All Americans Accepted !!! pic.twitter.com/BZhl7tVDpf
— sinead halpin (@sinead_c_Halpin) August 27, 2014
We’ll have a full recap on the jog later on today, if our poor EN souls can find suitable WiFi, but in the meantime, let’s get three cheers for our North Americans for passing the first horse inspection with flying colors!
I’ve been following social media this morning, eager to get the word on the U.S. and Canadian riders as they trotted up for the first time at WEG. The U.S. has drawn first to go, and so were the first to jog down the strip.
USA! USA! Photo via USEF Eventing High Performance on Facebook.
Being the first team drawn, the U.S. riders will also be out early on the cross country course on Saturday, which is great news as far as the footing is concerned. Once the riders are able to walk the course with David O’Connor, the order of go will be determined.
Speaking of the cross country course…
Course walked .. enorme!! Trot up in half an hour bonne chance Nouvelle Zealande
— Lucy Jackson (@LJeventing) August 27, 2014
The U.S. riders looked sharp in navy blazers and dark denim, which made for a classic and understated look. Just look at that backdrop!
Photo via Lynn Symansky Equestrian Facebook page.
No word received yet on whether or not Buck wore his lucky socks, but we can only assume that they were the first thing he packed!
Photo via the USEF Eventing High Performance Facebook page.
Meanwhile, the Canadian riders strutted their stuff down the strip for the first time, also passing with flying colors.
Somehow we feel like Ginny’s favorite activity is not waiting. Photo via Hawley Bennett on Facebook.
The Canadians also looked sharp in their jog outfits. While Eventing NZ tweeted that the outfits were “unusual,” I think they’re quite festive and bring a great, fresh feel to jog day.
Photo via Hawley Bennett on Instagram.
In some sad news, Ludwig Svennerstall’s horse, Alexander, was sent to the holding box after jogging and has subsequently been withdrawn from competition.
One of the toughest days in my career so far as Alex didn’t trot up well at WEG @normandie2014 so we withdrew him from the holding box #sad
— Ludwig Svennerstal (@svennerstal) August 27, 2014
It looks like Mark Todd had a bit of a misadventure during his trip down the lane:
Sir Mark Todd lame after his horse stood on his toe on the runway pic.twitter.com/XGWJxASPKE
— Alex Tordoff (@BoyEventer) August 27, 2014
Stay tuned for many more sights and sounds from Normandy. Also, we’ve installed the fancy Twitter widget on the main page, so you can keep up with all things WEG in real time by checking in there. The jog is still in progress, and we wish all horses and riders the best of luck as we prepare for the first day of eventing competition.
Go WEG!
