Chronicle staff

If you’re going to get anywhere near Don Stewart, be warned: The man’s about to make fun of you.

Don’t worry. He’s an equal opportunity tease, and he saves his sharpest barbs for himself. Take his comment to one of his riders after the ASPCA Maclay Region 3 qualifier. That rider forgot the final fence in the test at the competition, and Stewart reacted by telling the rider (and her mother) “I was so excited. Then your mother’s genes kicked in.”

As I researched and wrote the article “Lottery Funding Was Just The Start Of British Success In London” for the Sept. 10 issue of the Chronicle, I found myself both excited and wistful. That issue, which should be in your mailbox imminently, has multiple articles dissecting the U.S. teams’ poor performances across the board at the London Olympic Games. I was excited because I found it fascinating how the British support their riders and horses, at mulitple levels. And wistful, because they have funding sources for those efforts that the United States doesn't. 

Holland Nievergelt can’t stop smiling. It started last week when she had her nose pressed against the truck window as she and her mother pulled into the Kentucky Horse Park for the first time. And as her mom, Julie, dodges zig zagging children while driving us in her golf cart from the Walnut Ring back to the barns, Holland is still grinning ear to ear.

There’s a simple way to start a conversation at any equestrian outing: Turn to your neighbor and say, “So, who do you like?”

If you want to sound good, you’ll name one of the favorites, one of the pairs whose names have been regularly featured in the Chronicle. And for this year’s Derby Finals, we’ve made that really easy with the USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals Preview issue, which has, among others things, a roster with statistics of the competitors.

I’ll never forget watching Rich Fellers accept the trophy for the Rolex FEI World Cup Final. Those awards ceremonies are so highly choreographed, with the winning riders placed on a podium, all the dignitaries and presenters filing in and out of the scene, with banks of photographers corralled into designated areas.

Rolex Kentucky has been a fixture on my calendar since I was a teenager. I attended annually as a spectator, and when I started working at the Chronicle as an intern, I begged for press credentials and promised to use vacation time to go. Not only did I get into the press tent that year, but I also got to stand in the NBC trailer and watch cross-country with Jimmy Wofford and Capt. Mark Phillips. Talk about an exciting weekend!

I’ve dreamed of it more than once: a clean, quiet hotel room with a well-made bed, fresh sheets, flatscreen TV, all to myself. No cell phone, responsibilities to husband, child or work, just the hum of the air conditioner and the pitch dark that leads to the best sleep.

It was all mine the weekend of Rolex Kentucky. A dream come true? Not at all!

For the 17^th consecutive year, the Chronicle will present the Junior Art Gallery in our annual Junior And Pony Issue, published on June 4. All readers 18 years and younger may submit entries for our consideration.

Artistic submissions must be related to sport with either horse or hound. They can be in any medium, except photographs. We’ll consider original artwork, high-quality reproductions of artwork, or high-quality photos of artwork.

There are a lot of perks to my job—front row seats at some of the world’s top equestrian competitions, getting to know the best and brightest in the sport, sharing an office with a group of other horse-crazy females—but my recent trip to Iceland for the Icelandic Horse Festival undoubtedly holds the No. 1 spot.

Looking back at a year at the Chronicle, I was happy to notice some positive changes in my life. As I’ve written about before, the beginning of my days at the magazine were plagued by unlucky encounters.

So while I didn’t think that January 2012 would necessarily be the best month of my entire existence, it had certainly started out much easier than the previous year.

Then Friday the 13th snuck up on me.