Sunday, July 11, 2010

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?!

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