Gloucester Downs Equestrian Park

Who are these morons???

Contraception
The Trump administration plans to destroy nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives that were procured by USAID rather than deliver the supplies to women in need overseas. The contraceptives, which are mostly long-lasting types of birth control such as IUDs and injectables, are currently stored in a warehouse in Belgium. The “preliminary decision” to destroy the family-planning supplies was confirmed by a State Department spokesperson. Doing so will cost $167,000. “They have to double incinerate the products because they contain high levels of hormones and they don’t want to risk leaking the byproducts out in the environment, which likely adds to the cost,” a congressional aide told CNN. “The Trump administration is quite literally burning taxpayer money.”

I will miss Steve Charles at every horse show I go to. Steve and Totem Photographics were such a mainstay here but more than that he always had a warm smile, he remembered you, he was jovial and kind. I was at his Memorial yesterday, organized by the amazing Donna Wonuk. It was shoulder to shoulder people inside and out a testimony to how much people really cared.
He had a way of capturing and freezing memories for us to cherish. This is GD's La Vida Loca doing what she loves best by Steve Charles, doing what he loved best!
I will miss you Steve!

Sue Caldbeck may your tears end soon

Carl Hester tells us:
“Self-carriage is really easy to see. It’s that tension into the hand that we were talking about with Valegro, the first place you see it is through the whole of the top line of the horse. The best thing you can do for self-carriage is the give and re-take of the reins. It is amazing how you forget to do that when you ride on your own. That constant giving the hand, taking, giving, taking, making sure that the outline is stable, the mouth is soft. You only have to look at the mouth to know how it is working, the horse is carrying its own head and neck. People that ride on their own, it can be something that they forget they are doing, people put in too much power and that’s why they find self-carriage difficult, and I always think you’ve got to create balance and then put power in, that way around.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/02/balance-self-carriage-and-the-importance-of-rider-position/

*Opinion* John Whitaker: ‘I’m giving barefoot a go – that it’s cheaper appeals as a Yorkshireman’

Ben Maher and 20-year-old Tic Tac win at the Winter Equestrian Festival

My Vaust mare GD’s La Vida Loca is competing at Thunderbird barefoot and loving it.
Great footing at Tbird for the barefoot horse.

Barefoot and bootless chestnut mare wins London LGCT grand prix - Horse & Hound Belgium's Pieter Devos triumphs in the London Longines Global Champions Tour grand prix, while Ellen Whitaker is best of the Brits in fourth