Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of Solitaire. It is a grand passion.” And it is the grandest of passions that is required for the sport of eventing, for no sport demands so much of man or beast. It takes a lifetime to master the ELEGANCE of dressage, the PRECISION of stadium, and the BRAVERY of cross country. This is no sport for the weak willed or the indecisive, INTENSITY and DEDICATION to purpose is required, for this is not an endeavor that can be entered into lightly. It is all consuming, and attention to DETAIL is paramount. From pre-dawn feedings to long hours of practice in the heat and the rain to the heart ache endured due to injury or illness, so much is poured forth, and nothing can be held back, and it is all for the most fleeting of opportunities – that moment when horse and rider enter the field of competition and there is but one chance to get it right, one chance to be perfect, to be swift, to be clear. All the years and days and hours, all the effort, all the hope, all the heart, for that briefest of moments, when preparation gives way to a win, and SUCCESS is had at last, to be savored, and cherished, and enjoyed… for at least the length of the VICTORY GALLOP. And after it is all over, and the horse, that more than equal PARTNER , is safely ensconced in the trailer for the trip home, and the tall boots have been pulled off, and tired legs are stretched, there remains the one constant – a man and his horse, and the BOND between them both.