Purina's Live From Lexington Contest - The Bloggers Pt. 2..To the Finish!

As I wrote in my previous post regarding the Live From Lexington contest, I have been following on a daily basis. The second and third place position has been an up and down rollar coaster, back and fourth. Who will win (as in second place) this contest? Even as of now, Nina Akerley leads over Sheri Israel by rougly 1,100 votes. The contest will be over at exactly 11:59:59 tomorrow evening. It's hard to tell if the many Sheri fans (including fellow equestrian blogger, Stacey Kimmel Smith at Behind the Bit blog) will take this contest and run with it in the last 12 hours. My prediction is that this will be a close second between the two, but ultimately I believe that Ms. Akerley will be the second place finisher and will go to report at the World Equestrian Games.

From the beginning, I have been keeping a close readers eye on Sheri Israel a fellow blogger. Her "Great 8" concept was fabulous, creative and she was able to pull in viewers and readers with those videos because it allowed us a more in-depth look into the kind, confident, equestrian women that she is. All while we traveled with her to experience the various disciplines that are recognized at the WEG. The videos for Sheri's "Great 8" was a nice change from her entry video, a little anxious. But that is my personal opinion, all in all, I think Sheri is a true testament to hard work and dedication. Sheri blogs regularly at DressageMom.com. A mother of two, a wife, emoloyed full-time, a devoted equestrian in the sport of Dressage and not to mention a wonderful owner to her Arabian gelding Kaswyn. Yes, Sheri seems like super mom! If she is one of the two semi-finalists that go to the WEG, she certainly deserved every bit of it and us readers would be lucky to have her give us her reports.

But, lets not forget Nina Akerley. This girl can write, report and has all the means of being an excellent source for all the best information coming from the WEG. Her blog posts are always written in such a way that you get humor, honesty, emotional, throught-provoking content, all rolled into one. There is an undeniable balance in her writing. What seems to be different from Nina and Sheri, is that Sheri shares great stories and thoughts with us on her personal experiences, where as Nina shares, along with personal experiences and stories, shares current topics and interests throughout the equestrian community. One of my favorite, recent posts by Nina includes the two-part series; Equine Sports Medicine & Nurtrition where Nina gives us a look at the various sports medicine teqhniques as well as the nutrition requirements for the top performing athletes in different disciplines. Nina, in the beggining of this contest, vowed to donate the 1 ton of Purina feed to an equine charity. And she did just that! Here is what Nina had to say (blog post can be found here);

"...I don’t have to win for a worthy equine rescue get the help it desperately needs in these tough economic times. Who can afford to donate, never mind adopt a horse these days?! Well, maybe some people can, but I can’t so I’m grateful that my writing and reporting has given me an opportunity to do something."

"For those of you who haven’t had time to read all my blogs or have forgotten what I’ve posted in the past, here’s the gist of the situation: In my entry video, I pledged that if I won the contest I would donate the prize of one ton of Purina horse feed to my local equine rescue. Then I let you all know that each of your votes was actually supporting two worthy causes, the equine rescue and the NAHRA. Later on, I announced that the MSPCA at Nevins Farm was to be the beneficiary of my donation."

So the contest is down to the wire. Who will we be seeing Live from Lexington?!

Purina's Live From Lexington Contest - The Bloggers P. 1

I have been keeping up on Purina's Live From Lexington Contest, almost on a daily basis. I read the blogs as frequently as I can as well as vote. It's been an interesting voting period. We've seen a little outburst of concerned readers comment on Kristine Oakhurts' blog regarding, mostly her writing style. Alas, readers do not have to follow her blog and they certainly don't have to contribute to it by leaving a comment, so it was a little surprising that when people chose to leave comments, doing so without much thought as to the negative light they're bringing to the contest as a whole.

Why Kristine?
I'm a relatively conservative blogger myself. I don't use sarcasm, I don't use references to "stero-types" and I certainly don't write about controversial points of view when I do blog here on CS. I just don't. I can see how Kristine's writing could come off as offensive to some. But for the most part, I see someone writing about subjects and matter that are kept pretty hush-hush in the horse world. We all know that at most barns there are those known as "Dressage Queens." I for one, won't refer to someone as a "Dressage Queen" in writing or in person, I choose not to because it's not me nor my style, but in my mind I might be thinking on the lines of the definition of those words.

So we all have to admit, we either are a "Dressage Queen," or know of at least one. They are inevitable in the horse world amongst those who keep horses in their backyard within the confines of barb-wire. They are out there.

There are people who despise english equestrian sports, people who believe the hunter world is full of "snobby" teens and adults and those who think western riding lacks horse to rider communication. There are opinions everywhere. There are A LOT of different people out there in the horse world. People who believe in the common good and people who lack those both. There are people who are formally educated in riding and horses and those who learned alone.

The good thing is, we can choose who and what we want to be associated with. We can also choose to not believe in things that others may and we can choose what types of horses and riding we're involved with. But what we can't do is not be aware that those people we DON'T want to be associated with, are out there.

Kristine's writing in it's most, "controversial" form is plain honest. It might not come out in the la-la land and cart-wheels way we could find, less offensive, but one thing it always is, is honest.

When confronted with differences in opinion, people seem to go nuts. Kristine's writing may be hard for people to grasp because it questions "quiet" (or loud for that matter) things that happen at every barn, in all the horse world. It brings up subjects that people find hard to swallow because they don't know exactly what to think when someone says it how it is without going the less "offensive" route. And usually the less offensive route means not writing about it at all. Much like myself.

I think this contest is interesting in what kinds of reactions it has sparked. A majority of the reaction (commenters) so far to KO has been positive. People really like to hear this stuff in it's most raw and natural form. But it brings out really offended, angry, commenters as well. It makes you wonder why exactly they are so angry and offended? It seems silly to be so offended. Take it with a grain of salt. No one has to agree with her approach, no one has to read her writing. But I for one, love how it DOES spark conversation, debate and thinking. It obviously is worth reading considering that those who have negative things to say, take the time to read and comment. If I was truly offended, I'd walk away not giving the person any recognition.

Well, that's just my take. More on the other bloggers soon.

Go vote!