The Slower Road

January 13, 2010

hey, it’s newsletter day again

Posted by Jennifer under miscellaneous
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Today’s Wednesday, which we generally count as a day off from posting on the blog. But if you’re a CAA member (and we have your e-mail address on file), today’s the day you’ll receive your copy of The Spokesperson, the CAA’s weekly e-newsletter. Each week, we send news from the CAA office and from around the world of driving and horses.

The contents of this week’s e-newsletter: CAA members from Ohio to appear in an episode of a new History Channel series, general volunteers are still needed for WEG, a tempting array of trade fair vendors at the upcoming symposium, and what we’re up to in the CAA office.

Not receiving the newsletter? Would you like to?

If you’re a CAA member, just send us your e-mail address, and we’ll add it to our mailing list.

If you’re not a CAA member yet and would like more information about the association, click here: http://www.caaonline.com/caa_content.asp?PageType=Dept&Key=2

January 12, 2010

snow and basketball, part 2

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington & KHP
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Well, part 2 of the “snow” portion of yesterday’s post, at any rate. We won’t be discussing basketball here today.

As promised, a few photos of Lexington’s pretty, powdery snow last week. The remnants are still hanging around, but not for too much longer … the temperatures are forecasted to be nearly 40 by the end of the week (after having been below freezing so far this year).

the walled garden at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate, as seen through the decorative garden gates (which, sadly, were closed)

snow in the park at Ashland

January 11, 2010

snow and basketball

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington & KHP
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Last Thursday, the first big snow storm of the season hit Lexington (“big” being a relative term, of course), and Friday was declared a snow day for our office. Practically all the local and area schools were closed on Thursday as well, in anticipation of the dreaded, promised snow.

the front of our CAA building at the Kentucky Horse Park, after the snow had been falling for several hours on Thursday afternoon

By the time all was said and done, we had about three very pretty inches of fluffy, powdery snow. On Friday afternoon, I took a break (from working at home), bundled up, and braved the measly 17 degrees (plus wind!) to walk to a lovely park near our house for some photo opportunities. There was a group of teenagers playing football in one of the open (normally grassy) areas … they must’ve been cold but sounded like they were having fun. I’ll try to post a couple of proper snow photos tomorrow.

On Saturday, my husband and I went to Rupp Arena to watch the Univ. of KY Wildcats take on the Georgia Bulldogs in the Cats’ first conference (SEC) game. After a hard-fought game, the Cats won (how does that saying go? “cats rule … dogs drool”) and are now one of only two still-undefeated basketball teams in the college div. I universe. It was also celebrity day at Rupp: the Steelers’ head coach sat with UK’s new head football coach, Ashley Judd (a UK alum and rabid Cats fan who comes to as many home games as she can) was the special-guest “Y” in the traditional spelling out of “K-E-N-T-U-C-K-Y,” and the UK cheerleaders presented the routine with which they’re hoping to win their 18th national championship this week.

From here on out (with one notable exception and possibly the NCAA tournament), I’ll spare you any more basketball details … unless something momentous happens. In February, we have tickets for the home game vs. Tennessee, and that’s also the game at which ESPN’s College Gameday will be in attendance. We’ll try to get some photos of the festivities!

January 7, 2010

from the old to the new

Posted by Jennifer under competitions
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After Tuesday’s old, old photographs of horse-drawn vehicles, how about some video of the newest form of international-level driving?

The Dutch website www.hoefnet.com (which, if you’re not familiar with it, is a great resource for news on FEI-level driving) has posted video clips (a link is posted below) of the top three rounds of the recent FEI World Cup Driving event at Mechelen.

Not familiar with World Cup Driving? It’s basically a quick, shortened version of the most exciting parts of a combined driving event (marathon and cones), all done in a (usually quite small) indoor arena. During each round, a driver takes his (or her) four-in-hand team through a couple of temporary marathon-type obstacles, over a bridge, and then through a few cones, all at a fairly fast clip. The show announcer relays the action (in these videos, in Dutch), often as dramatically as possible; music blares from the loudspeakers; and the crowd usually gets into it as well, cheering and applauding.

http://www.hoefnet.nl/en/home/site/news/mechelen-videos-winning-round

Each World Cup Driving event is usually held over several evenings at big indoor jumping shows, which helps introduce driving to a new audience. At the end of the “season,” the points from each event are tallied, and a World Cup Driving winner is announced for the year.

According to the press release from this particular event, “Koos de Ronde [NED] had an unlucky start in Mechelen when he drove a wrong gate in one of the marathon-type obstacles on the first day. This not only cost him 20 penalty seconds, but he also became the first starter in the World Cup competition, which is always a disadvantage. But the 2008 team gold-medal winner at Beesd [the 2008 FEI World Driving Championship] showed his skills and set a very fast time which allowed him to start last in the winning round. After Sweden’s Tomas Eriksson and Ysbrand Chardon [NED] both had knock downs, De Ronde drove his wonderful team to victory for the second consecutive time in Mechelen.” At this point in the World Cup season, after five of seven competitions, Boyd Exell of Australia is in the lead, with 30 points. Behind him, standing in second place overall, is Koos de Ronde, with 24 points. Rounding out the top ten: Tomas Eriksson (20 points), Ysbrand Chardon (15), Werner Ulrich of Switzerland (12), Daniel Wurgler of Switzerland (8), Jozsef Dobrovitz of Hungary (5), Christoph Sandmann of Germany (5), Theo Timmerman of the Netherlands (4), and Jiri Nesvacil of the Czech Republic (2).

January 5, 2010

the world through sepia-toned glasses

Posted by Jennifer under history
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A friend sent these fascinating old photos. They arrived in one of those PowerPoint slide shows that gets e-mailed around, so we of course can’t swear to the veracity of the captions (where there are any). But one thing is sure … these are some interesting views of the horse- and mule-drawn era.

Enjoy!