Going Over Fences - Photos

I volunteered and worked for over 20 years at a horse barn where we bred, trained, and showed horses.  Horses that were bred and trained for three-day eventing - dressage, cross country, and stadium jumping.  I loved the sport and still do...  and there are many ways to ride and jump: you can participate in a point-to-point, in steeplechasing, in cross-country events, riding across country, trail riding, - you name it.  Of course, it's best to know what you're doing, and to have taken lessons - and balance is extremely important, too.  The biggest thing to remember is: The more you ride, the more you fall.   Here are a few photos of jumping and just riding....

The best view ever - from the back of a horse

In eventing, the more skilled you and your horse are, the harder the obstacles...

Helmet cam shot of a cross-country jump

Jumping works because of a complete trust between horse and rider

There are many types of obstacles

A fall at the steeplechase course in Aintree, England *

A point-to-point fall and crash *

And sometimes your horse feels good and just bucks from excess energy...

** The horses and riders in these two fall survived with bumps and bruises,

thankfully with no serious injuries **

More Stuff...

In the Kentucky Derby picture, El Areeb is out of contention, coming back from a breeze with a bone chip in his knee.  Always Dreaming won the Florida Derby this past weekend and Girvin won the Louisiana Derby.  Next Saturday will see the Grand National Steeplechase run at Aintree - there are currently about 50 active entries, any of which can be scratched by the trainer up to the start of the race.  No more than 40 horses are allowed to start in the Grand National.
   We've had some rain and a little drought relief this past week.  Forecasters are claiming we'll get snow tonight, again.  There's a big westerly breeze that is drying, but it looks as if it's bringing clouds up to the mountain tops.  We might have rain, or snow...  I'll just wait and see as always.  The Forecasters were very serious when they said we'd have 5 to 8 inches of snow fall Thursday and Friday, but all we had was a light rain.
   Still missing the lady Rose.  My next pet appointment is on the 14th - walking Nicodemus and Emmett, and then again on the 17th.  Seems very odd not to have walking duties daily...  I could accept an offer from a couple in the same neighborhood - they have three Anatolian Shepherds, a Golden Retriever, and a wolf-German Shepherd mix.  The Golden is the smallest, at 60 pounds; the youngest Anatolian is 7 months old and weighs 75 pounds so far.  The others range in weight from 110 to 135 pounds.  - And when I walk two of them together, the sidewalks and pathways clear out - it seems like I'm walking two great white sharks...  But the owners gave me incorrect dates a few years ago, and while the dogs did receive care from me, it wasn't the full-time care the owner expected.  She gave me a date that was 3 days off from the correct date, and when I noticed the family hadn't returned, I continued to feed, water, and walk all of them - but I wasn't staying in the house.  They were not nice about it, even when I produced their original e-mails regarding dates and times....  So I'm not sure I really want to get involved with them again.
   We have placed a rather light-weight bird feeder on top of the coffee table on the balcony, and placed a small water bowl for the birds as well.   The cats can only go out under supervision, so we won't have any calamities.  But they are so cute when there is a flock of finches and sparrows on the balcony, eating and drinking (and occasionally bathing), and the kits are curled up with their noses against the glass and they are making their instinctive chittering sounds...  Love my kits, but love the birds, too!
   The third Chincoteague pony foal born this year - a little boy I named Lost Tide - didn't survive.  He was born on the 27th and died on the 31st of March.  He was originally ignored by his first-time Mom, but then they were placed together in a box stall with a small paddock.  He seemed to be doing well, they were bonding, and he was nursing.  He laid down for a nap Friday afternoon and didn't wake up.  A filly was born on the 27th, also, I call her The Swan - Mom is Little Duckie and Dad is Legacy.  Then Splash of Freckles had a buckskin pinto filly on April Fools' Day - the fourth foal so far for Legacy...  So he's sired three girls and a boy so far this year.  Riptide has only had the one colt (so far this year) who didn't survive.
 

