On the Line

There’s nothing like a six-dollar iced latte to shake off the effects of a red-eye flight. That’s right, I’ve arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park for WEG. And just in time to catch the last half of the first day of WEG Eventing dressage. That would make it a “quiet” day here, compared to the drama earlier in the week, and the dressage freestyle excitement that’s still to come tomorrow.

As I write this Bruce Davidson, Jr. is entering the ring to cheers, the weather is a perfect balance of sunny and cool, and the wifi is working. Oh, and this place is enormous. Could a person want for more?

Hardly. I’m a hunter/jumper tourist watching a whole lot of eventing dressage, so take the following commentary with a grain of salt: William Fox-Pitt was the first rider to go after the lunch break, and he was amazing. Cool Mountain’s halt up the centerline was flawless.

But then Ingrid Klimke moved into 2^nd place after her test! I’ve wanted to see Ingrid ride ever since I read this. She had a great ride and it was fun to watch her go.

First Lady, the ride for Swedish rider Niklas Jonsson, was so gorgeous that she could make it as a regular dressage horse! Her trot and half passes were outstanding.

Those Italian and French military uniforms sure are interesting.

Pippa Funnel is another rider I’ve always wanted to see in person. She doesn’t have that cute grey horse anymore (see, I know my eventers!!) but Redesigned, the 9 year old chestnut that she rides now is gorgeous. She was the last to go today and scored a 45.5, putting her in 8th place.

There is a good sized crowd of die-hards watching every round of the eventing dressage. As many of them as possible are crammed into the shade, but they are there for every round. Now that’s dedication. I can’t wait to see this place when it’s packed tomorrow for the Freestyle.

There is so much to see here, so much to do, and yes, so much to write about!! Right now I’m just trying to take it all in.

Go here for today’s complete results from eventing. More, much more to come tomorrow!

Check back here tomorrow for the first of my on-site World Equestrian Games posts. I’m taking the red eye from California to Lexington tonight and hope to be at the Kentucky Horse Park in time to catch some of the eventing dressage tomorrow.

After all the drama during team dressage yesterday, I wish I had left a little sooner, but que sera sera, I’ll get to see the Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday night, most of the eventing competition, all of the show jumping next week.  .  . maybe I’ll try to catch some vaulting rides too. I’ll cover all that and any other fun that I come across at the KHP; from what I hear so far, it’s the ultimate Disneyland for horse people!

In the meantime, check out the updates on our Facebook page, and jump over to the blog of my fellow Sidelines writer, LaurenGallops for all the latest. She’s already at the Games, blogging and photographing her heart out, and is posting great sound bites and images straight from the, well, sidelines!

See you back here tomorrow!

The upside to my pre-WEG lack of focus is that compared to the current state of mind over at LaurenGallops, I am Buddha. But knowing Sidelines’ stalwart senior staff writer, she’ll make it to Kentucky in one piece, even if she has to carry her beat-up blue hatchback on her shoulders. I am more than a little jealous that she gets to see the Secretariat movie tonight. . . .

In other news, broadcast schedules of the Games have been released! Universal Sports will happily be streaming all the Olympic disciplines live over the Internet! I was a little disappointed to see that there’s a small fee, but even $29.99 is a small price to pay for all of this:

Again, go here to make sure you have a computer that’s equipped to stream video. Mine told me I didn’t have Silverlight installed, whatever that is. I’m going to skip the headache of trying to install it since I’ll be watching in person (yes, you can hate me!) Universal sports is also airing much of their coverage on On Demand. The schedule is at the link above.

USEFnetwork.com will have streaming coverage for free, but it’s not completely clear how much. Check them out anyway, They’ve got short highlight videos for each discipline up now.

FEItv will have paid coverage too. I watched the Best of Champions competition at Aachen on their site in July, and was impressed by the crystal clear video and audio (too bad the commentators were speaking German!)

NBC gives us nine and a half hours of coverage, but if you’re a true, must watch each and every round junkie like me, you’ll probably be frustrated by what’s sure to be a chopped up version that’s been edited by a non horse person. TiVo it anyway and tell me what you think:

That’s it for now! This time next week I’ll be getting on a plane bound for Lexington! I’d better start packing!

Let’s call it the pre-WEG lull. With just ten (TEN!!) days until the start of the Games and 15 days until I personally make it to Kentucky, it’s hard to think, be inspired by, or write about anything else.

That is, until I remembered that the horse move to end all horse movies is set to open on October 8th! I say, with all the conviction of a person whose movie tastes run from hopeless romantic to downright sentimental sucker. . . that “Secretariat” looks A-MAZING. Even if you didn’t shed a tear when this most famous of racehorses passed away on October 4, 1989, even if you haven’t devoured every piece of printed material ever produced about him, and even if you don’t have a professionally framed Secretariat portrait hanging in your home, you will enjoy this movie. (And if you possess or have done the above, I’ll save a seat for you in the front row on opening night.) I’m going to get busy scouting out a premiere party on October 8th in Lexington. How could there not be one???

