Robin the rich to feed the poor

I totally admit that I am a shameless Anglophile. There is nothing wrong with that. England has given us Badminton Horse Trials, Burghley Horse Trials, Virginia Leng, Lucinda Green, William Fox-Pitt, Prince William, Range Rover, Elton John, Absolutely Fabulous, Coldplay, and -- need I even mention -- the great and glorious Mr. David Beckham. So, it stands to reason that one of my most favorite television channels is BBC America. Good stuff.

My latest BeebAm addiction is the new series of Robin Hood. Fun and interesting story lines that stay true to the legend: there is a hero, a few villains, a heroine, and lots of cute boys galloping through the woods on horseback wielding swords and shooting arrows. Again...good stuff. Jonas Armstrong is crazy cute (I'm way in-love; it's got to be his rugged outdoorsy scruffiness that I find so sweet and appealing), plus he's got the most adorable accent. It's all there, on my t.v., every Saturday night at 9pm. Check it out sometime! You won't be disappointed. Unless you're hoping to see some Errol Flynn-esque "men in tights" nonsense. Then, yes, you will be disappointed. :)

Beckham Tuesday!

So, our marketing teams in Cincinnati and Knoxville had a compelling discussion via email and conference call last Friday about whether or whether not David Beckham was vastly more gorgeous than his wife. I think that these pictures tell the real story. Thanks, Dawn, for the wonderful rendering of Victoria. So real and utterly true-to-life!!! What is he thinking?

Bittersweet weekend

This past weekend in North Carolina was mostly wonderful, as I got to spend time with other eventers and my "other" family, the Briggs fam. My BFF Kelsey and I spent every second together from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, and we couldn't have had more fun if we'd actually tried!!! The competition was fierce this weekend and all competitors, volunteers, and farm staff should be commended for the great effort exhibited to put on such a wonderful horse trial. Jim Cogdell, the owner of the farm, is a saint and a soldier for providing us with such a wonderful venue and competition year after year. It is truly world class. I can't say enough good things about him and his show.

On a more somber note, I must add that Kelsey and I had the great misfortune to witness the fall of Lindsay Pearce and her wonderful horse, Dutch Twist, on Saturday morning. Their accident occured at fence #3 on the cross-country course, a solid wooden and stone "table" that presents a horse and rider with the question of both height and width. Kelsey and I were jump judging at fence #4 all day, and we were directly facing the landing side of fence #3. We are not sure what happened, because all we saw was Lindsay and her horse sliding across the top of the table, flipping, and landing heavily on the other side. Lindsay stood up immediately after rolling clear from her horse, but when he did not get up, she fell to the ground beside him and remained there. Dutch Twist actually lifted his head and tried to get up, but he laid back down and did not move again. Unfortunately, he died about 15 minutes after the horse ambulance transported him back to the stables.

We heard that his death was due to a ruptured aorta, but in these situations, it is difficult to know whether it happened before the fence, which is why they would have fallen and not cleared the obstacle, or whether the rupture occured because of their impact with the fence or with the ground during the fall. What I do know is that there were emergency personnel for both horse and rider at the site literally within seconds. We have all heard of this tragedy occuring to either a horse or rider (although it is not a very typical or regular occurence, thankfully) and the reports always say, "medical and veterinary personnel were on the scene immediately." I always wondered how soon is "immediately," but I witnessed their very quick and professional response this past Saturday, and I know they did everything they possibly could to save Dutch Twist. In the blur of what I saw, I do know that he fell very stiffly from the fence, so I believe that whatever was the cause of his death occured before they ever hit the ground. And, whether that happened before the fence or as a result of the impact with the jump, I'm not at all sure. But I do know that if he could have been saved, the veterinarians at the scene would have been able to do so. The most cutting and painful of all the details in this situation, though, has to be the fact that -- as difficult as this is to believe -- Lindsay has been through this before. In March of 2005, her prelim horse chested the final jump (a stone wall) on the cross-country course at Poplar Place in Georgia, flipped, threw her, and died upon landing. Something like that cannot be expected or planned for. It just happens. I cannot imagine what she must be going through for the second time in as many years.