Pineau De Re Wins Grand National at Aintree

The Grand National Steeplechase at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England was run this past Saturday.  I'm very happy to report that, for the second straight year, there were no equine deaths resulting from the race.  The Grand National is a National Hunt race, and was first run in 1839.  Originally, the race was four and a half miles in length, but has recently been shortened by 90 yards, to 4 and 7/16 miles.  The Grand National features jumps larger than the usual National Hunt courses, and several are well-known for the accidents and pile-ups of horses that occur at them.  The course is a double circuit of 16 jumps, skipping the last two on the second circuit.

 This year's winner is an 11-year-old French-bred gelding named Pineau De Re; he landed in front at the final jump and continued to stride away from his rivals, winning by 5 lengths.  His jockey was Leighton Aspell, who had retired for two years in 2007, but felt the need to return to racing.  The horse's owner is John Provan of Scotland, and he was bred in France by Michel Hardy.  His trainer is Dr. Richard Newlands, who trains a stable of twelve as a hobby, while still running his medical practice in central England.  Pineau De Re was followed across the finish line by Balthazar King and co-betting favorite Double Seven.  There was one false start before the race began.

   Pineau De Re won the race as a 25 to 1 longshot; in 2013, Aurora's Encore won at odds of 66 to 1, and in 2012, Neptune Collonges won the race at 33 to 1 odds.  And, just as a tiny fillip of information, Pineau De Re is only the 6th French-bred horse to win the Grand National.

   The best known strangest finish of the race occurred in 1956, when Devon Loch, owned by the Queen Mother, and ridden by Dick Francis, did a strange belly-flop while passing the water jump.  And one of the most wonderful winners was Red Rum, so far the only 3-time winner, who won in 1973, 1974, and 1977.  He also placed second in the 1975 and 1976 races.

   And, of course, the race was immortalized in Enid Bagnold's 1935 book National Velvet.  Elizabeth Taylor portrayed Velvet Brown in 1944, who piloted her beloved horse Pie around the Grand National course and won.  Mickey Rooney, who sadly passed away yesterday, played her father's employee who knew his way around a racing and training stable.

   Next year's version of the Grand National at Aintree should be as dramatic as this year's, and, I hope, also without serious injuries or deaths.

Grand National Steeplechase, Cats, and Weather

It's another beautiful morning, but the weather folks are saying that we'll be getting 8 to 14 inches of snow Monday night and Tuesday. It was in the upper 60s yesterday, and that is also the estimated high for today. Tomorrow, they say the high will be in the 50s, and that Tuesday we'll stay below the freezing mark. Spring in the Rockies is always interesting!

  Maggie May started singing for her breakfast at 3 this morning... I closed my bedroom door, and slept until the usual 5:30, before getting up to feed her. Ooch was very alert this morning, and insisted on supervising the cleaning of his litter box. He ate well yesterday and was chowing down on his breakfast when I left this morning. My kits scarfed their breakfast and have been outside, chasing each other in the sunshine this morning. Lovey is now in the cat tree, while Nedi is "stalking" the squirrels. And I really enjoyed seeing all of the episodes that have shown (so far) of Vikings on the History Channel last night... and there's a new episode tonight! Yahoo!

  Yesterday, Goldencents was the winner of the Santa Anita Derby, with Flashback second, and Super Ninety Nine third. But the horse race I was most interested in was run in Liverpool, England yesterday - the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree. The length of the race is 4 1/2 miles, and the horses jump 30 obstacles during the race. In the last two runnings, two horses have died on course each year, from bad falls. This year, two horses fell, but were not injured; six jockeys also fell without injury. A full field of 40 horses started the course, with only 17 crossing the finish line. Seabass was the betting favorite (at 11 to 2) and his jockey was hoping to become the first female jockey to win the Grand National. Seabass tired badly and finished 13th. The turf was rated good to soft, and a 66 to 1 long shot was the winner. Auroras Encore, an 11-year-old bay gelding, by Second Empire, won the event by 9 lengths. The purse was 975,000 British pounds; coming in second was Cappa Bleu, and in third was Teaforthree. It was a rousing finish.