glad to help, in a very small way, bridge some of the gap between "the general public" and the "Rolex stars".

I knew those private moments and one-on-one course walks with Rolex riders and meetings with grooms, would be special but never, in a million years I thought the bloggers would be so amazing. I was really, really impressed with #1. how much fun they all were #2. how incredibly talented they are.

The photos and content created by the Amateur Bloggers compared favorably to a lot of the Rolex coverage out there, with a lot more emotion thrown in... There were at least one or two kleenex-worthy reads... So a BIG thank you to Cheryl, Calina, Carrie, Tracy, Jennifer, Sarah, Holly, Kate, Elyse, Becky, Krisy, Lori, Cathy and Aislinn! You made our Rolex really special. (I have a feeling the Ammies will be back....)
 

Our Amateur Bloggers were featured every day on the Horses in the Morning Radio Shows (big thanks to Glenn and Jamie!) Here are the links to the shows:

Rolex Show Day #1 - Cheryl and Calina's Interview at -56.00 minutes

Rolex Show Day #2 - Becky's Interview at -46.00 minutes

Rolex Show Day #3 - Holly's Interview at -36.50 minutes

Rolex Show Day #4 - Carrie's Interview at -33.75 minutes

Also, I want to feature some cool fan videos...(not by our Ammies but fun stuff nonetheless.) I love this kind of videos. Not professional in any way, but you can tell there's a lot of time, effort and passion behind each of them.  Enjoy!

Rolex 2011 from jumpingchicka96

2011 Rolex Kentucky from eventerbug2

2011 Rolex Kentucky from PretzellyPony

Kentucky Part 1 by ridergirl101

Rolex 2011 from ShoshanaSaysHi

Jennifer's Rolex Adventure - Goodbye Rolex, Hello Reality

Well, I’ve been putting off writing this because then it means that Rolex really truly is over and I have to return to the real world full time.  Rolex this year was such an amazing time.  Thank you Ecogold for making this year so great.  I got to meet so many people, finally being able to see and talk to Patricia in person after conversing with her for weeks on facebook.  Meeting my fellow ammie bloggers, you guys are great and I’m looking forward to keeping up on your adventures throughout the year.  The people I met randomly out on course or in the grandstands.  I didn’t catch you name, but thank you to the very nice gentleman at the sunken road on cross country who let me sneak into the media only section with him.  I got some great photos of Hannah because of that.  The super nice Nan from eventingday.com, she was so interesting to talk to.  And I can’t wait to try the Flair strips on my horse; I’ll let you know how it works for her.   All the riders who took time out of their very busy weekend for us.  Emma Ford, who was probably busier than anyone keeping Phillip’s horses looking and feeling their best, thank you for taking a few minutes to talk to us.  Every single one of you made this weekend special for me. 

It was also the best learning experience for me.  And not just the obvious things like how to ride that combination or such.  But learning about true horsemanship.  Diana Burnett, making the decision to withdraw Manny when he didn’t feel quite right.  That had to be such a difficult thing to do after working so hard to get there.  But it was the right thing to do for Manny and I applaud her for that.  The poise and confidence of Mary King.  Going into show jumping sitting in both 1^st and 2^nd place had to have been nerve-wracking for her.  She didn’t let it show though.  She looked cool as could be. 

And Sinead Halpin, she is my new hero after this weekend.  I want to be her!  Something she said during her Q&A Sunday morning has really stuck with me.  She was talking about getting to the horse park and during the first part of the week she was pushing Tate to get to the next level, for everything to be perfect.  And Tate wasn’t too happy with that.  But then on Thursday she had the chance to take him to the ring and she said everyone else was practicing the movements but she was just riding around (in her own words) like a 12 year old girl.  Telling Tate, “Just be happy.  I want you to be happy.”  That’s what I want to strive for.  I find myself doing that so often when I get in the dressage ring.  I focus so much on wanting everything to be perfect, that I forget we have a much better ride when we are just relaxed and happy.  That’s going to be my new mantra when I go to shows: Just be happy. 

As great as it was to see Mary make history at Rolex, I think the highlight of the weekend for me was watching Sinead after her double clear show jumping round.  As she and Tate canter around the ring, Sinead trying not to cry, I found myself wiping tears away.  It was getting a little hard to hold the camera steady.  She has worked so hard to get here and it paid off in a big way.  To finish in 3^rd place in her first 4*, that’s just amazing.  It’s the stuff of dreams.  To be standing in the company of Mary King and William Fox-Pitt and knowing that you deserve to be there, it had to have been such an incredible feeling.  I was proud to have been there to witness it.  And feel, just the tiniest bit, a part of it.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Sinead, I’m sure it’s going to be great.

