Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Select Few



Wednesday June 23 2010

The World Endurance Championship will be held in Lexington, Kentucky this year on September 26th. (Picture is from last year's flooded pre-ride in Lexington.)

This week - crammed into ten days - selection trails among the dozens of qualified horses and riders are happening in Illinois, Maryland, and Oregon. The US chef d' equipe Becky Hart and 5 selectors will be looking at horses and riders in a simulated endurance race of 80 miles. Final selections will be made in August.

There will be 5 slots in Kentucky - just five.

I'm going to the trials in Oregon starting tomorrow. Not as a snooping photojournalist, but as crew for friend and qualified rider with two qualified horses, Charisse Glenn.

Now, I've crewed on endurance rides before - like, for myself - so this weekend will be different, as I'll be doing some serious crewing for someone with a serious goal. A friend of mine said, "Carry a sponge in one hand, and a hoof pick in the other - and you'll be ready for anything!" I've got the Raven with me too, so we'll be bringing Charisse and Bogart and Steele some good fast Mojo.

And, I truly have no competitive bones in my body, so this will be a good look at the inside competition, tension, and excitement of the folks hoping to represent the US in endurance this year at the WEG - World Equestrian Games - the Olympics of the horse sporting world.

The photos will probably be limited, and the reporting may be mum for a while - but be patient. Stories will come.

Plus it will prepare me well for crewing TEVIS this year... which is another story to come!

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