Just thinking about all of the new horse lovers that the movie will be sure to generate makes me happy. If the trailer’s any indication, Secretariat bursts at the seams with the very best of all things Disney: sentimental moments, excitement and drama, and Diane Lane beaming her heart out.

Happily, the interwebs are already awash with talk about the movie. Daily Racing Form is holding a premiere sweepstakes contest here, and I found this post from a blogger who saw an early screening. Penny Chenery as a role model for strong successful women everywhere? Hear hear!

Several equally wonderful versions of the trailer follow:

Full Trailer:

Trailer/Interviews:

Short Version:

I also loved the LA Times review, which reminded me that the best movie of all time is actually right here:

Just for the record, Sidelines doesn’t side with hysterical mainstream media folk who throw about accusations of animal cruelty.

And just for the record, I don’t take a thing like a bloody spur mark lightly, no matter who you are.

I’m referencing this unfortunate news article that was released to the world in general over the weekend. It’s unfortunate because when Prince Harry makes a spur mark on his horse’s side, the entire world sees a horse sport + a bloody gouge and generally tend to think bad things about people who ride horses.

We (the collective horse world) want good PR, not an excuse for the UK’s version of PETA to say things like “The use of spurs in such a fast-moving event is a vicious advantage.”

Those people don’t know horses. I saw Prince Harry play polo in January, and he definitely plays to win. But I would never assume that he’d intentionally make a spur mark on one of horses. Harry also travels with an extensive entourage, and with that many people around him, it’s disappointing that not one of his handlers had the foresight to save him from the eventual media s***storm by pulling him off his grey horse before photographers got their shots.

But it wasn’t the overblown news article that still had me thinking about the subject days later, it was the many responses it got on Sunday (from horse people) on Sidelines’ and other Facebook pages (Hello, Dappled Grey!)

Are there really so many people out there willing to jump to the defense of spur marks?? In my corner of the world, any hint of a spur mark is taken very seriously. As an assistant trainer, I would expect to lose my job if I ever caused a big bloody streak like that. I don’t care what discipline you’re riding, a spur rub is a clear sign that some retraining is in order. You know, a horse can feel a fly land on its side and all that.

From polo to hunters, I’ve never met a horse that, with a little effort, can’t be trained to respond to lighter aids. Those of you who joke about the spur marks you all have made on your big lazy warmbloods should be ashamed. I have to say, I’m not too worried about that grey of Harry’s. Just because of the constant scrutiny the Prince lives under, his polo horses surely get some of the best care out there. It’s the horses of all the spur mark defenders that are the unlucky ones.

Prince Harry plays polo in Barbados, January 2010. With spurs - and no marks.

I have to admit, I had my doubts when Sidelines’ current issue was in the planning stages. It was a risky move putting a balding man in a suit who doesn’t actually ride on the cover of a horse magazine. . .  .

But now we’re feeling pretty good over here at Sidelines for putting Alltech’s Dr. Pearse Lyons on the cover of our September issue. It was staff writer Lauren Gianinni’s idea to feature Dr. Lyons on the cover, and she arranged the photo while promising that it would be a winner. Lauren also interviewed Dr. Lyons for the cover story. The story is great but the photo was still keeping me up at night until I saw her proof. As covers go it’s certainly unique, but now it’s been justified just a little bit more.

Yesterday the head of Alltech came to the rescue of World Equestrian Games organizers, who have had to cut their budget by $500,000 due to lower than expected ticket sales and sponsorships. Kentucky.com details the story here. As title sponsor, Alltech has already spent 32 million on WEG, and now, a mere three weeks before the Games, Dr. Lyons has spent another 3.5 million to ensure that WEG is a success.

He’s a pretty interesting guy, and his story is well worth the read.

Of course, all this raises the issue of why WEG needs rescuing: a bad economy, high ticket prices, ridiculous hotel costs, etc. etc. etc. It’s a shame that no one told organizers they wouldn’t attract a sold-out crowd by selling endurance tickets for $30 a pop or general admission show jumping for $178. There just aren’t enough of us die-hards out there who will spend that much! I wish there were! The discount ticket sale that began in mid July ends on Monday, which should give hope to those procrastinating until the very last moment. But in looking on ticketmaster today, all the $42 discounted tickets for dressage and show jumping seemed to have been snatched up.

I want WEG to be a success as much as the next person, after all, I’ll be there. Selling out isn’t really an option anymore, but I hope that everything else goes according to plan. I know that organizers are working hard (and probably giving themselves ulcers from worrying about everything), and I don’t envy their task one bit. But I can’t WAIT for the next 21 days to pass!