Mill Spring, NC – March 25, 2020 – In response to the Governor of North Carolina’s mandate on Monday, March 23 to cancel events with 50 or more people through May 15, 2020, Tryon Resort and Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) are canceling additional events and competitions. The complete list of canceled events includes: Tryon Welcome Series – March 19-April 12Tryon Spring 1 and 2 – April 29-May 10Tryon Spring Dressage 1 and 2 – April 16-19 and May 2-3The Katydid CDE at TIEC – April 23-26Comedy Night – April 3Easter Brunch – April 12 (available for carryout only) Layover stalls and onsite lodging are available by contacting lodging@tryon.com or stabling@tryon.com or by calling 828.863.1015. Decisions about future competitions and events will be made as new information becomes available. Please visit our website for the latest updates related to our venue:https://bit.ly/39OiSup Sincerely, Sharon Allred DeckerCOO, Tryon Equestrian PartnersCarolinas Operations
I am not one to usually post celebrity news but in this case, I find this worth posting. Jennifer Gates, daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates is engaged to Nayel Nassar, an Egyptian show jumper who will by representing Egypt this summer in the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Of course, Jennifer is an accomplished equestrian in her own regards and is President of Evergate Stables, and has been riding since she was 6.
A decade ago at the close of 2009, the plans were well underway for the 2010 World Equestrian Games here in Lexington, Kentucky. The Aachen Games of 2006, four years prior had been considered a success and so there was much optimism for the success of our Games. Almost ten years later I would say our optimism was well placed in that the investments that were made ten plus years ago continue to pay off and certainly strengthened Lexington’s Horse Capital of the World mantra and so the future for Lexington continues to look bright. The Games in 2014 and 2018 were fraught with a number of issues with the Games at Tryon even being besieged by the remnants of a Hurricane.
Now as we close out 2019 though, the future for the World Equestrian Games is not so bright. For all practical purposes, the Games no longer exist in their single venue form. Now the individual championships are held in separate locations at different times which is simpler to do but takes away some of the grandness of the World Equestrian Games format. This tends to diminish the level of general media attention Equestrian sports get overall but is probably healthier for the individual sports because WEG was starting to suffer from the same sort of bloat that the Olympics are known for.
My hope is that one day, probably 20 years in the future we will bring back the full World Equestrian Games to the Kentucky Horse Park for at least one more go because I do think it is a worthwhile endeavor.
In the near term, I want to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year for 2020, may this new decade bring you great happiness and joy in all your endeavors, equestrian and otherwise.
Lexington, KY (September 23, 2019) -A diverse group of equine enthusiasts escaped the high temperatures in Lexington, KY, for an air-conditioned evening attending the summer session of the Kentucky Equine Networking Meeting (KENA). Presented by the Kentucky Horse Council and held at The Red Mile Clubhouse, a panel of horse-care experts gathered to discuss a topic that has been at the forefront of many horse owner’s minds this summer: How to help their horses cope with the oppressive heat and humidity in Central Kentucky.
Kentucky Farm Bureau put out a quick little article on flying drones in Kentucky both for recreation and commercially. The article can be found here . If you are interested in learning to fly a drone or even go as far as get your Commercial Drone license check out the AbitaDrone Learning Zone . At our sister site KyWEGO check out the drone services we offer, everything from aerial videography and inspections to wildlife and livestock analysis.
Lexington, KY (July 17, 2019) – The Kentucky Horse Council announces Large Animal Emergency Rescue Training to be held at the Kentucky Horse Park from September 20-22, 2019. The LAER training will be taught by 4Hooves Large Animal Services, LLC and instructors Justin and Tori McLeod. Both instructors have extensive experience with equine and livestock as well as working as emergency responders. They also operate the North Carolina Specialized Mobile Animal Rescue Team as well as being instructors in technical large animal emergency rescue. The course is geared towards veterinarians, first responders and emergency personnel as well as animal control officers and any horse owner or industry professional. The course will cover subject matter from animal behavior, safety considerations, restraints, containment, entrapments, motor vehicle accidents and overturned trailers, barn and wildfires, unstable ground, water rescues, and natural disaster preparation and response. Specialized instruction will be given to participants based on their background and auditors are welcome. “We are excited to be offering this training again this year,” said Katy Ross, Kentucky Horse Council Executive Director. “There is a real need for Large Animal Emergency Rescue training in this part of the country. It is an excellent opportunity for veterinarians, volunteers and first responders to receive in-depth, technical training for situations that unfortunately arise too frequently. Last year we had a full training with 35 participants ranging from mounted police officers to firemen to veterinarians. These three groups really learned how to work together to best handle emergency situations. We look forward to providing this training to a great group again this year!” Continuing education credits for veterinarians are approved. This course is being sponsored by the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association, Lexington Equine Medical, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and the Kentucky Horse Park. More sponsors are being accepted at this time. For more information, to register for the class, or for partnership and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.kentuckyhorse.org, or contact the Kentucky Horse Council at 859-367-0509.
