For those of you who will accept nothing less than a weekly post, here is today’s, which is really just a glorified auto-reply that I’m out of my kitchen office for Easter. I’m off to recharge my batteries on a sunny little corner of BC’s Gulf Islands, where there are no DQs, no EC politics, […]

You know that old cliché, “kicking someone when they’re down”? Or how about “adding insult to injury”? Or “flogging a dead horse”? Well, just roll them all together and you have something that approximates what came down the FEI communications chute this week and landed with a stinky thud in my inbox. I thought the […]

Are you a lower level dressage rider with lots of cash, plenty of time and an insatiable appetite for blue ribbons? Waste not one moment! Load up the rig, wrap up your horses’ legs, and head for the Global Dressage Festival, a virtual pot of gold for riders who are sick and tired of measuring […]

Selena is not competing this weekend. With two of the three star horses belonging to ourselves, the competition budget is tight. No optional extras. However, in this instance it was just as well. Selena was out riding Solo a couple of days ago and sneezed and put her back out. Go figure, all that cross […]

What, you ask? Countdown to Normandy, which is still – according to the Normandy 2014 website – 525 days away? Why of course! Preparing for the second most important championship after the Olympics starts a long, long time before the competition, unless you are a Saudi show jumper. Canada’s WEG hopefuls are already busily training, […]

I know I promised a couple of weeks ago that I would leave the drama of Welly World alone until something actually newsworthy (as opposed to gossipworthy) happened. I should have qualified that promise so that it didn’t conflict with my previous promise to bring you the complete interview I conducted last month with (mainly) […]

Not to worry, today’s headline is not in reference to me. I have not been hauled off and beaten behind the barn by any of the several parties who might feel tempted to knock my teeth out. No, I’m talking about the sport of Eventing, which has taken a couple of power punches these past […]

Last week the FEI issued a press release filled with invisible smiley emoticons about the Bromont bid proposal they ever so graciously heard in Lausanne.  The first thought that crossed my mean little mind was that, just a few years ago, someone from the FEI (I think it was Alex McLin but it might have […]

If you read yesterday’s post, you may recall that one of the UAE Endurance Sinners has an extra long suspension, partly due to the  fact that while he was provisionally suspended he continued to attend FEI sanctioned endurance races. He didn’t compete of course, but he was there hanging out. Because I had familiarized myself […]

You know, on balance equestrian sport is pretty clean (I’m talking Olympic disciplines – no hunters!), especially compared to the likes of cycling. According to a 2012 study by WADA,  cycling was the worst of the 26 Olympic sports, with 3.71% of tests coming back positive for some nasty substance or other.  At the other […]