Sinead Halpin wiping off the tears

Once again thank you to Patricia and Ecogold.  It was an unforgettable experience for me.  And I hope we can do something like this again next year.  Only I’ll make sure I get a hotel with better internet access.  Tracy, we’ll have to work on that together.  Congratulations to everyone who competed.  You all are an inspiration to me.  Now it’s time for my show season to start and I’ve got a lot to live up to.

A victorious Mary King

Jennifer's Rolex Adventure - What a Finish

Sunday at Rolex is always a day of mixed emotions for me.  On one hand, I’m excited for show jumping but on the other hand it’s the last day for Rolex and I have to head back to the real world.  I don’t ever look forward to that.  This year, the show jumping was highly anticipated.  Would Mary King hold onto her 1, 2 lead?  How would the up and coming young, American riders in the top 10 finish?  Plus I had some exciting activities with Ecogold to look forward to in the morning.

I had planned to get over to the Horse Park to watch the second horse inspection.  But when I work up to rain and thunder I decided to skip it and sleep in a little longer.  I made my way over shortly before 10 to meet up at the Ecogold booth in the trade fair.  First up, a Q&A session with the fabulous Sinead Halpin.  Sinead talked a lot about her horse Tate and also what a typical day is like on her farm.

Meg Kepferle and Sinead Halpin

Next a visit from Diana Burnett for a Q&A session.  Unfortunately Diana had to withdraw Manny before cross country on Saturday.  Diana spoke about why she chose to withdraw and what’s up next for her and Manny.

Diana Burnett

Then we got to head over to the stabling area and we got the chance to meet the incredible Emma Ford and see Fernhill Eagle up close and personal.  Shared with us a little of her own history, life on Phillip’s farm and how he manages to always have such great event horses.

Time for a last look around the trade fair and then into our seats for show jumping.  The course was very fair.  Time good, only the real slow pokes seemed to accrue any time penalties and the rails were pretty spread out over all the fences.  As I’m sure everyone has heard by now, there was not much suspense going into the end of show jumping. Mary King jumped out of order with Fernhill Urco.  A double clear round guaranteed that Mary would be taking home the Rolex watch, the only question was with which horse.

William Fox-Pitt jumped a perfect , clear round, moving him up 2 places to finish in 4th.

William Fox-Pitt and Neuf des Coeurs

Sinead Halpin, who was so nice and genuine when we met that morning, also had a double clear round.  She finished her both her and Tate’s first 4*by adding only a few time penalties to her dressage score.  It was also enough to move her up to 3rd place and make her the highest placing American rider.  Congrats Sinead, you deserve every bit of it!

Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville

Finally Mary King entered the ring on King Temptress.  Although she later admitted to being nervous, Mary looked cool as could be.  The mare’s unusual jumping style caused me at least to have a few gasps, sure that they would knock a rail.  But she finished with all the rails still firmly in the cups and no time penalties on the clock.  Mary had made history as the only rider to place 1st and 2nd at the Rolex Kentucky event.  It was an incredible end to a great weekend.  Hard to believe it all happened so quickly and once again it was time for me to start the 6 hour drive home.

Mary King and King Temptress

Sarah's Rolex Wrap up.

Emma Ford and Fernhill Eagle - photo by Tracy Porter

Well by now you all know the results of Sunday's thrilling show jumping. With Mary King placing 1 and 2 and Ecogold's on Sinead Halpin taking the 3rd place spot it was an exciting day to be sure. My favorite round (aside from the three mentioned above) were Kelly Prather's clean round to start the day and watching Snip cruise around the SJ in good style! 

I think the thing that myself and others love about Joe Meyer and Snip is their love for the sport. It really resonated with the crowd, the horse still loves his job at some 19 years of age and they received one of the loudest cheers of the day! With the exception of Wonderful Will (who did not present) all the horses passed the jog. There was a tense moment when Hamish Cargill and Sandhills Tiger were held, but luckily they passed on re inspection. Obviously Mark Todd decided not to jump his mount Grass Valley but when all was said and done it was a great end to a great weekend!

Phillip Dutton's Fernhill Eagle - photo by Tracy Porter

In addition to all the great jumping action Ecogold set up a pretty cool treat for some of the bloggers. We were able to meet and talk to Phillip Dutton's wonderful groom, Emma Ford. Thank you Emma for taking time out of a busy day to chat with us! (and also for letting us meet Fernhill Eagle...what a nice looking guy he is!) Emma told us a bit about how she came to work for Phillip, what they do to take care of Fernhill Eagle post XC (sounds like lots of icing and hand walking are involved!) among other things. She stays plenty busy taking care of a barn full of top class event horses!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Sunday (I was afraid that Camera + Rain = No Good) but I believe some of my fellow bloggers were taking some and may have those to share.