My company, AbitaNet® Corporation is sponsoring a Military Tribute on @Hometownliveradio July 1st – the 7th for all those serving at home and abroad on this Holiday that celebrates our Independence and all the sacrifices that have been made over the last two centuries to keep us free.
Lexington, Ky., April 28, 2019-It came down to the last jump, but Great Britain’s Oliver Townend successfully defended his title of champion at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN by putting in a perfect performance in the show jumping with Cooley Master Class to finish on a score of 25.3.
Great Britain’s Oliver Townend and Cooley Master Class defended their title at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN. Mackenzie Clark for Red Bay Photo
Equestrian Events, Inc. welcomes MARS EQUESTRIAN, a division of MARS INCORPORATED, as the new Presenting Sponsor of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event — a role that will continue through the 2021 event. The company is also the presenting sponsor of the Land Rover/USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN.
“Having MARS EQUESTRIAN join as the presenting sponsor of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event is not only exciting for us, but for the sport overall,” said Stewart Perry, president of Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI), organizer of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. “MARS is stepping up for three-day eventing and we are grateful they will be a part of this event through 2021.”
Advanced ticket prices end at midnight this Friday, March 1, and we hope you’ll be joining everyone for the Best Weekend All Year, April 25-28, at the gorgeous Kentucky Horse Park!
Are you interested in earning your FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification, aka Commercial Drone License. I have created a set of 6 courses I used to pass(95%) my re-certification exam in November. These courses are very comprehensive and I will continue to update them with new material. The first course is free and its a set of preview test cases for all 5 sections of the exam. The other 5 courses are currently $28 each which is $21 off their list price.Sign up
I know its not quite the New Year here in Kentucky but in reality more than half the World has celebrated the New Year at this point. It’s amazing to think another year has went by and maybe the last World Equestrian Games has been played. I am one to look forward more then back, not with the intent of forgetting the past but learning from it and building something better.
So we here in Central Kentucky wish everyone World Wide a Very Happy New Year, may it bring you much joy and prosperity.
As most have now heard, earlier this month the FEI announced what is effectively the end of the World Equestrian Games. Instead the FEI is going to go back to the individual Championships format that proceeded the WEG. When I wrote last month, I knew that was coming, the writing was all over the walls so to speak but that still doesn’t mean I wasn’t saddened from the sentimental standpoint when the official statement was made. My 12 days volunteering at the 2010 WEG here in Kentucky is certainly one of those amazing events of my life so to see the likely hood of having that kind of event here again become a long shot causes a level of disappointment.
Now if you didn’t catch it, I said long shot, didn’t say an impossibility primarily because I will continue to advocate and one day if I get the chance, financially support an event of the caliber of WEG here in Kentucky. Not saying it will be the same exact format as what WEG was but I could see putting on a multi-discipline event at the Kentucky Horse Park that would provide a showcase of what the horse represents to the human spirit.
On a more festive note, going to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays now because I am staying quite busy on a number of endeavors and so it maybe the end of next month before I make time to write again. I am thankful for all of you who follow my blog and who support my efforts.
It’s been 8 years since Kentucky hosted the Games and the question I keep getting is will we get the Games again. I am of course optimistic that we will though the clock is running because the longer we wait, we loose the benefits of previously hosting them. When I say them most people figure I am talking the capital investments in that people feel for these kind of events you have to have brand new facilities. I disagree a bit with that assessment but the bigger loss is in personal capital, the people involved in planning the event and all those involved in the actual event, including an army of volunteers that was trained. Certainly the loss of Dr. Lyons early this year was a blow in many ways but there are certainly other Kentuckians who can pick up that torch and carry it so I certainly don’t see his loss as something that should prevent us from ever hosting the Games again, and I am sure he would be disappointed in a number of us if that was ever to be the case. I said this was going to be the short version, so let me get to where I see the Games since the Games at Tryon have completed.
