My first day volunteering was about what I expected, actually it went better then I expected though I did spend 8 hours standing on asphalt at the first security check point prior to the Main Entry. From my station I was directing people to the Main Entry or the ticket office if they didn’t have tickets, and I can say the ticket office stayed busy all day which is a very good sign for the numbers. The video I saw of the Main Stadium showed that the stands were pretty full, so guessing their had to be more then 15,000 spectators which is a very good sign. At the start of the month there was only a little more then 10,000 tickets sold for Opening Ceremonies so the fact that there was over a 50% increase in 3 weeks time bodes well for the rest of the Games because its an indication of the economy and that people are wanting to buy their tickets on the day of as opposed to prior to an event. So I would not expect the numbers to be as dire as what was said at the beginning of the month and I think there is a good chance everyone will be presently surprised.
Well we have heard through the grape vine that Purina has chosen the four semi-finalist for the Live from Lexington Blog-O-Spondent contest and afraid yours truly was not among them. I am not too disappointed, I would have really enjoyed being Purina’s Blog-O-Spondent but I have been spreading myself very thin this last year and so to have taken this on may have been a bit much. I do believe “Everything Happens for a Reason”, so I may have missed out on this opportunity but there will be others.
So here is the list as I have been told though Purina still hasn’t officially released the results.
Sheri Israel
Nina Ackerly
Kristine Oakhurst
Erin Gallagher
Of these four only one was on my original list and that was Sheri Israel, aka Dressage Mom . Sheri made my list because I liked the way she came across in her video and she has been doing her blog for the last four years which takes a level of commitment that I can so attest to and so she will be getting my first vote. The contest is actually for two Blog-O-Spondents so I will have see what the other three do on their blogs each day and cast my vote on that basis.
LEXINGTON, KY-The World Games 2010 Foundation today announced a revision to the competition schedule for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
The new schedule moves the Reining competition to September 25-30, and shifts the Vaulting competition to October 1-10. No other discipline schedules were altered.
As an added benefit, NBC Sports will extend its coverage of the 2010 Games on September 26th, adding an extra 30 minutes of Games programming. The broadcast, tentatively scheduled for noon-1:30 p.m., will feature the opening ceremonies, and highlights from the Reining and Endurance competitions.
“We are very confident that this is strong schedule, providing a variety of top sport on each day of the Games,” said Competition Director Kate Jackson.
To view the updated competition schedule, please, click here.
The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are the world championships of eight equestrian disciplines recognized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), and are held every four years. The Games have never before been held outside of Europe; nor have all eight disciplines competed at a single site-both firsts that will be achieved at the Kentucky Horse Park.
The Games will be broadcast on NBC Sports, which has marked the largest commitment to network coverage of equestrian sport in U.S. television history. The 2010 Games are expected to have a statewide economic impact of $150 million, and other current sponsors include Alltech, Rolex, John Deere, Ariat International, Inc. and Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. For more information on the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, please visit www.feigames2010.org.
Its going to be a busy and exciting year with only 631 more days until the start of the Games. We always use the first 16 days of the year for organizational purposes so we will not have any further updates until after that but part of our organizational efforts will be to bring additional support online for our efforts.
I wanted to post a quick update because there is lots of news and we are busy putting together some meetings of our own.
I have as I suspect many of you have been keeping up with all the news on the State’s finances and the current wrangling over the State Budget. I need to sit down and go back through all of it and talk to some of my sources before I comment. At the moment I am not too worried because all the powers in Frankfort know the importance of the Games and I see them making the hard decisions to see that these Games are a success.
As far as our little organization it is being to come together and we are working on having some public meetings and getting out more in the public to get more people involved. I will get more news and analysis up over the next couple of days.
Happy New Year to everyone. 2007 was a good year for us and 2008 is going to be a GREAT year. With less then a 1000 days to go until the start of the Games the excitement continues to build. We are working on some initiatives to continue to educate the public about the importance of their input and efforts in making these Games successful.
Wanted to provide an update on my volunteering activities at the Kentucky Horse Park as I have now volunteered 3 Saturdays and can report with a little more of an informed position.
I took an assignment in the Parade of Breeds Barn because for a horse person it is one of the coolest aspects of the park. So far my duties have included holding horses for the farrier, a very necessary job though not the most exciting, bringing in horses from out in their pastures, grooming horses and working the gates during the shows. The full time staff has been wonderful and very helpful to work with while I learn my way around the barn. The horses have also been great and its like any other barn I have worked in that they all have their own distinctive personalities.
So far my experience has been great, no surprise there, and as always I recommend others to give it a shot. That is one last thing I should say about volunteering, is there is nothing run with giving it a try and deciding afterwards that it is not for you, its better to give it a try and decide its not for you then to never try and never know if you are missing out on a great experience in your life.
I have some other updates concerning other things going on with the group and the games that I will have to get posted soon so stay tuned and thanks for all of your interest in our humble endeavor.
Its the end of May and wanted to give a quick update.
In Kentucky April really kicks off the horse season with the Kentucky Rolex 3-Day Event at the end of the month and then things kick in to overdrive in May with the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday in the month. Of course we should say congratulations to Street Sense and his whole crew and to Curlin for running a great race in the Preakness. Hopefully we will get to see these two again in the Breeders Cup Classic.
As most people have probably realized by now, I am an all around horse person. If it involves horses I have an interest in it, which makes this time of year very busy.
On Preakness day I was actually out watching a Combined Driving Event at the Gala Driving Center in Georgetown, Kentucky. There are not a lot of Combined Driving Centers in the U.S. unlike Europe and the Gala Driving Center is certainly amongst the top.
As for the funding for the Kentucky Horse Park we have taken a wait and see attitude as we wait to see if the Governor calls a Special Session in June. We continue to promote the Games by talking to people where ever we meet them and the response has been largely positive. The real concern always comes back to the money that is going to be spent for the Games as most know if Government tells you one number it is always going to cost more. Our primary goal then has to be to make the Games more successful then what people are expecting so that the State reaps benefits in 2010 and beyond.
I arrived at the Hyatt about 7 am and was the 60th person in line. It was still almost 1 PM before I actually had my audition. The audition was our 60 second pitch followed by being asked a number of questions about our proposal. I felt it went very well so now we just have to wait to see what the result is which maybe a few weeks in coming. We are going to do our own video of our presentation and post it here for our members to review as we will be using this presentation in front of other groups as this year rolls on as part of our fund raising efforts.
We have been busy watching a lot of events and the impacts they will have on the games. as well as busy building a foundation on which to base our participation and role in the games.
So here are the quick headlines of some of the significant issues that might impact the games. The cost of crude has doubled the cost of asphalt over last years prices, this is going to add greatly to the cost of the road projects deemed absolute necessities for the games.
At the other end of the spectrum Governor Fletcher has been indicted in the on going hiring practices probe. And though the expectation is that the Democrats will not try to impeach him because the 2007 election is so close and they figure it better to take on a wounded incumbent as opposed to some unknown challenger at this point.
The real question will be what happens to Jim Host if Governor Fletcher looses his re-election bid next year. That would mean a new Democratic Governor would be taking over in January of 2008 and Jim Host is not well liked by the Democrats at all and the expectation would be that he would be replaced. For the moment I will leave the ramifications of that for a later discussion because there is still some real question as to whether the ramifications would be negative or positive.
We will follow up soon with how are plans are progressing and on more details on all that is already occurring in the race to get ready for the games.
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