The Rolex Kentucky .... Breathtaking!

The Rolex Kentucky was in town and PACKED! I think they said there were some 90,000 spectators that filled the stands, the fields, the shopping tents, and every other possible place they could fit into.

To fill in eeryone else, here is what rolex is....

"The Only Four Star Event in The Americas -
Because horse and rider combinations compete in World Championships and Olympic Games at the Four Star level, the ability to train and test themselves at this level on an annual basis is critical to developing strong individuals and teams for those contests.

While not every combination that competes at the Four Star level will be chosen to represent the U.S. or, in the case of foreign riders, their own country, the Rolex Four Star Championship, $200,000 in prize money and a Rolex Watch make the competition important in its own right. Additionally for U.S. riders, the USET Foundation CCI**** Championship for the Pinnacle Cup marks the high point of any U.S. rider's career.

To win Rolex Kentucky sets a horse and rider apart and they become members of that upper echelon who are winners of a CCI****. Simply to finish also puts them in select company."

Basically, this is the ONLY 4 star event in America and it is phenomenal! Those that compete on horseback go to see, learn, and build their eagerness to reach such a high level of competition. I, myself, thinking these people all have a deathwish to even attempt scary fences like this, go to watch in awe and maybe see a fall here and there. It keeps it interesting.

There are 3 days to the event. On Friday, each horse and rider competes in Dressage. It's kinda like dancing in horseback. The movements that the riders can communicate to their horses is breathtaking.



The picture above just happens to be KAREN O'CONNOR, one of the most respected women in the sport, a multiple medalist in the olympics, and an amazing woman. Her horse, Theodore O'Connor is now even really a horse (He looks kinda short right?) Yeah, he is a PONY! The first PONY ever to complete the ROLEX and get this -- HE GETS 3rd!! Freaking Amazing -- they call him the BIONIC PONY!

On Saturday, all tackup and compete in the Cross Country. The horses legs get greased up so they can slide over fences they touch easier. (These jumps are not moving for anything -- solid as a rock!) The fences, meant to look like obstacles you would find out in the field have developed into decorated solid objects including, Ducks, a Squirrel with a goatee and earrings, lighthouses, easter baskets, etc. Riders have a set time to get through the obstacles (11 minutes) in this multi-mile steeplechase. Ultimately, this is where the wreck happen and horses get hurt. We were lucky, only 1 horse was injured and several riders came off. I only got to see one really bad fall, but the horse was ok -- rider? Still questionable. The bionic pony -- No Problem at all!! I want you to get a visual picture -- you just jumped 25 of these fences, huge fences, through water, hills, ditches, etc, and thern you come up to jump number 26 and WIDE oxer (6 feet wide) and tall too (6 some odd feet tall!) With water underneath it, and if you touch it -- IT AINT MOVIN! AMAZING!






The last day, Sunday, the horse and rider combinations tack up for one more day. Stadium jumping. It detects whose tired--Who is still communicating well--Who ultimately should win. Come stadium time, only 10 horse and rider combinations had been eliminated, retired from competition, of failed to pass the veterinary inspection check in order to compete. That's only 10 of some 70 horses that were scheduled to compete. And the bionic pony -- won the award for being the most fit -- scaled every one of those big stadium fences without a single rub or fallen fence. Only one of 3 to do so! Sadness came however as the last competitor, a young woman to have never won a ROLEX was able to come in and jump this course, have a fallen fence and few time penalties and still be able to win it -- mistakenly went off course jumping fences in the wrong order and was elimiated. (That meant the loss of a BIG paycheck, the loss of a win at ROLEX, a big, BIG Loss! I felt so bad for her.




In the end, a Brit by the name of Clayton Fredericks won the Rolex Kentucky -- but the notable was not he brit, it was the BIONIC pony who finished 3rd! Probably now the most famous pony EVER! And us spectators ... just glad to be home. I have a jumping final today -- I am so glad I don't have to jump any of those fences. I don't have to worry about thrills and spills -- Just me and Jackson -- soaring over our bunny hop fences probably never to jump again. Whew....