Thank you for joining me and the wonderful Ecogold on this journey to Rolex 2011. I hope everyone enjoyed the event as much as I did! Best of luck recovering from the post-3 day doldrums (where we realize that we have to go back to work so that we can afford to come back to Rolex next year!) Thanks everyone!

~ Sarah

Jennifer's Rolex Adventure - Cross Country Day!

Well my time in Kentucky has ended.  As I write this I'm back home in Pittsburgh and what a let down it is to have to go back to work in the morning.  But first (since I finally have working internet again!) I've got two more exciting days at Rolex to talk about. 

Saturday, cross country day.  Undoubtedly the day we all look forward to the most.  The day turned out to be absolutely gorgeous, sunny and warm.  The footing seemed to be pretty decent, a little squishy in places but over all not too bad considering.  At promptly 10:00 Allison Springer headed out of the start box.  She looked great over the first fence, but it wasn't to be her weekend.  The course seemed to ride well.  And although there were a lot of problems on course, no single fence was the cause.  Some surprising pairs did not complete cross country, but the ones who did finished looking great. 

We saw Phillip Dutton early in the course.  Eagle was looking full of jump over the second fence.

Hannah Sue Burnett looked great through through the sunken road.  And still going strong a few fences later at the step table after the head of the lake. 

Luckily I didn't witness any of the falls this year, although I did catch a few of the run-outs, including Mark Todd's at the angled brushes.  After walking the entire course, I stayed at the covered bridge at the very end for a few riders, where I got to chat with a couple of very nice ladies for a bit.  And I got a couple free samples of Flair strips.  Score!  Can't wait to try those out on my mare.  I caught Hamish Cargill at the covered bridge, still looking great at the end of the course.

Eventually I moved on and parked by the farm yard for the remainder of the riders.  I had a great spot to photograph and saw Mary King navigate the combination beautifully.

Sadly Friday's leader had some problems on course, including a fall (everyone OK) but that left the door open for the incredible Mary King to sweep into both the 1 and 2 spots.

Cross-Country Videos - 2011 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event by Holly

2011 Rolex Kentucky Cross Country Videos. Enjoy!

Mary King - Kings Temptress 

Rebecca Howard - Riddle Master - The Hollow

Karen O'Connor - Quintus 54 - at the corners

 

Mark Todd - Grass Valley - at the sunken road

Sinead Halpin - Manoir de Carneville - sunken road

Sinead Halpin - Manoir de Carneville

Mary King - Fernhill Urco

 

Mary King - Fernhill Urco, water and brushes

Michael Pollard - Wonderful Will, double brushes

Jennifer's Rolex Adventure-The Very Late Dressage Recap



Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Eagle



I feel like such a horrible blogger. But the internet at my hotel is practically non existent! Anyway onto the Rolex fun.

Well it's been a fun two days of some really great dressage. It's also been a long couple of days. We made it down to Kentucky very early Thursday morning so I was going into dressage day one with very little sleep. Unfortunately I didn't get to see as much dressage as I would have liked but I still was able to see some great rides. First thing Thursday morning I was able to hang out by the warm up and watch Allison Springer, Phillip Dutton, Mary King and Jessica Phoenix. During the morning break I headed over to the Ecogold booth to finally met Patricia in person.

We unfortunately got stuck in some traffic when we went to check into the hotel during the lunch break so I did miss Boyd's ride just after the break, but I was able to take my seat for the rest of the afternoon. There were some really nice rides in the afternoon, including Heather Morris with Slate River. All too soon the first day of Rolex came to an end.



Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister



Friday morning started with a trip to Keeneland to watch the morning workouts, something that has become a tradition in the last few years. It's pretty fun to stand at the rail and pick out the ones we'd like to turn into event horses. Then we headed over to the horse park in time to watch Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master. They were having a beautiful test, but a couple of bobbles at the canter hurt their score. Then in came Tiana Courday and Ringwood Magister and I could not take my eyes off of them. They had a perfect test and rightfully so took the lead from Allison Springer. The rest of the morning saw some great rides from Karen O'Connor, Mark Todd, and Clayton Fredericks.

