Ladies Logic

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

WOO HOO!!!!

First time Olympian Gina Miles from the US took an individual silver medal in the Olympic 3 Day Event. The team standings did not change much from the end of day 2 (although the Italian team pretty much self destructed in the show jumping with anchor rider Roberto Rotatori acquiring an astounding 31 penalties in the show jumping phase) but the shake up in the individual medal standings that I suspected could happen, did happen. Ingrid Klimke had a rail down in each of the two show jumping rounds as did Australia's Megan Jones and Clayton Fredricks. Germany's Hinrich Romieke joined Miles in the double clean club.

The next equestrian competition will be the team and individual Dressage competition which I will probably skip. The next event for me will be the team and individual jumping which starts next Friday. Closed circuit to Spurringrl - the individual jumping finals are on August 21 during the day and yes I will post updates for you!

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Monday, August 11, 2008

A Non Political Post

My Minnesota readers and friends know that I am a bit of a horse crazed teen-ager at heart. I used to ride hunter/jumpers in my mis-spent youth and worked at a barn that trained jumpers and 3 day event horses. I even worked one summer as a outrider for the Midwest Regional USET Olympic Trials. So needless to say I still follow equestrian sports fairly closely. With the start of the Olympics this week, I am in full fledged horsey mode. The USETs (US Equestrian Team) Olympics started out with the 3 Day Eventing (Day 1 Dressage - think obedience for horses, Day 2 Cross Country Jumping - endurance test and Day 3 Stadium Jumping). At the end of Day 2 the team medal contenders are Germany, Australia and Great Britain with 4th being held by the surprising Italian team. Germany, Australia and Britain are perennial power houses in eventing although the Kiwis (currently in 6th) have been making great strides. The USET stands in 7th overall in large part due to the elimination of Amy Tryon who fell off of her horse during the Cross Country phase.

The individual standings are dominated by the Germans who hold three of the top 10 spots including 1 and 2. The second place horse, piloted by Ingrid Klimke (daughter of Dressage great Reiner Klimke) was an absolute joy to watch as he covered the course. The highest placing American rider is Gina Miles of California who is currently tied for 5th place. Given that a mere 4 points separate 1st from 5th place (in the individual competition) it is still anybodies game at this point. One downed rail or a refusal could drop you out of the medal contention entirely so tomorrow's show jumping phase will be crucial.

While the finals are going on tomorrow, there will be no blogging or email. I will be rooting for the USET for sure, but I will also be pulling for Ingrid Klimke and Abraxxas. In large part because of the time I spent in Germany and in large part just because I want to see if he is as much of a joy to watch in the stadium as he was on the cross country course.

It almost makes me wish I still had horses.....

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Heartbreak

Long time readers know that I am a horse crazed teen-ager at heart. I have been blessed to have two wonderful equines in my life, Shadow Dancer and The Whiz Kid, and now that they are gone I get my "horsey" fix watching horse racing and any Olympic equine competitions that the networks show us.

Those of us who are into it know that today was Kentucky Derby Day. It was another crowded field and pre-race favorite Big Brown did what he has done in his prior starts, but the news was the sad breakdown of second place finisher Eight Belles shortly after finishing the race.

Eight Belles was attempting to become the fourth filly to win the Derby. However, as the horses galloped out around the first turn, the filly fell to the ground and jockey Gabriel Saez jumped off.

An equine ambulance came onto the track, but the filly could not be saved, said Dr. Larry Bramlage, the Derby’s on-call veterinarian.

“When we passed the wire I stood up. She started galloping funny. I tried to pull her up. That’s when she went down,” a distraught Saez said.


ESPN just interviewed Dr. Bramlage, who called Eight Belles injury a "freak" occurrence and he is correct. It is not uncommon for a horse to go lame in both front legs, but to break both at the same time is just unheard of. As someone who rode performance horses for 10+ years and who (at one time) wanted to be a professional horse trainer, I simply can not come up with a plausible reason why this happened. It was just a freak accident.

However...after a couple of classes in equine anatomy and physiology, I came to understand that racing a 2 and 3 year old Thoroughbred - whose joints are not fully developed - is a recipe for breakdowns. The equine leg is an amazing design. All of that pressure and pounding and torque is put on a seemingly china frail leg. The joints of the equine knee and foot are made up of bones (some no bigger than a tangerine wedge) that on their own would not be able to absorb that kind of punishment. When fully developed (usually sometime during their 3rd year) and working together properly, though, those tiny little bones are concrete!

Maybe the time has come for racing fans to stand up and demand a little common sense out of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Maybe it is time to make the Triple Crown races 4 year old races and change racings structure so that training and racing can not begin until the horse is 3 years old. At the price that these horses are selling for (5 and 6 figures are not unusual) it is a matter of protecting your investment as well as being a matter of the horses well being.

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Busy Day

Life at the Casa is going to be busy today. I leave you with this video tribute to Dan Fogelberg (who died over the weekend and the tender age of 56) and 2006 Kentucky Derby Champ Barbaro who also left us way too soo. Enjoy!


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Sunday, May 06, 2007

It's a Horsey weekend....

The Derby yesterday and now the Rolex 3 Day Championships today. For those who don't know, 3 Day Eventing is the ultimate trial of a horse and rider. Day One consists of Dressage (which the Logical Husband equates to watching cement set). If you have ever seen the Royal Lippazan Stallions, you have seen dressage in action. Day two is cross country jumping. The fences are high and solid. There is no room for error on the cross country course. The final day is show jumping - my old event. This combines the athleticism of the cross country phase with the discipline and grace of dressage. The fences, at this level, are 4 1/5 to 5 feet tall...they are not small.

Three day eventing was originally designed as a test of military horses and riders. They had to have the obedience and discipline (dressage), endurance (cross country) and soundness (show jumping).

Blogging will have to wait until the end of the Championships.

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