Ravel pics here;

http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages?msg=60312.12

He's enjoying the good life...now that would be a trail ride to remember!

Ravel is enjoying his retirement with his owner, who herself is an amateur grand prix rider . This article has a couple of nice pics of Ravel, wouldn't it be nice to have such a classy trail horse like him? lol

Oh, my...yes.  Of course these days I'd need a ladder get into the saddle.  Just parking the horse in a hollow and myself standing on higher ground wouldn't do it any more.  :-)  Isn't he handsome!

Beautiful pictures.  He certainly seems to be enjoying his retirement.  When my daughter was taking dressage lessons and they really worked the horse - the owner let her take him for a ride through her fields after lessons.  The horse had a look of absolute delight!  Nice to see the helmets too!

I have a little quiz for you.  There was an article about Guenter Seidel in a Horse Sport International magazine.  Besides other things, the sidebar mentioned the gear he wears.

Which one of the following do you think is the most expensive...

Cavallo boots, Cavallo tailcoat or a L'Hiver top hat.

 

Oddly enough, the Cavallo boots don't seem to have changed all that much in price when you compare 25 years ago to now.  In european prices, that is.  Used to have a pair that I once thought of selling on ebay, and in the end gave to a friend's granddaughter... :-)

I would guess that the hat is the most expensive item, as L'Hiver custom makes them, and there is a lead time of several months.  Then (in price) the Cavallo boots, and last but not least the Cavallo tailcoat.

http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2011/04/13/lhiver-makes-first-stylish-safety-top-hat

http://www.panache-equestrian.co.uk/cavallo_boots.htm?gclid=COfQhq2snbICFeeMTAod4BYATQ

I know those boots are expensive, and the coat as well, and the hat is probably custom made...so I would say a tie between the coat and hat.........they are all probably custom made........

The boots and coat can be bought off the shelf, though no doubt one could then have the coat altered to fit just so.

Coat - $999

Boots - 1,399

Top Hat - $2,050.

I read in the same article as the price of his "gear" that he is making a comeback after a double whammy.  In 2010, he had a fall from a horse, broke his pelvis and couldn't ride for months.  He also lost sponsors and didn't have any horses to ride.  Now he has Fandango to ride and is hoping for more opportunities.

But my real point in bringing this up, is that even though he didn't hurt his head in the fall, he did have a significant injury.  He would be a good spokesperson for wearing helmets.

If anyone would like to follow/watch the AEC's (American Eventing Championships), click on the link here for www.eventingnation.com, and scroll down the page. There are clips of dressage tests today, including Becky Holder and Courageous Comet. This will be his last Advanced horse trial, I beleive Becky will ride him in some advanced dreaage shows, and he may also have some junior riders on him at the lower levels of eventing...Go CC! There is also a visoe clip of Michale Pollard riding Hanni, the horse that survived the horse trailer accident, earlier this year (or was it last year?). I'm sure they will also have video of the xcountry on Saturday, after the horses are finished.....enjoy!

www.eventingnation.com

ger

Here is the link to live scoring and ride times for the AEC's xcountry...and my bad, they are having 2 days of it, although when we had it by me, and I worked it, we had 3 days, but they were also record entry years.......anyway here's the link

http://livescore.useventing.com/index.php

Becky and Comet were double clear today, but Inoticed Becky had "retired"  her other horse on course, so will have to wait until they write up what went wrong.....