Mary King and Fernhill Urco

After the lunch break came some riders that I was super excited to see: Hamish Cargill, Sinead Halpin, Missy Ransenhousen, Mary King and William Fox-Pitt. After following Hamish at the World Equestrian games last fall, I was looking forward to seeing him ride. And he really did have a lovely test. He scored at 51.3 to put him in 14^th place. Very respectable placing and he should be able to move up if he jumps clean. Missy Ransenhousen had a nice test as well. I always enjoy seeing them go, Critical Decision reminds me a lot of one of our horses. And then Mary King. I don't know what to say about her. I've wanted to see her ride for so long and I wasn't disappointed. Quite impressive to sit both 2^nd and 4^th at Rolex.

We finished up the day with a little bit of shopping in the trade fair and then headed over for a night of reining in the new Alltech Arena. So cool to watch something that seems like it would be totally different, but really it was dressage in a western saddle.

Sarah's Saturday XC Impressions

WOW! is all I can say about the course. It was seriously influential today. I would be interested to see how the stat's from previous years stack up against today because it felt like there were quite a number of issues. That said, there were also some really fabulous rides. Mary King is an obvious one! As a kid I had a Mary King's Eventing Stable computer game that my sister and I would spend hours playing. So, understandably, I was thrilled to see her go around in such great style!

Mary King on Cross Country.

Another ride I loved was Jessica Phoenix and Exponential. That horse has some serious hops. Not to mention she looked thrilled to be out there riding him around the course.

<- Jessica and Exponential getting ready to jump the double brush towards the end of the course!

I was worried for a little bit that we would be seriously missing out on horse Show Jumping tomorrow with all the R/W/E's. As it is I am looking forward to a great day of jumping tomorrow.

Best of luck to the competitors tomorrow. My condolences to those whose day's didn't go to plan and better luck next time out!

Tracy's Friday Rolex (just a little bit late!)

I feel like the M.I.A. blogger!! Due to a series of epic FAILS, I find myself sitting in a McDonald's writing my Friday blog on Saturday!
First and foremost, I hope that everyone has safe clean rides today and also a whole lot of fun!
Walking the course with Jessica Hampf yesterday I realized many things about the sport I love. Not only do you need to be incredibly fit to ride these horses but you need to be incredibly fit to walk a four star course! Jessica was FABULOUS about explaining the jumps, the quality of gallop she looked for between fences, and the canter she wants before her take-off point. Jessica made me feel like a friend, not a guest as she patiently answered all of my questions. I asked her what she thought of the course and she told me that it was a "Trevor" kind of course.

While my experience yesterday did not go the way I planned, I learned that it is impossible to have a bad time at Rolex and sometimes plan B is better than the best laid plan A. I did not see a single Dressage ride in it's entirety, but I spent a lot of time in the warm up. Spending time there gave me a better feel for what the riders are like as people, not just the well oiled machines we see in the arena. Some spent the entire time with lots of warm up, perfecting every movement that would be asked while some worked for a shorter time and let their horses relax. I watched grooms and coaches bustle around while horses patiently stood for the final preps. Sinead Halpin was especially nice, chatting with people and allowing a few to pet Tate before she finished her warm-up. The rest of my Friday experience was spent doing large amounts of shopping and helping to support our equestrian economy! Festin will be so happy when I come home with all of his new gear, especially his new ECOGOLD cross-country boots!

Sinead Halpin & Manoir De Carneville (Tate)
Oh and I almost forgot to mention one of my other highlights, a personal introduction to Peter Atkins and a nice chat about his riding & his amazing horse Henny.

I will add an album to Facebook once I stop at Wal-Mart for a new card reader, just another one of my epic FAILS yesterday!

Friday

A wild and crazy day. As of now I've been up too many hours to count, over 18. Here's photos and when I can see straight, more videos of the great course walk with Sinead.

Becky's Day Two "Quickies"

I felt like a celebrity this morning….I got to be a guest on the Horse Radio Network! That’s right: I was interviewed by none other than Glenn the Geek himself. Jimmy Wofford was the guest before me….so in a way, my day was book-ended by JW! Here’s Glenn and Jen:



After my brush with radio stardom, we settled down to watch dressage, and I was able to see Hannah Sue Burnett put in a respectable dressage test.



We ended up making sure we knew what was in the trade fair soon after, and we missed Tiana Coudray’s first place dressage score….drat! But we watched Mary King’s ride, and it was phenomenal.



As always, Jimmy Wofford’s coursewalk was 20 minutes after dressage….and as always, that gave me about 30 minutes to watch and learn from “the Woff” before I had to attend my fence judge meeting. Just a few gems: “The first three fences are designed to get the butterflies in the rider’s stomachs flying in formation. Then they get to fence four. Fence four isn’t a fence; it’s a condominium!”

I LOVE JIMMY WOFFORD!!



At the fence judge briefing, I ran into my good friend Nancy, a fellow fence judge since my first time six years ago. It was nice to catch up!

