Drinking and Driving....

©Nan Rawlins/Equimage®

It was hot.  I was waiting for the Driving Dressage to start after the lunch break. My friend Rebecca was looking at Marathon carts and harness.  She's majorly into carriage driving - in a big way. Many of we eventer types switch to carriage driving when we're getting a little older and realize that we don't heal from injuries as readily as we did in the past. To our twisted psyches,  any truly great equestrian sport is divided into  multiple elements. Since carriage driving meets this criteria and seems a bit safer alternative to your standard combined training, we often switch disciplines.  Although the way these 4-in hand drivers barrel around the marathon course makes one wonder just how safe an eventing alternative carriage driving really can be.


Sometimes, to me anyway, the marathon seems like controlled disaster waiting to happen - especially for a chicken like me...

©Nan Rawlins/Equimage®

Rebecca is shopping and I am thirsty...

One good thing I have discovered during these games is the Kentucky Light Ale.  Locally brewed and bottled by Alltech® founder and owner Pierce Lyons, this brew is really good.  I prefer the light ale. My husband, the true beer devotee in the family,  discovered Kentucky Ale several years ago and is particularly fond of the Bourbon Barrel Ale.  He's a bourbon drinker and loves the flavor that aging the Bourbon Barrel Ale (hence the name)  in old bourbon barrels imparts to the beer.  I'm thinking the extra whallop  of alcohol this particular beer delivers isn't a turn-off either. 

I recall, during one particularly memorable (memorable in a strictly figurative sense as my actual memory of the evening is a little hazy at best) Alltech® Press Dinner during a Rolex Kentucky 3-Day Event. My husband sat next to the Kentucky Ale Master Brewer - received his own personal tour of the brewery, and then tasted the fruits of the Brewer's labors.  Tasted, and tasted and tasted... He's been hooked ever since.

©Nan Rawlins/Equimage®

One should never drink and drive...  In my case, one should never drink and walk.  I like the Media Chill-Out Center.  It's nice. It's quiet.  It has it's own bar! After having a small glass of ale I trudged back across the park towards the polo fields, where  the Driving competition venue is set-up. Burning off beer as I stumbled along,  I began to wonder:  Do IJsbrand Chardon (after all, the Dutch are known for their love of the brew)  or Chester Weber ever quaff a cold one - after they drive.  Can you get a DUI for driving a 4-in-hand while under the influence? Next time I see a KY State Police trooper out at WEG, I'm going to find out...