This Week in Horses — June 13, 2014

Here’s what was happening in the horse world this week while you were working on your FIFA World Cup bracket. Do people do brackets for the World Cup? I don’t know.

• First thing’s first: Don’t forget that Father’s Day is this Sunday. Make sure to get your dad something that he can use.
  
• Remember the Belmont? Seems like ages ago, but it was, in fact, within the past week. Tonalist won, California Chrome did not, and one of Chrome’s owners made a spectacle of himself by calling Tonalist’s people cowards for not running their horse in all three Triple Crown races. He later doubled down on his statements in a sort of offensive rant. He later later apologized on Good Morning America. We’ll have forgotten all of this by next year.
• Speaking of the World Cup, you England fans will be happy to know that Heidi the Horse has predicted that they will be victorious in their match against Italy tomorrow. She’ll be continuing to predict the outcomes of all of England’s games throughout the World Cup. Good work, Heidi.
• Perhaps more relevant to HorseChannel readers, it was announced this week that the FEI World Cup finals for Show Jumping and dressage will be held in Omaha, Nebraska in 2017. How cool is that?
• In other FEI announcements, Bromont, Canada is now the official host city of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games. It was a two-horse race (so to speak) between Bromont and Lexington, Kentucky, where HorseChannel HQ is located. So we’re a little disappointed, but only a little. Bromont looks lovely.
• More news out of Canada: Hockey is more expensive than equestrian sports. That’s right, the expense of having your kids play that country’s national sport will cost you more than putting them in riding lessons, according to a survey. The most expensive sport? Waterskiing.
• Wait, I have another World Cup for you. This time it’s the sport of modern pentathlon, where athletes run, swim, shoot, fence and ride. Check out photos from the event, which took place in Florida.
• The Daily Mail published a bunch of photos of the Queen riding horses at various stages in her life. Worth a look.
• Also out of Great Britain, eventer Mary King has received a two-month suspension from the FEI after her second yellow card in a 12-month period, but the ground jury’s reasoning seems a bit dubious. King has been a top-level eventer for decades and she often competes with her own homebred horses. She has earned a pretty bulletproof reputation. Fans were outraged, but the FEI isn’t backing down.
  
  Mary King at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games with Imperial Cavalier. Photo: Leslie Potter
  
• Looking for something to do this weekend? If you’re in the Sacramento area, you should definitely head to the Western States Horse Expo. Or follow us on Instagram where we’ll be sharing a few sights from the expo. If you’re in New Jersey, you should absolutely be at the USEF Festival of Dressage. And if you’re anywhere else, you can sit at home and watch it almost live at USEFNetwork.com.
• And finally, here’s a cat with a pretty nice passage.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

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