Tomorrow I’ll be at fence 26. Good luck to all the riders!

Calina & Cheryl's Friday Morning Dressage Recap - 2011 Rolex Kentucky

The clouds may look a little daunting in some of the photos but so far it has just been windy and a little chilly here for Friday morning dressage. The rain is thankfully holding off and hopefully the soggy cross country course is drying out. Although very few people were here yesterday morning to see Allison's test on Arthur, the stands were quite full this morning for dressage.

We got here around 9am and headed straight to dressage warmup to see Ecogold rider Hannah Sue Burnett warmup St Barths. She wasn't yet onand looked quite nervous, but her wonderful groom Shannon Kinsley made a few jokes and she relaxed. Her warmup was lovely and coach David O'Connor watched on.

I was so impressed with the horse - I am not sure I have seen him go in person before (at least on the flat). Her test was absolutely lovely and scored quite well despite a few bobbles in the canter work. I cannot wait to see them go cross country tomorrow!

Canadian rider Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master had incredible trot work and canter work until the last serpentine, where a few mistakes made. Despite the bobbles, this WEG combination had an excellent test and are currently the top placed Canadian pair, with just Jessica Phoenix and her WEG mount Exponential to go this afternoon.

The horse that most impressed me (and probably everyone else here) was Tiana Coudray's Ringwood Magister. As she is based on the west coast, this is the first time I have seen them go. He is absolutely stunning and I was thrilled to see them as the new leaders.

Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister.

Ecogold rider Karen O'Connor on Quintus 54 went next and put in a solid test. There is clearly room for improvement and it will be interesting to see how this horse looks this time next year.

Karen O'Connor and Quintus

As I sit here in the empty grandstands writing the blog, Rolex is kindly showing clips from the Royal wedding on the big screens. I will continue watching this as Calina finishes editing her pictures for the blog.

Our afternoon plans involve watching Sinead Halpin's warm up during lunch break and then watching the rest of the tests this afternoon.

Don't forget Boyd Martin will be at the Ecogold booth (#69 in the arena) at 1pm for a Q&A and the lovely Canadian riders are doing a Q&A at 5:30pm.

Becky’s coursewalk with Hannah Sue Burnett

Hannah Sue Burnett and St-Barths

After several false starts, I was able to meet up and walk the cross country course with Hannah Sue Burnett. Hannah, a lovely, athletic, charming woman was eager to accommodate my needs (I had fractured a heel a few months ago, and couldn’t walk as fast as I used to!), and to answer all my questions as we walked. I felt like Cinderella…or perhaps Kate Middleton!

The first few jumps, she explained, were “easy”…save one, they were downhill approaches, and while the size/spread were intimidating to me, Hannah assured me that her horse would have no problem with them. “He’s very honest, and he’ll try to do anything I point him at!” Hannah assured me. She likes to see her stride and ride to it, something she’s been doing since she was twelve years old, when she rode her pony up to Preliminary.

I asked her what her favorite part of eventing, and she told me that stadium jumping was her favorite because, and I quote, she is a “control freak”. She loves the measured step, seeing the exact stride, and body control of stadium. I asked if she liked dressage, too, and she laughed; “I should, and I guess I do. I’m learning to love it. We’ve been working really hard on it, and I think we’re on the verge of a breakthrough. I’m really excited about tomorrow.” Hannah rides “Nike” at 10 tomorrow, first rider tomorrow!

Her biggest challenge, particularly in dressage, is that she expects a lot of her horses, and then fears that she puts too much pressure on them. In cross country, her biggest “bugaboo” is, believe it not, smaller fences! “When you ride the big fences all the time and are suddenly confronted with a smaller one, you lose the ability to see your stride, and both you and your horse come to it underpowered/tentative!” I can only imagine what THAT must feel like!

Another challenge that’s come to the fore only recently is that of remembering courses. “I’ve always been really good at remembering courses, dressage tests, and so forth. But as I ride more horses in competition at different levels, I am suddenly having brain farts; at Red Hills I had three horses at three levels, and while the SJ fences were the same, the courses were different. I accidently left a fence out of one of the levels that was left out in another. That type of thing never happened before! So I’m going to have to work harder to learn my tests/courses.”

I asked her how she kept positive when walking (and riding) a course, and Hannah responded that being positive and thinking ahead were some of the biggest challenges of riding. As she walks her course, she gives herself a positive pep talk, and thinks about how she’ll ride each fence—THEN she walks and thinks about thinking about the NEXT fence as she comes to the fence before it. “It’s sort of like thinking with peripheral vision” Hannah noted. What a great illustration….I’ll have to work on that!