I will say right off the bat that the Games at Tryon did not go as I had hoped. It has always been important to me that the Games be successful no matter where they were held. This has never been a competition between Lexington and any other host city, this has always been a hope that the next Games would build on the prior. That Lexington learned from Aachen and then Normandy learned from Lexington and Tryon learned from Normandy and so on and so on. In my mind that is a key component to how I judge the success of any particular set of Games. In general I believe Aachen, Lexington and Normandy were a success in that the overall sentiment was positive and you had that sense of building something. Now before everyone assumes I am going to say Tryon was not a success and that I am going to pile on to the negative press that did arise from these Games, I am not. It serves no purpose in what I want to accomplish which is the continuation of the Games and the desire to bring the Games back to Kentucky. With that said, let me layout where we are and where we need to go from here.
The first thing everyone needs to remember is that Tryon was not the original host and certainly to get into that would not make this the short version of what I wanted to provide. The reason I bring that up is because if Tryon hadn’t stepped in there may of not been a Games at all but in doing so Tryon was taking on hosting a highly complex event in what was really too short of a time frame. The leadership at Tryon had to be optimistic about what they were promising because to be realistic would of cost them the support to have probably pulled off what they did, which at some level was a bit of a miracle. Now with that said, I will say there were some areas where I think the leadership may have believed their own optimistic PR and didn’t really plan with reality in mind. In those cases I will say they over promised and under delivered and I will not excuse them of that. I am actually going to stop there because my real interest is in where this leaves us going forward.
First I think the FEI needs to have a real hard look at itself and determine if they as an organization have the passion to provide the leadership that is needed for the WEG to continue. Now I am sure a few of you that know me are saying, WTF, that I would suggest that the WEG is not viable because of the FEI, actually, I can’t and I am not saying that, only the FEI can make that determination and it has to on the basis of what is best for the individual sports and those involved. The situation with Endurance is a clear example and there is no way to spin that, that doesn’t leave the sport of Endurance in a tough spot because of some real harm that was done to the sport and I think that will take some time and effort to repair.
As of now no host for the 2022 Games has been selected and this presents a significant challenge for a pair of reasons. The obvious of course is the same problem Tryon found themselves in, lack of time. When Kentucky won the Games early in December of 2005 that gave us a little less then 5 years to get everything done, but what a lot of people never realize is how much planning had already been done at the one of a kind facility that the Kentucky Horse Park already was. The second reason is that who ever would host the 2022 Games has lost the chance to really get a behind the scenes look at the running of the actual event while its going on and you are actually able to take your initial plan and do some simulations against a real event in real time.
So where does that leave us, my recommendation would be that we take a break and not have the Games in 2022 with the intent to make the 2026 Games a true showcase of what Equestrian Sport is, a sport like no other, because no other sport involves the relationship of two life forces like that of a human and a horse.
I appreciate all of you who took the time to read my short version.
The 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon #Tryon2018 , North Carolina are officially open. Of course on this the 17th anniversary of 9/11 plus the impending disaster that is Hurricane Florence the Games are not making the cut for the news networks beyond the local talk of the potential impacts of Hurricane Florence on the Games, which based on the latest forecast has the potential to be significant and I could see it causing postponements of some events this weekend. At the moment though everything is still on schedule with Endurance kicking things off at 6:30 AM followed by Dressage at 8:45 AM and Reining at 9 AM tomorrow.
The one negative I have heard and seen posted has to do with the Grooms Housing, but as of tonight it is being reported that additional RV’s and other accommodations have been made for any of the Grooms who want out of what has been referred to as the “Shambles” or on par with military barracks out in the field. If you want additional background on this story check out what the British Grooms Association had to say on the matter, Grooms Accommodation at WEG.
We will of course be keeping up with all the news coming out of Tryon and will be praying everyone, human and horse alike stays safe, has an incredible time and that the Games themselves are a great success.
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