A strange juxtaposition, the flashbulb spectacle of the winner’s circle and then the jockey’s stealthy dismount, banana peel saddle hung over-arm and carried loot-like atop a scale, where needles tremble with guilty implication. (more…)
abbygibbon
Olympic Dressage at 71
By now we’ve all heard that Hiroshi Hoketsu, 71-year-old Japanese dressage rider, will be the oldest to compete in the London Games. But did you know he also show jumped in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics? (more…)
Weekend Reader
Welcome to the weekend, Horse Nation. Are you competing? Working? Olympic countdowning? Spectating railside at the Totally Thoroughbred Horse Show at Pimlico? (more…)
Megan vs. Stuart: Part 5
Megan Kaiser has a goal: To compete Beginner Novice at Stuart Horse Trials this weekend. For Megan, a working mom with a 21-y/o horse, it’s kind of a big deal. She’s letting HN tag along. (more…)
Friday Flicks: Celebs in the Saddle
Which celebs spend their weekends on a cutting horse, appaloosa, longe line or polo field? HN movie critic Amanda Ronan has the scoop. (more…)
The Secret Life of McKenna & Dorito: Beatin’ the Heat
M & D survived–nay, flourished!–in the heat at the Maryland Horse Trials I last weekend, and brought home a pretty-colored ribbon to boot. (more…)
Videos du Jour: Comparing 90%+ Freestyles
Perhaps Totilas comparisons are fundamentally unfair, but Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro recently broke the 90-percentage mark in the Grand Prix freestyle at Hartpury. (more…)
Let’s Discuss: Horsey Characters
Fellow bookish folks of Horse Nation, here’s your chance: Black Beauty? Shadowfax? Justa Bob? Joey? I know you’ve not-so-secretly got them ranked. Who are your favorite equine characters between the pages? (more…)
Friday Morning Feed from Ovation
Happy Morning, Horse Nation! Hope you’re having a great Friday.
TGIF Dressage Jamz: Toto & Gaga
Those of you still blue with the news of Totilas’ curtailed Olympic campaign, whom might’ve also, on occasion, pondered the potential brilliance of a Totilas/Lady Gaga freestyle: This one’s for you. (more…)
Totilas to Miss Olympics
Eurodressage reports that Totilas, current world record holder in Grand Prix Freestyle dressage, will miss the London Games. His rider, Matthias Rath, 27, is suffering from mononucleosis and not expected to recover in time. (more…)
Summertime Track Sojourns
I picked up Saratoga Stories: Gangsters, Gamblers & Racing Legends at the Kentucky Horse Park gift shop last year, and since backstory always unmasks the best adventures, this summer it’s Travers Stakes or bust. (more…)
WaPo: Dressage’s other rewards
In the midst of Rafalca-Romney, Horse-Ballet Fever (it is the Summer of Dressage, after all), Kathleen Parker’s recent Washington Post column, “Ann Romney has a horse. So what?” provided an interesting take. (more…)
Black Caviar, Supermare
Hearts broke when Blame outnosed Zenyatta at the wire in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic–and Saturday, in the Royal Ascot’s Diamond Jubilee Stakes, it looked like fans of the undefeated Australian supermare Black Caviar might suffer the same fate. (more…)
GB Eventing Team: Our Handsome Horses
Tina, Piggy, William, Mary and Zara recently attended a press conference at Greenwich, site of the fast-approaching Games, wherein they made much of their horses’ good looks. (more…)
Frankel, Superhorse of England
The Royal Ascot kicked off in Berkshire, UK, today, where unbeaten 4-year-old Frankel took the Queen Anne Stakes by 11 lengths, prompting the Guardian to proclaim him the “greatest ever.” (more…)
Open Letter to William Fox-Pitt
Dear William Speed Lane Fox-Pitt,
My friend Tori has a pre-show playlist entitled “TOTAL DOMINATION,” including a sweet remix of 2 Unlimited’s “Get Ready for This,” and it got me wondering: (more…)
Little Poppet Lionheart
On paper, Lionheart looks the least proven of William Fox-Pitt’s Olympic prospects. But now that he’s been named to the team, is there more to the 10-year-old gelding than meets the eye? (more…)
More History for Secretariat?
Pending results of a new investigation, Secretariat could make history 39 years after his infamous Triple Crown. (more…)
Jockey Mario Gutierrez on Jimmy Fallon
It makes for bittersweet watching now, but last night, Triple Crown dreams were still alight in jockey Mario Gutierrez’s eyes. (more…)
Triple Crown Toes
Got purple nail polish, a camera, and a Facebook account? Wanna show your support for I’ll Have Another and aid the Thoroughbred Charities of America in the process? Here’s your chance! (more…)
Farewell Jim Ligon
Equestrians lost a devoted servant when James K. Ligon, past president of Pony Club and beloved announcer of equestrian events, passed away Monday, June 4, following a brief battle with lung cancer. Ligon was 65. (more…)
Belmont Backside: Legends, Tales
You might look in Barn 60, where six stalls are filled with Bill Turner-trained horses, the most accomplished of which, Pernice, broke his maiden in his seventeenth start last year. (more…)
Almost Infamous
Since Affirmed, 11 horses have almost won the Triple Crown. ABC takes a closer look at a few near misses.