As we finished, I asked about her “Equestrian Bucket List”. Hannah would love to be on a US team, win a medal, and ride in England.

Hannah explained that she had to hurry; she was singing at a memorial service for eventing organizing legend Rebecca Broussard. “You SING?” I asked incredulously. Yes, Hannah sings at weddings and so forth (but she gets nervous when she’s in front of people). “It’s something I’d like to do more of after I retire from eventing,” Hannah mused. “I love singing.” When I asked her what she wanted to do with it, Hannah replied: “I want to be a rock star!”

Rock on, Hannah! I’ll be cheering for you tomorrow!

The Competitor's Gift To Us

On the eve of Rolex competition, I sincerely hope that each and every rider this year gets around safe, enjoys the competition, learns something, goes home with a prize or with the satisfaction of having done the best they could.
The very best gift riders could possibly give us spectators (and volunteers, too) is the gift of good horsemanship. Make it a great Rolex for us by doing the very best you can for your horse. That is all that we ask. The show of good horsemanship, no matter where you end up in the standings, will be good enough for all of us!

Good luck to all! (And especially rooting for all Ecogold riders, of course!;))

Tracy's Rolex: I can hardly wait!!

I am counting down the hours and minutes until Friday when we enter the front gates of the Kentucky Horse Park and start a whirlwind three day weekend. First stop? The ECOGOLD booth to meet up with the wonderful Patricia and hopefully some of my fellow bloggers (and to pick up my pre-ordered cross country boots!!!!!)!

When I ordered this years Rolex tickets during the WEG pre-sale it seemed like the last weekend in April was light-years away. During the last week or so things seem to have moved in warp speed and I find myself in a frenzy of doing laundry, charging batteries and triple checking that all memory cards are working and empty, and studying the ever changing Kentucky weather in an attempt to be somewhat informed as I toss things from my spring, summer, fall, and winter wardrobe into a bag. Like Holly, I too suffer from F.O.M.S. and have spent hours reading the COTH Jimmy Wofford Rolex preview and every EN, Twitter, Facebook, and blog post about Rolex.

I am now only a good-nights sleep, a 12 hour workday, and an almost seven hour rental car ride away! Who would have thought that it will actually be cheaper for us to rent an economy car and pay for it's gas than to keep filling the tank of an F250 Super Duty?


Better finish packing and go spend a little time with my horse, Festin, since he will be "abandoned" for the weekend! I actually think he will be happy to be spared from the embarrassing de-spooking work that would have been planned (see photo to right)!

Tracy

Sarah's Rolex - It is time to Pack!

My journey to Rolex will officially begin in 2 days! This means it is time to get packing...something a venture to the horse park seems to require a lot of. Rain clothes, cold weather clothes (in case either Kentucky or the Hotel decide to be freezing...) and plenty of warm weather clothes... and shoes. If there is one thing I have learned in my previous trips to the horse park it is that you will not survive if you don’t have comfortable shoes!

Also essential to getting ready to leave is to make sure I have my shopping list! I was a bit disappointed with the shopping at WEG last fall, but am hoping that being in such an eventing heavy setting I will find what I need! Not that you can’t find stirrup leathers just about anywhere. :/ . In light of the ‘impending college graduation’ I have limited my list to the things I actually NEED. (and since I realized the other day that my leathers would probably have gotten me expelled from pony club they are going on the list!) Also on the list is a new helmet and a mega millions winning lottery ticket so I can get the stuff on my ‘I want but don’t need’ list!

Also important in pre-rolex preparations is finding someone to hack my ‘pony’ while I am away. Lucky for me I have sisters who ride and a horse who is level headed enough I won’t worry about either of them heading out together! (Though I will admit I bribed them with promises of picking up extra barn chores if they help me out!)

Finally, one of the most important parts of planning any road trip... reliable(ish) transportation... hmmm that might be a problem. Luckily I though of that possible snafu further than 2 days in advance. Since neither Kyra (my fellow rolex road tripper) nor I would consider our cars ‘reliable’ and the lack of Air Conditioning in mine makes long trips something less than comfortable we are borrowing a car! (Thank goodness for parents with nicer cars, and who care enough not to send us off knowing we may not reach our destination!).

So clothes are packed, shopping lists are made, pony will be ridden, and there is a good chance we will arrive without multiple calls to AAA! All thats left between us and that beautiful Kentucky bluegrass are a few remaining final exams. Bring it on!

I wonder if we will see any of the WEG jumps (like the one above) used in Rolex this year?

Jennifer's Rolex Experience - Is it Rolex time yet?

Mom!  Take me with you!

