Leslie Law and Kai-Steffen Meier join us this week to share some highlights from their teaching as featured clinicians at the 2018 ICP Symposium at Longwood Farm South in Ocala, Florida, February 19-20, 2018. The two-day symposium was dedicated to the training of young event horses, with the first day focusing on flatwork and the second day focusing on work over fences, both show jumping and cross-country.
Law and Meier both discuss what they focused on each day, including exercises and techniques they used to help riders develop the horse's gaits. Law focused on developing the young horse's natural rhythm while Meier demonstrated how to begin to ask for collection from the young horse. On day two, both Law and Meier coached riders through developing the appropriate forward, uphill canter for show jumping and then translating that forward gait to the cross-country field. Both clinicians closed by offering up their top tips for working with young horses.
Let the fun and games begin! This morning kicks off the official start of competition at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (K3DE). The hefty four-star field is the first to set foot in the Rolex Stadium starting at 8:00 a.m. Last year we saw 49 four-star pairs in this division, but this year there are 63 pairs in the field.
Thirty-five five-star horses presented today under sunny skies at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.
If all goes according to plan in the first part of the extended weekend, we will see 36 horses galloping across Derek di Grazia's CCI5*-L cross-country course at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (DK3DE). We partnered up with the team at CrossCountry App to bring you a preview of both the five-star and CCI4*-s tracks this year.
Lights, cameras, action! The first formal horse inspection (which some might informally refer to as "the jog") at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (K3DE) takes place this afternoon at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. While this part of the event is a fan-favorite historically based on the impeccable turnout of the horses and the stylish and forward fashion choices of the riders (we are looking at you Boyd Martin in hopes that you bring back the American flag suit circa 2022), it serves a very important purpose: ensuring that each horse is fit, sound, and ready to compete at the five-star level.