The United States Eventing Association does all they can to promote continuing education throughout their membership. One inexpensive, quick, and easy way to continue learning as much as possible is by reading every book that you can get your hands on. Managing and Conditioning the Event Horse, written by experienced eventer Elizabeth Grisell-Short, provides a fresh look and easy to read look at all things involved in keeping your eventer fit, healthy, and ready to compete at any level.
Short, a life-long equestrian who has done everything from hunters and jumpers to training and re-training racehorses, has produced an educational book filled with her personal tips and tricks to help the lower level eventer or adult amateur get the most out of their horses, all while keeping them in good health.
The book features chapters on proper nutrition, the benefits of certain supplements, training and conditioning, and veterinary care. She also provides the reader with easy-to-follow training charts and sample exercises for all the levels from Beginner Novice to Advanced.
As an added bonus, Short gives the reader a show checklist, a list of books and videos for additional reading and viewing, and her own herbal horse cookie recipe! As the book itself states, Managing and Conditioning the Event Horse is “an excellent reference for training the horse for eventing, conditioning on a daily basis, and managing an equine athlete”.
Managing and Conditioning the Event Horse is available online at Lulu.com in paperback, or as an e-book.
Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.
Please always remain vigilant when it comes to sending any personal communications via email or text. Every year we receive reports of members and leaders of our sport receiving phishing attempts both online and by phone. These are often communications disguised as being sent from USEA staff or other leaders. As the years go on, the phishing attempts appear to be more directed and tailored.