Devonsangel
Shared on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 10:17I have returned from my brief but fantastic vacation. I had the chance to experience one of the ultimate of equine tests of endurance, the Rolex 3-Day event. Now, I realize that most people won't care and that's fine. This was my vacation and I had a blast.
The Rolex is composed of a dressage test where riders and their horses execute maneuvers with precision to show agility and partnership between horse and rider. The moves in and of themselves may not seem like much but when asked to do the moves in succession they become difficult.
The second day is the test of endurance over a four mile cross country course of obstacles. Horse and rider are tested on bravery and courage. A lot of the obstacles include a sharp drop off after a jump that is not visible to the horse or in and through water. It is physically exhausting and very dangerous. Horses are traveling at approximately 20 miles an hour and the obstacles are solid wood, they have no give. Sadly, two horses had to be euthanized on Saturday because of wreaks and one rider is still in the hospital with a broken jaw, ribs (punctured lung) and broken collar bone. Her horse was used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a Dark rider horse and proudly carried the name of Frodo Baggins.
The third day is stadium jumping. The horses are tired and the jumps are over 4 feet tall. It is easy for them to get lazy since they know the rails will come down. In fact, there were only two horses that went through the course without dropping a rail. One of them was ultimately the winner.
There was much to see.
One of the most remarkable parts of the experience was to watch a pony named Theodore O'Connor go over the jumps. Now, when I say pony, I mean he is only 4 foot 7 inches at his shoulder. Most of the other horses are closer to 5 feet 8 or six feet tall at their shoulders. This pony was jumping at or above his own height and making it look easy. If you plug his name into Youtube there are plenty of videos showing him on the cross country courses in other shows.
Oh, and if the link does work, there is a picture of me eating fried cookie dough and being silly. You just can't go to something like this and NOT try a fried confection. But, I must say, I could not finish it, even for me it was waaaayyy tooo sweet.
Well, it's back to the grind and the rest of the world. I must admit it was nice not having a computer or internet for those few days.
Keep on Go!
The Rolex is composed of a dressage test where riders and their horses execute maneuvers with precision to show agility and partnership between horse and rider. The moves in and of themselves may not seem like much but when asked to do the moves in succession they become difficult.
The second day is the test of endurance over a four mile cross country course of obstacles. Horse and rider are tested on bravery and courage. A lot of the obstacles include a sharp drop off after a jump that is not visible to the horse or in and through water. It is physically exhausting and very dangerous. Horses are traveling at approximately 20 miles an hour and the obstacles are solid wood, they have no give. Sadly, two horses had to be euthanized on Saturday because of wreaks and one rider is still in the hospital with a broken jaw, ribs (punctured lung) and broken collar bone. Her horse was used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a Dark rider horse and proudly carried the name of Frodo Baggins.
The third day is stadium jumping. The horses are tired and the jumps are over 4 feet tall. It is easy for them to get lazy since they know the rails will come down. In fact, there were only two horses that went through the course without dropping a rail. One of them was ultimately the winner.
There was much to see.
One of the most remarkable parts of the experience was to watch a pony named Theodore O'Connor go over the jumps. Now, when I say pony, I mean he is only 4 foot 7 inches at his shoulder. Most of the other horses are closer to 5 feet 8 or six feet tall at their shoulders. This pony was jumping at or above his own height and making it look easy. If you plug his name into Youtube there are plenty of videos showing him on the cross country courses in other shows.
Oh, and if the link does work, there is a picture of me eating fried cookie dough and being silly. You just can't go to something like this and NOT try a fried confection. But, I must say, I could not finish it, even for me it was waaaayyy tooo sweet.
Well, it's back to the grind and the rest of the world. I must admit it was nice not having a computer or internet for those few days.
Keep on Go!
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Comments
Submitted by LtBlarg on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 07:37
Submitted by CRASHFIRE on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 10:22
Submitted by ixtab on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 10:25