I just have two long (11.5 hour long to be exact) work days till it's time for Rolex!  Thanks to that I pretty much had to pack this weekend.  Even with this being my 5th trip to Rolex, trying to decide what to pack doesn't get any easier.  Currently weather.com is telling me that we should have good weather, mid 60s to high 70s, windy on Thursday but then partly sunny/sunny the rest of the weekend.  Of course knowing Kentucky that could change 10 times between now and then.  So I pack for every possibility and keep praying to the weather gods! 

Wednesday, I will hopefully have time to keep some last rides in on the various ponies before starting the trek to Kentucky that evening.  We'll be driving through the night so don't be surprised if I'm a little bit punchy come Thursday. 

Like everyone else in the eventing world not lucky enough to head over to England, I spent the weekend compulsively searching for any and all Badminton news.  After immersing myself in the virtual world of Badminton I’m even more excited to arrive at Rolex.  The prospect of getting to see Mark Todd fresh of his Badders win is just icing on the cake.

Rolex has always been the high point of my spring.  It’s such an opportunity to learn from the best riders in our sport.  Like always I will be furiously snapping photos all weekend and we’ll be taking videos, including at least one rider at every fence on cross country.  So lots for me to study after we come home.  And thanks to Ecogold I’m going to get to have an insiders view.  There are lots of great things planned and I can’t wait to take part.  Before we get caught up in all the Rolex excitement I just want to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to Patricia and Ecogold for letting me be a part of this.  I plan to make the most of it and report back to all my fellow ammies both here on Ecogold and my own blog.  Expect picture overload on my blog, last year I had thousands to go through and I don’t expect this year to be any different. 

I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the next few days, I’m dying to see that Kentucky bluegrass and finally meet Patricia and my fellow bloggers in person.  See you Thursday!

Becky’s Antici- (Say it! Say it!) Pation!

I can’t seem to sustain any focus at all….perhaps I watched too much Rocky Horror Picture Show as a young adult. But I think it has more to do with the plethora of horse events happening this weekend, and with me not able to do anything but hear about them. Soon, though, it will be time for the ONE event that is NOT to be missed: RK3DE!

A good friend tweeted while he watched Badminton, and between EN, the Ecogold blog, CoTH forums, and live scoring, I was able to live a wee bit vicariously, thrilling to the stops and recoveries and completions. I’m truly sad that Ingrid Klimke, Karen O’Connor, Stephanie Rhode-Bosch, and Ollie Townend were all eliminated; they are, each and every one of them, riders I watch to learn more about the sport I love.

Meanwhile, closer to home, friends were competing at Holly Hill Horse Trials in Benton, LA, and I was watching live scoring to see how they were all doing. Originally I, too, was entered, but my horse Paddy is recovering from surgery on a fractured splint bone, so I was forced to live vicariously through yet another live scoring web page on the Internet. Congrats to all those who did well, especially at new (or almost new) levels!

Any disappointment I might harbor about not being able to stream Badminton or compete at Holly Hill is quickly quelled by thinking about my upcoming foray to Rolex, though, and the excitement of wallowing in the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park along with thousands of my fellow eventing junkies. Nothing like being around folks who “get it,” who are as giddy and excited by it all as you are!

And the setting….My, oh, my. Currently I reside in West Texas—think flat, dusty, hot, and dry…that about sums it up lately—which leaves much to be desired in terms of environmental aesthetics. But Kentucky….now THERE’S a place worth seeing! Rolling hills. Gorgeous, manicured pastures. Barns nicer than many of the homes in the state. And the horses…….I will be coming from Paris, KY, which means I will be forced to drive first Paris Pike, then Ironworks Road every day for thirty minutes (twice!), drooling over the fantastic sight of splendid TB mares and babies frolicking in pastures, doing my best to stay on the road as I gape at the magnificent horses/setting. Luckily, KY drivers have been quite forgiving in the years I’ve been doing this. I haven’t gotten any better about not looking!

I’ll be excited to cheer for all the Ecogold riders, but I’m especially excited that a fellow Texan, Heather Morris, will be there. GO EXPRESS EVENTING!

I have been on the ground far too much this spring, so I’ll be particularly excited to watch and learn in preparation of being “back on that horse” (and, yes, maybe to shop JUST a little bit…!). Once again, I’ll be a fence judge on XC day; I like feeling like in this, the pinnacle of the sport, I help just a tiny bit. It’s amazing how much you learn by watching the best riders IN THE WORLD go over the same fence, too. You learn what works, what preparation happens before, during, and after the fence, which horses are honest, which riders are prepared, and so forth. I’ll find out which fence I have on Friday night!  

