This is stressful. Sitting in the Team tack room watching a procession of athletes destroying our supplies of snacks, drinks, and other culinary delights: Clearly they do not get fed at home and this is an enjoyable adventure for them. Ok, I get it, they and the grooms are who matter most but all the bottles and snacks were lined up in regimental rows and now a tornado has destroyed the illusion of order. Rewind. Monday morning (Europe time) Clan Dressage deployed to Rio; horses from Liege...

This may not be a photo likely to win any photographic competitions but it was taken at 2:30 a.m. from my bedroom. No, I am not some weird stalker or peeping tom but this is a photo of the merry bunch of selfish insomniacs that decided to have a very loud speaker (top right quarter of the photo) playing until about 3:30 a.m. Yes, I kinda wish I had something more persuasive to hand than a Canon camera… in fact a canon would have done very nicely. The eventing horses have settled in very...

Andrew Kocher and Zantos II (Tom von kap-Herr) Bromont, Quebec - Andrew Kocher added another victory to his collection on July 30, with a win in the Modified Grand Prix as he made it clear, in the last two weeks, that he was a fierce competitor at the 2016 International Bromont. Eight Pairs Make Jump-Off The demanding course, designed by Guilherme Jorge, proved to be a challenge for the 31 horse and rider combinations who competed in the class. Eight riders brought their horses to the jump-off,...

Parker, Colo. - The Adequan®/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) concluded the fourth day of competition at The Colorado Horse Park (CHP) showcasing show jumping, eventing, and dressage and featuring the USHJA North American Junior & Young Rider Show Jumping Championships Young Rider Individual Final, USDF North American Junior & Young Rider Junior Rider Individual Final and Young Rider Freestyle, while eventing took to the...

Well wasn’t that just an interesting 36 hours… Sorry I have not been in touch for a while but Friday, for us was about finishing up at the venue and then trying to pull together a bunch of loose ends in other areas prior to a hydrogen bomb going off under our world of semi serenity – i.e. the Team and the horses starting to arrive. For other Nations, Friday evening through to Saturday morning marked the first horse flight arrivals at times that would have made the Special...

Rich Fellers (Kit Houghton) Omaha, Nebraska - The 2017 FEI World Cup™ Finals, an annual indoor Championship competition for the world's best jumping and dressage horses, is returning to the U.S. March 29 - April 2, 2017. The red carpet will be rolled out for the world's elite competitors as they vie for the coveted World Cup titles at the CenturyLink Center in the dynamic Midwestern city of Omaha, Nebraska. The 2017 FEI World Cup Finals™ feature both the Longines FEI World...

Meet the Beast.... The Beast is a very bad beastie as it has “done a leg” and gone on sit down strike a) right in front of our container and b) on the main horse walk in to the stables. To be more accurate, the Beast can easily be repaired if a) the AWOL driver could be found and b) the driver was given accreditation so he / she / it could access the venue and remove the Beast. I just hope that we are not contributing to the day rate for the Beast to be away from his / her Cave of...

Lexington, Ky. - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and Upper Echelon Academy (UEA) have signed an exclusive provisioning agreement making Upper Echelon Academy the Official Tutoring Provider of the 2016 Adequan®/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) and the 2016 US Pony Finals presented by Collecting Gaits Farm, as well as a Bronze Sponsor of the Adequan®/FEI NAJYRC. "The United States Equestrian Federation is honored...

“ Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted ” the saying goes and that proved true to form today as we set forth to Deodoro for Boot Camp Day 1. Our driver spoke no English and being British clearly I had never seen it as a priority to master a foreign language, in this case Portugese. Add in to the mix that this was the opening day for the TransOlímpica and it was a voyage of adventure. The TransOlímpica is the new road linking Barra (Olympic Village / main...

Part I We have a green light and Mission Control has pressed the big red, white and blue button. Afterburners have been ignited and phase one of the move to Rio is under way. Ok, so a bunch of Team clothing arrived after we had left, we do not know how we are going to get some 60 bags from USOC Team Processing in Houston to Rio, we are not entirely sure where our containers are in Rio, and the delivery of Coca Cola product to the Venue in Rio didn't go quite as smoothly as we had hoped....