As heartbreaking as this is to recall and to swallow, I am grateful that Kelsey was there with me. To witness something as terrible as that is hard enough, alone, but to have one of my best friends there...someone who knows exactly what I was feeling and thinking the whole time, because she was feeling and thinking the very same thing...made the acceptance of what happened a bit more possible. Naturally, we asked and tried to answer the inevitable question: "How did that happen?" but it is not our place to ask questions that just cannot be answered. What we can and should do is to think of those who have experienced this loss and keep them in our hearts and in our prayers. 

And on the third day...

...we show jump. Ok, that wasn't intended to be as sacreligious as it sounded! Especially since this Sunday is Easter Sunday. Although, Sunday is the third day, and there will be show jumping.

I'm off today for North Carolina to spend the weekend at The Fork Stables (shown in the picture above) volunteering at the CIC***. I'm looking forward to some time away from home and the experience of seeing all the big name riders and their horses in their final tune-ups before Rolex. But, most importantly as always, I will be getting some Kelsey-time for the next 3 days, as I will happily be sharing the holiday with my "little sister" that I love the mostest and my "other family." I just hope that Mama Briggs doesn't forget my Easter basket! Lots of chocolate and peanut butter, please!!! :)

The boys are back in town

Call me crazee, but I love "Entourage." The new season begins this Sunday night (what better way to cap off Easter Sunday than with a little bit of Johnny Drama?). I will be on the road this Sunday evening, so thank goodness for my DVR!

The Patrol

Snow Patrol has recorded a new song that will be featured in the "Spiderman 3" movie due out this summer. I'm thrilled for them, as I've been a Snow Patrol fan since 2003ish (which is really nothing, as they've been around since the late-90's). But, in the 3 or 4 years that I've been listening to their music, I've seen their star rise, meteorically so over the past year, as their songs have been featured on "Grey's Anatomy" several times. Yes, they are the band that sings that song about "laying here" and "forgetting the world." :)

If you're interested in this new tune, visit their official web site. There is a Flash music player on the homepage that will sample a portion of the new song, "Signal Fire."

What has happened to...

...my man's hair??? Today is Monday, which makes it officially "Beckham Monday" (as my friend Jenn and I like to refer to the first day of the long and weary work-week). What better way to get back to the office than by anticipating the prospect of celebrating the day with visions of his glorious Beckham-ness? But, today...oh, TODAY! I am deeply saddened by this new development. It'll take a lot more than a bad haircut for me to ever think Becks is even slightly less than utterly lucious, but I fear he has gone off the deepend. Perhaps he felt so bad about being vastly more gorgeous than his wife that he thought he'd even the playing field a bit. Eww.

But, you know, hair grows back, so I'll move on...

(click on photo to enlarge)

"Just sit there...wait, wait, wait...."

I had the wonderful privilege to observe Donna Smith teaching this weekend in Bristol, TN. She is one of those very knowledgeable, experienced, and high-profile international eventers that other eventers inevitably say things about, like, "She's so approachable," and, "She's really easy to work with, and very friendly and unassuming," and, "I really learned so much from her. She makes everything very clear-cut and straightforward!" I'd have to say, although I wasn't able to ride for her, that all of these compliments are absolutely true. She is one of those trainers who focuses on the basics, practicing simple exercises, and taking small steps in order to accomplish huge improvements regarding the "bigger picture." I can't tell you how many times I heard her telling various riders this weekend, "Balance, sit up, now wait, wait..." and no matter the horse, the rider, or the type of jump, things inevitably fell right into place if everything was done as she instructed.

It's really amazing how much we let our knowledge and our minds get into the way of our riding. I am a classic case of the "overthinking/too smart" rider. I will be coming down to a jump thinking (my brain churning out every item of riding instruction I've ever read or heard at the rate of about 100 miles per second) "shorten, leg on, shoulders back...shoulders back, eyes up, leg, leg, leg..." and all my poor little horse is thinking is, "stay out of my face, let me do my job, and just don't fall off." Why does it have to always be so complicated? Sometimes, it's great to have a big name rider just remind us that all we are doing is steering, balancing, and hanging on! When all that happens effectively, it doesn't matter if it's a 2'6" vertical or a 3'9" corner, life will fall into place as it should. I fear that in my thinking so much and getting so involved in the details of my every action when I'm riding, I forget that my horse knows a thing or two about what we're doing, and if I just let him do his job, then life is good!

Best of luck to Donna next week at The Fork CIC*** and best of luck to my friends and fellow riders who had the chance to train with her this weekend. I look forward to taking a lot of that information and putting it toward my first day back in the saddle (since February!) later this week.