In addition, thanks to Ecogold, I’ll get to go on a coursewalk with one of the sponsored riders, and I’ll get to listen to Q&A’s with some of the best riders in the world, all of which I intend to blog faithfully both for Ecogold and in my own annual Rolex Report (http://rolexreport11.blogspot.com). More chances to learn! I cannot WAIT!

Weather (and airlines) permitting, we get to KY Wednesday evening, and we’ll be there bright and early Thursday for dressage (after a quick trip to Quillin Leather in Paris, KY….a yearly pilgrimage). Until Thursday…..unless there’s a Time Warp…..!

Carrie's Rolex Experience - And Then I Got To Thinking...

When I woke up this morning and looked out my window – I saw grey skies and wind and just pure, grossness.  Then, I checked out weathernetwork.com and looked up the weather in Lexington, Kentucky.  Currently, it is 5 degrees Celsius and a balmy 15 is expected for their high today!!! And, in completely getting ahead of myself, I checked the weather for SEVEN DAYS FROM NOW!!!  Humm – they are looking at anywhere from 10 – 15, give or take.

And then I got to thinking: Packing for Rolex, is going to be a lot like packing for a horse show. When you THINK you have everything you need, make sure you bring an extra…As a chronic over-packer, I am going to attempt to make a list of things to bring.  And then add in Rain gear and a winter-ish jacked and shorts and sunscreen…all in the same bag.  I think that will have me covered. 

Having never been to that part of the US (my dad is American, I have dual citizenship, and have traveled a little up and down both US Coasts), I am really looking forward to seeing the part of the Country that is so rich in Horse!  I also couldn’t think of better people to be coming with me!  My coach, my eventing partner and her sister are making up the ‘Cobourg Crew’, and other then Patricia; I believe I am the blogger that is coming from farthest away!!! I mean, who doesn’t like a road trip based around Rolex right? 
UPDATE: As it turns out, there are a couple people coming from a litttlllleee farther East then I am...but, I will let them tell you about it!!

Chester says: Noooo, don't leave me Mommy!!

And then I got to thinking: What is the best way to get from Cobourg, Ontario, Canada to Lexington, Kentucky, US.  And, NO, I do not have a GPS that speaks to me in a very sexy foreign accent.  So, Mapquest it is!  We are looking at – give or take – a 1,037.18 km drive, which will take 11 hours and 35 minutes…but, I’ll bet, we do it in about 10 and a half.  I-75 South: Here. We. Come. (Although, I have been warned by numerous sources that Highway Patrol does not like foreigners speeding on 'their' highways...well, hopefully, a car full of women, driving down a highway at 4 in the morning will give us the advantage when if we get pulled over.) I am actually impressed with Mapquest at the moment. NOT because they map the gas stations, motels etc along the route. Reason being: They map the BARS along the route!!! They must know we are coming.  We are going to leave around 7 or 8 pm – after rush-hour Toronto Traffic has ended – and arrive bright eyed and bushy tailed (hahahaha) around 6 a.m

This is our route: http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=4-StEedzol

And then I got to thinking: This trip is going to remind me a lot of my Annual Girls Trips To Vegas Weekend. A LOT of cool stuff to do.  A LOT of cool people to meet.  A LOT of cool things going on all at the same time – sensory overload.  A LOT of booze to be consumed (can we bring beer in our backpack on xc day?!). A LOT of incredible horses and horse people to watch (although the horses aren’t really around in Vegas). NOT a lot of sleep.  And well, the way I see it, I have less of a chance of getting arrested in Lexington then I do in Vegas (unless of course I attempt to run around the xc track at 3:30 in the morning, which I haven’t completely ruled out yet), so, that is a good thing.

And then I got to thinking:  I wonder if there is Wi-Fi in the middle of the xc course…because I will have a laptop, a wicked-ass camera, a USB Port AND a video camera along with me for the entire time I am there.  So, let’s go with, “YES, there IS Wi-Fi in the middle of the xc course.”

And then I got to thinking: This whole experience really is going to be geared towards all us Ammies out here.  So – all you Ammies out there – WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO FIND OUT FOR YOU??!! Because, I’ll bet you, I’ll be able to get to the bottom of it!!  If there is something specific you are interested in, let me know and I will see what I can do. (And NO, I will not ask Boyd or WFP to marry you...I know for a fact, both are happily married.)

And then I got to thinking: I can’t wait to meet the other Ammie Bloggers (and Patricia), that are all part of this experience!! I am looking forward to that almost as much as I am everything else that is going to be related to this trip to Kentucky.

And then I got to thinking: If you ARE going to be at Rolex - come and find me! I would love to meet you!!

And then I got to thinking: Everything is better with Bourbon…right?

See you in Kentucky!!