October 28, 2010

oooo, spooky ….

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington & KHP, miscellaneous
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… just in time for Halloween, you know?

I went over to the Horse Park’s covered arena briefly today (it’s COLD in there, so I didn’t stay very long). But I had to see some of the “obstacle” course for this year’s (27th annual!) Mounted Police Colloquium. This is the event where mounted police from all over the country … and their patient horses … compete to see who can walk calmly past (or through), or stand quietly next to all manner of potentially scary sights and sounds. The competition caps off nearly a week of classes and “sensory training” for the horses and their riders.

This Clydesdale was feeling a bit spooked by the commotion, but all in all, didn’t do too badly:

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And this horse (in the next two videos) was one cool cucumber. I get the feeling he’s done this before.

 

October 25, 2010

first World Cup qualifier this weekend

Posted by Jennifer under miscellaneous, WEG 2010
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World Cup news from www.hoefnet.com:

The Dutch company Chr. Van den Heuvel Carriages will help the drivers who will compete at the first FEI World Cup qualifier this weekend in Hannover, Germany.

The ship’s container with carriages and equipment will arrive in Europe next month, from Kentucky, which means IJsbrand Chardon and Koos de Ronde will not be able to compete with their own carriages.

Van den Heuvel will put De Ronde’s old marathon carriage, which he used during the 2008/2009 season, at his disposal. He will therefore compete with a carriage that he knows well, which is an advantage to him because of the high speed of the indoor events.

IJsbrand Chardon will compete with a new marathon carriage: “Despite the fact that I have had this carriage for two years, I have not competed with it yet. I prefer to compete with my regular carriage because then I know exactly what to expect. As soon as the container arrives, my damaged marathon carriage will go immediately to Van den Heuvel for repair and check-up.”

The double World Cup Champion and World Champion, Boyd Exell from Australia, will borrow Robert Wilkinson’s carriage, which is the same model as his own carriage.

Tomas Eriksson’s carriage was flown from Kentucky, so the Swedish driver will use his own carriage. The competitors list in Hannover on October 30 and 31 is completed with Hungary’s Zoltan Lázar and József Dobrovitz, and wild card driver Christoph Sandmann of Germany.

 

October 21, 2010

WEG by the numbers

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington & KHP, WEG 2010
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From September 25 through October 10, there were

507,022 attendees;


16,800 feet of bike barricade;


8 miles of linear fencing;


396 temporary structures;


70 temporary power generators;


59 miles of electrical cable;


20,000 temporary seats;


more than 11,000 signs placed around the park;

500 flags;


30,000 feet of extension cord;
 

632 athletes;


752 horses;


58 countries;


more than 100,000 servings of Kentucky Ale brand beers poured;


1,734 Maker’s Mark bottles dipped in red wax at the station inside the Kentucky Experience;


175,220 pounds of recyclable and compostable materials removed from the park;


56 percent of waste diverted from landfills through green initiatives;


500 temporary toilet facilities;


7.6 million page views to the Games website from September 25 through October 10;


193 countries represented in website visitors;


62,707 school children visiting the Games, thanks to Alltech;


79,802 Facebook fans…and still counting;

6,000 volunteers;

1.1 million meals served to spectators, staff, athletes, and volunteers;


112,368 cars parked;


326,260 trips to and from the Games taken through the main entry transport mall; and

16,000 caps, 5,000 walking sticks, and 1,000 saddle pads sold in the merchandise store.

 

October 18, 2010

big sports weekend in the Bluegrass

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This past weekend (yesterday and the day before) was my first full weekend off from work in several weeks, and it was filled with a plethora of Bluegrass-tinged sporting events.

First, on Friday evening, was the first official practice for the 2010-2011 University of Kentucky basketball teams. In reality, it’s not much of a practice.

Instead, it’s a chance to introduce the teams (new and returning players) to the 24,000 or so fans in attendance and to the many, many more watching the proceedings on TV. And, in addition, the event is a huge pep rally and party.

Thanks to a friend who had extra tickets, we were able to go to this year’s Big Blue Madness, and it was the immense, loud spectacle we had expected … and, of course, a lot more fun in person than on TV.

Rupp Arena's student section -- the "Eruption Zone" -- in all its crazy blue-and-white glory before the UK women's basketball team was introduced; after their scrimmage, the banner was over and the men's team was introduced ... all to music provided by the DJ for the Washington Wizards (the new team of last year's superstar, John Wall)

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Saturday turned a bit hot in the end, but it started out as a cool, sunny morning, perfect for some autumn-inspired comfort food:

mmmm ... pumpkin French toast casserole; it was delicious, and no, I didn't eat all of it

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Then … it was off to Keeneland for a beautiful day at the races.

a series of barns at Keeneland; this photo is actually from earlier in the week, when we took an out-of-town friend to see Keeneland on a non-race day

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the calm before the storm: this photo is also from Monday, before the Saturday crowds descended ...

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... a small portion of Saturday's huge crowds, enjoying the sunshine and the Thoroughbreds

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the view from our box (this, again, was thanks to a friend with extra tickets)

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And, finally, there was a home game at UK’s football stadium that same evening. I’m sorry to say that we didn’t go to that particular Saturday sporting event, so I don’t have any photos. But we did watch on TV as our Wildcats managed a rather extraordinary, beautiful win over the University of South Carolina. Go Cats!!

 

October 15, 2010

meet the builders

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington & KHP, WEG 2010
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If you’ve been reading this blog for the past year or more (or if you’ve scrolled back through all the many “WEG 2010” posts) … you’ll know that I’ve been watching — and sharing with you — the progress over all that time on the construction of the marathon obstacles.

Other than a couple of references to individual people as they happened to show up in the photos, I’ve concentrated mostly on bits and pieces of the obstacles themselves and not on who’s been building them. So you’ve been left to wonder who built all those beautiful (and beautifully constructed) obstacles, haven’t you?

After the WEG driven dressage last Friday, a few of us photographers — and the course-building crew — gathered for a tour of some of the completed obstacles and a fun photo shoot in their work area.

hamming it up for the photographers and showing off their machinery: the marathon-course-building crew is, left to right, Levi Ryckewart, Aaron Beale, Mick Costello, Aaron Rust, Lenny Courtemanche, Dave Leonard, Isaac Bingham, and Tobiah Bingham

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the builders basically invented the unique shape and construction method for the logs at the Squirrel Grove; left to right: Aaron Rust, Mick Costello, and Aaron Beale

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the Bingham brothers (Tobiah on the left and Isaac on the right, with Lenny Courtemanche between them) created and constructed the decorative “crazy quilt” pattern of smaller branches between the larger logs in Spook Hollow

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Isaac Bingham shows off the widemouth bass he carved (with a chainsaw!) for one of the two water obstacles

 

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