THE SPORTS DESK
Betsy Carter’s Horse Scene: Healthy again, Ward in Olympics
McLAIN WARD of Brewster, N.Y., a member of the U.S. Olympic jumper team, has made a remarkable comeback this season.
In January of this year, Ward was in a riding accident in which his horse ran out at a jump in the middle of a combination. In running out to the side of the jump just before he should have left the ground, the horse just missed the standard (the upright that holds the horizontal part of the jump).
Ward wasn’t so lucky. He smashed his knee into the standard, shattering his patella. After several weeks in a cast and several months of therapy, he is fully back to his former level of competition.
In May, he won back-to-back competitions at the North Old Salem Spring Horse Show in North Salem, N.Y. He rode Antares F and Zander. Later, he won the $100,000 Wells Fargo Grand Prix of Devon, an Olympic observation event, which he won for the 17th time.
These wins and his stellar record of wins earned him a place on the 2012 Olympic jumper team.
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CALENDAR
July 25: Touch Point; Autumn Olive; Fox Chase; Picturesque,
July 27: Four Oaks; Bellemount,
July 28: Moriah Farm; Sprouses Corner Ranch Mid Summer show, Buckingham.
July 28: CP at Deep Run; Elmington.
July 28–29: Region I Youth Team Dressage, Morven Park
July 29: Moriah; Frying Pan Park; Summeduck.
July 31: Woodpecker Horse show; Oakland Heights,
July 31–Aug. 5: Blowing Rock
Aug. 1: Picturesque
Aug. 3: EKG
Aug. 4: The Hunter Experience; Moriah; Summerplace; Coventry; Sandstone.
Aug. 5: CVHSJA, Manakin Sabot; Sunny’s Corner; Moriah; Looking Glass Dressage.
Aug. 7: TWA jumper show, Culpeper
Aug. 8: Touch Point; Picturesque.
Aug. 8–12: Lexington National at Culpeper
Aug. 11: Silver Star Pleasure show
Aug. 11–12: VADA/NOVA Dressage, Morven Park
Aug. 12: Lake of the Woods; South Riding; EKG; River Chase.
Aug. 14: Oakland Heights
Aug. 15: Picturesque
Aug. 15–18: HITS at Culpeper
Aug. 18: TWA at Warrenton; Bellemount; Sandstone; Silver Lining at Deep Run; Wavertree Dressage; Evergreen Dressage.
Aug. 19: Hazelwild; Silver Lining.
Aug. 21: Oakland Heights
Aug. 22: Touch Point; Picturesque.
Aug. 22–26: HITS at Culpeper
Aug. 25: Whitestone; Summerplace; Kelly’s Ford; TPF Dressage and CT at Culpeper; Toad Hollow Dressage.
Aug. 26: Woodpecker Horse show; Summerduck.
Aug. 28: Looking Glass Dressage
Aug. 29–Sept. 2: Warrenton
Betsy Carter can be reached at The Free Lance–Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; or by fax at 540/373-8455.
