Morning Feed: Monday, Jan. 30

January 30, 2012Leslie WylieUncategorized#I NEED COFFEE, #NEWSLeave a comment

Top of the morning to you, Horse Nation. The bad news is, it’s Monday. The good news is, you’re about to get a heaping scoop of Horse Nation’s inaugural Morning Feed. The Morning Feed’s goal is to (1) give you something less depressing than a newspaper to read over your coffee and (2) bring you up to speed on what’s going on in equine news around the world. So later in the day, when such-and-such at the barn is like, “Did you hear that Steffen Peters and Ravel earned an 81% at the Dressage World Masters in Palm Beach this weekend?” you can be like, “Oh, yeah, it was actually an 81.383%” and they’ll be like “Um…” and you’ll be like “Well, maybe you should start reading Horse Nation.”

No, we’re kidding, don’t be like that. But do join us for the Morning Feed here, same place, same time, seven days a week.

Without further adieu, today’s news recap comes from Coren Morgan:

In the world of recognized horse trials, Rocking Horse Winter 1 took place this past weekend. In the OI Buck Davidson and Sharon Will’s Absolute Liberty took the blue. Following behind them is Emma Kate Fisher and Carlingford’s Merlot. Buck was back for a fourth place finish with student, Caroline Martin, coming in fifth.

In OI B, Michelle Mueller and Amistad finished on their dressage score for a large, ten point, win. Jessica Pye is back in action with “Bounder” for a very respectable third place finish. And in OI C, Nora Battig and Borneo Royale took the win. All three OI sections hosted 20+ competitors and had a variety of troubles.

In the Preliminary, Mike Huber was out for a win. Also, Fleecework’s Mystere Du Val is back on the scene with Heather Morris in the tack. With three divisions of intermediate, six divisions of preliminary, seven divisions of training, six divisions of novice and four divisions of beginner novice, Rocking Horse was sure to be a busy place. There were many riders out, warming their horses up, so be sure to check the results for more details. [RHW1]

Last night was the premiere of HBO’s new horse racing drama, Luck. Luck is a behind the scenes look into the horse racing industry- owners, jockeys, trainers, gambling, etc. The nine-episode season stars Dennis Hoffman. For more on Luck, tune into HBO on Sunday nights. [LUCK]

Steffen Peters has stepped up to win the World Dressage Masters. Peters, who was the first to go in the last set of seven riders, scored an impressive 83.70% with Ravel. Last to go in the set, Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin, came second but the narrowest of margins – .05% out of the lead. Peters, who is thrilled with his win, was also extremely nervous while waiting to see if anyone would top his score. ” I came out and watched Charlotte, and I went over and said, I think you have it. When the scores came up, I felt like I was on a team in a major playoff, and I’d kicked a field goal with 1 second left.” While neither rider had foot perfect tests, their mistakes were minimal. Congratulations to Steffen and Ravel. [WDM]

In some “bad choices” news, a farrier in England has been suspended by the Farrier’s Registration Council for allowing his brother, who is untrained, to shoe a horse. The incident, which took place in September 2010, has earned the farrier a suspension, and fine and court charges. So people, don’t go shoeing horses in England unless you are trained. [Dumb]