The Near Side: This Week in Horses — August 14, 2015

Hello and happy Friday, everyone. The Near Side has been on a bit of a summer vacation, but we’re back now and ready to dive into this week’s horse world news.

• Kiwi eventer Andrew Nicholson had a fall at the final cross-country fence at the Festival of British Eventing this week, suffering a neck injury that required surgery. A rider fall in eventing isn’t really unique news, but this is the guy known for his defiance of gravity. If he can have a bad fall, there’s no hope for any of us (he is said to be recovering well and his horse was uninjured in the fall.)
Watch Andrew Nicholson’s famous save from Burghley in 2000 in the video below. If that didn’t knock him out of the saddle, you’d think nothing could!

• Meanwhile, British dressage champ Carl Hester fell off his horse, Nip Tuck, after a schooling session at the European Championships in Aachen, Germany. He and the horse are fine, and in fact, the British team—led by the great Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro—went on to win silver.
• We recently reported on the stray and feral horses roaming Eastern Kentucky’s reclaimed mines. A similar problem is happening on an Army base in Louisiana.
• The pop culture media picked up Miranda Lambert’s recent Instagram pic of her Gypsy Horse, Sophie (she also has several other horses including a Welsh Cob named Ellie.) They’re framing it as Lambert spending time with her horse to get over her recent divorce from Blake Shelton, but really, you don’t need to have a major life change to want to spend time at the barn. (Of note: HI contributor Allison Griest interviewed Miranda Lambert about her equestrian interests way back before she was even married to Shelton. Back then, she was pursuing barrel racing.)
• We’re getting ready for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where the equestrian test events recently took place. Concerned equestrians should be aware that there’s no glanders risk at the venue in spite of a recent outbreak, says one official. In fact, Rio’s equestrian venue could be the best ever, according to one International Olympic Committee director.
• And finally, here’s Mike Rowe riding dressage.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your weekend!

Back to The Near Side

Leslie Potter is Sr. Associate Web Editor of horseillustrated.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LeslieInLex.