Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at EN to all of you! May today be full of joy, gratitude, people and animals who bring light to your life, and, of course, food. Maybe you need a bit of inspiration on that front. Maybe you need an excuse to bring your horse into the house so you can get that one weird uncle to stop talking about politics. Maybe the above will help.
U.S. Events This Weekend
Pine Top Thanksgiving H.T. (GA): [Website] [Entries/Times/Scores] [Volunteer]
News & Reading
FedEx will not be flying horses until January after grounding part of its freight fleet for repairs. The decision to ground the flights comes from the Federal Aviation Authority after a UPS flight crashed shortly after takeoff in Kentucky earlier this month. The (admittedly very justified) decision is already making an impact on horse racing.
The impact of social media on mental health is hardly a new conversation. But now, there’s enough studies on the correlation between phone use and poor mental health to draw a fairly immovable conclusion: all this stuff is probably breaking our brains. Most susceptible are those from the ages of 12 to 27, generally colloquially dubbed Gen Z — and the nefarious influence of social media is almost certainly affecting their barn life, too. Actually, scratch that, most of us are probably impacted in some way by it all when we’re with our horses, even if we don’t realise it yet. This piece is an interesting starting point if you want to find out more about it and learn how to create a safe space at the yard, too.
Last night saw the 2025 Horse & Hound Awards unfold at Dallas Burston Polo Centre (how are the heads today, attendees?), and eventing legend Jane Holderness-Roddam was the deserving recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Jane won Badminton at just 20 years old and then went on to become the first woman ever to compete in eventing at the Olympics – and her extraordinary legacy doesn’t finish there. Catch up on the highlights of one heck of a life with horses here.
Video Break
Go on then, let’s have some more Simon! This time, he’s sharing with you his simple exercises for improving control in a jumping course.
