overwhelmed, but this made my day!! Dutch rider eliminated at WEG due to blood in horse's mouth!

Daughter dislocated her finger last night and after a trip to the ER she is now wearing a splint for the week and is of course not able to do her usual chores. I went out this morning, took one look at the stalls that have to be cleaned due to rain and horses being in most of the night, and decided that at 72 degrees and sunny today, they are all proceeding to daytime turn-out, at least as long as this weather holds.

I spread hay all over the back field, checked the water trough, and after their breakfast tubs were done, said "see you later!"

Now I'm back in dealing with some very annoying ants, and basically am ready to bomb the house with ant poison.

It's just one of those days.

But then I took a break to check in on WEG and found this, which really made me happy. Thank you, judges. I applaud your doing your job!!

Photo added, from Dressage-News:

Adelinde Cornelissen eliminated from World Equestrian Games

Sarah Jenkins, H&H reporter at WEG

28 September, 2010

Dutch number two Adelinde Cornelissen is out of WEG after blood was seen in the horse's mouth in the grand prix

Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival, gold medal prospects at the World Games, have been eliminated after blood was seen in the horse's mouth.

Judge at c and head of the ground jury Britain's Stephen Clarke had to ask Adelinde to leave the arena after her halt and rein back on seeing the red in the foam around the horse's mouth.

Speaking to Stephen Clarke at the national championships last month he said that he was honoured to have the responsibility of judging from C, but was dreading something like this happening and having to send a rider out.

Adelinde shrugged her shoulders and patted her horse, dropped her reins and walked out.

Up until that point she was well in the lead, scoring nines for their halt, extended trot and both half passes.

The Dutch still lead the team competition but being down to three riders Edward Gal cannot afford to have a big problem this afternoon on Totilas.

This puts Adelinde out of the individual competition too, and throws open the possibility for our top rider Laura Bechtolsheimer to stand even higher on that podium.

The following photo is (I think) Adelinde during warm-up. Is that Sjef in the background? Big fat clue: if your body is that torqued out of position, what you are doing is WRONG. End of story.

Sjef Janssen illustrates everything I hate about competitive dressage

Linda Parelli teaches a one-eyed horse a "lesson"

This came in to my inbox a bit ago and I am appalled. I've never been a Parelli fan, but mostly because of what I've read and heard - I've never seen any of their "work."

This is a horse with one eye, and watching the video, I am most struck by the fact that I can make no sense at all of what Linda might be asking this horse to do. It's clear the poor horse doesn't know either.

I only wish I had a video of Marlis Amato working in a clinic we hosted here a few years ago, with our one-eyed goddess, Salina, to show an alternative of what one can do softly, quietly, and with utmost respect to the horse.

I'm told this is from a Parelli Level 1 DVD. If this is basic, I have no desire at all to see what they do in advanced work, and as much as I adore Walter Zettl, I can't imagine what he is doing working with the Parellis, unless it's to try and get them to stop doing THIS:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80925308

Note to everyone who doesn't know: this is terrible horsemanship. I'm so tired of so-called "professionals" treating horses badly and earning money for it.

Here's an alternative with Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling: