Katherine's Horses Blog

Eventer Karen O`Connor and Mandiba tackle the cross-country jumping phase of the Beijing Olympic three day event. Mandiba doesn`t spare an inch as he takes this jump. You'll find more photos of the Beijing Olympic Equestrian events on the Olympic Action Image Gallery. And you'll find a bit of history in the Olympic Illustrated History Gallery.

Enjoy more horse pictures on the Horses Gallery and don't forget to use the Gallery Submission Form to send a picture of the horse, pony, donkey or mule that holds a gold medal in your heart!

Having been glued to CBC Bold for much of the week to watch the Olympic Equestrian events, I'm feeling a little untethered now that they are over! Thankfully, we were able to subscribe to Bold, that carried much of the equestrian competitions. Not everyone was so lucky. How do you feel about the availability of Olympic Equestrian coverage in your area? Were you able to watch on TV, or have you accessed the online services such as those provided by NBC.com? Take the poll and leave your comments below.

There are still lots of Olympic competitions to catch. Your About Guide to the Beijing Olympics has all the details including athlete profiles, medal standings, history, polls, and the blog "Off the Press Bus" by About Guide, Alexandra Stevenson.

Canadian rider Eric Lamaze will be celebrating his gold medal win after a tough competition in Olympic Show Jumping. Lamaze had a tough climb, on a personal level, to make it to the Canadian team after having life time bans from the Games overturned. He credits his supporters with his success. Lamaze talks about his personal struggle in an interview with the Vancouver Sun. Check out the full results on the official Olympic website.

Thanks to a reader for this tip: you can watch the Olympic Show Jumping finals at 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games Online Listings. US viewers should be able to tune in to watch online. If you're like me, stuck in a waiting room, wishing you could keep up with the action check out the results pages Official Beijing Olympic website.

With eventing and dressage over, and the medals awarded, we have only one more competition to look forward to from Beijing--individual show jumping. The show jumping competitors have a bit of a break today. Most of the eventing horses will have left the facility at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and the dressage horses will be leaving. Today the show jumping horses will be inspected for soundness and their readiness to compete tomorrow in the last two rounds of the competition. While they aren't competing, horses are being well looked after with air conditioned stables and training areas, fans, cool mist sprayers and amenities such as a 'sand box' that they can roll in.

There will be thirty five riders going for the medals tomorrow. Tom Hansen of Norway, riding Camiro are the unexpected leaders of the pack after three clear rounds with only one time penalty in each round. The impressive gray stallion Cumano, ridden by Jos Lansink has only one more penalty point than the leader. Other competitors to look for are Canada's Eric Lamaze and Ian Millar, US riders Beezie Madden--who sits at 17th right now, and Mclain Ward, Australian Edwina Alexander and youngster (at age 25) Ben Maher of Great Britain. Who do you think will take the medals? Leave your comments below.

Those of you who were unable to watch the TV coverage of the Individual Dressage competitions at the Beijing Olympics will enjoy watching the online video links provided by Dressage Videos at DressageStar.com. You'll find links to the Freestyle won by the Netherland's Anky Van Grunsven and silver medalist Isabell Werth of Germany.

Dutch rider Anky Van Grunsvenhas won her second Olympic medal in dressage (she has already won a team silver at these Olympics). The silver medal for the individual Olympic dressage competition went to Isabell Werth from Germany and the bronze was won by Heike Kemmer also from Germany. I've updated the complete list of all the medals awarded so far in the Olympic Equestrian events. What's left? The individual show jumping will run on Thursday, August 21.

After an exciting jump off the team show jumping gold medal goes to the US riders. The first three US riders jumped clear and quick making the fourth ride unnecessary. Canada wins their first show jumping medal since the 1968 Olympics taking silver and Norway took the Bronze medal. You'll find all the equestrian medal results so far on the 2008 Beijing Equestrian Medal Results.

US rider McLain Ward and Canadian Eric Lamaze are leading the pack after the 2nd show jumping qualifier at the Beijing Olympics. Beezie Madden and Authentic have dropped into 29th after garnering 11 penalty points after a disappoint ride. Find the full results on the Beijing Olympic official website. The second team qualifier will be contested on Monday, August 18 and the third individual medal qualifier will be awarded on August 19. Dressage riders have a bit of a break until Tuesday, August 19 after Saturday's Grand Prix Special. The Special was a very demanding test of over 30 individual movements. Check out the standings for the Grand Prix Special on the official website. Tuesday's competition will be the exciting and elegant freestyle tests. Also sometimes called a 'dressage kur', riders will be competing with a test developed for them and ridden to music.

Magic has been lucky enough to find friends who have given her the love and care she needed. She has stolen a place in her new owners heart. Here is her 'before' picture. I'm looking forward to the 'after' picture. You can read more about Magic's story on her gallery page.
Photo 2006 Mary Anne K.

Enjoy more horse pictures on the Horses Gallery and don't forget to use the Gallery Submission Form to send a picture of your own favorite horse, pony, donkey or mule!