Become an Eventing Nation BloggerWhat’s the worst thing about the WEGs ending? Perhaps it’s that Hamish and Dave are going back to Australia.
First of which involved Chrissy. After the baggage carousel stopped she was missing her bag. Or so she thought, so we had to walk around, find someone who could speak english and help us file a missing bag claim. After finding this person, he was very helpful. Seems the blue bag Chrissy was looking for during the last 40mins was actually green, and conveniently sitting waiting for her in the baggage claim.
So on we went to grab some coffee…Sinead was next, unfortunately with less stellar results. Seems she left her wallet on the plane, or it fell out somewhere in transit. So we stopped at the lost and found and reported her claim.
So off we go in the rental cars to the horse hotel, where we’d meet up with Tiana and Fin. We arrived at around 11am, and had to kill 4 hrs until our horses and Nat arrived. This time was occupied by about every childhood game you’ve ever played. Anything from rock paper scissors to Will hiding in the bushes.
Our horses finally arrived, we took them on a short walk then back on the truck for the 2 hr drive on to Boekelo. I was impressed how well all of the horses looked after the journey. We got lost once in the process, but arrived to what might be the best event I’ve ever seen. At least in hospitality. We had a bunch of help unloading everything, and by the time we took them all for a walk tea, coffee and cookies were handed out! Then more organizing and off to the bar on site. They are expecting 40,000 people this weekend, and with 3 acres of tents I’m sure there will be tons to do. Incidentally the tent stabling is basically a temporary structure with 108 stalls under 1 roof with 6m aisles.
After a few drinks with the organizers we headed off to dinner, and now bed.
Monday we’ll take them for a hack, serious work waiting until Tuesday.
Until then…
-D
We have an unfortunate report from the Maryland Horse Trials. According to one source, prelim rider Vicki Roussel was air lifted from the event. She was repoerted awake and lucid but did sustain injuries and was taken to hospital. Her horse apparently fell on her at fence 14, a square wagon. The horse was led off course and reported to be fine. These are just initial reports but we wish everyone the best.
John asked if I might keep everyone updated about our trip to Boekelo. Sinead may have covered this already but along with me and Running Order known in the barn as Skinny, RO, Elvis or Running Order is Sinead riding Tate, Will riding Missy and…funny that seemed like a good idea at the time but I don’t know Tiana’s horse’s barn name. Ill report back with the inside scoop on that. The grooms along are Meg, Chrissy and Nat (who is with the horses now).
This morning started out with a walk at 7. Sinead brought her truck over at 9 to pick up Skinny. My Dad, Cal Levine and Nat then headed to JFK with the horses. That drive from Gladstone is not many miles but its on the other side of NYC, so as you can imagine traffic can be a bear. I heard that it was just that on the way back. Thanks again to Dad and Cal, his navigator.
Quick side note, my Dad said the cargo port of KLM was the location of the $7.5m heist that was the basis for ‘Good Fellas’. I didn’t see it but I hear its good. He got some pics while loading all of our supplies…if I get them ill forward them on…
So that left Sinead, Chrissy, Will, Sara (who runs Eventing for the USET) and I to head to Newark for our flight. We met up at 3:30, and on to Newark we went…
We should arrive in Amsterdam before the horses, after customs we’ll head down to Cargo to meet up with the horses.
So how am I feeling about all of this…damn good question. I’m very excited and looking forward to the adventure. RO is going very well…so even though he’s still quite green at the level we have a good shot at representing the US well. Hopefully this is the first of many trips like this.
Funny…if you had told me a year ago that I’d be in this position I’d have asked you what you were smoking.
You just keep working and improving and its amazing what can be accomplished. I’ve been very lucky in the past year to not only be eventing a bunch of very nice horses, I think I’m around 100 starts this year, but also working with Anne Kursinski in straight jumping. I’d have to say that experience is what is giving me the most comfort heading to Holland. This summer I did my first Grand Prix…I can say, during the months leading up to it, the jumps were getting bigger and bigger. I haven’t been consistently placed in foreign situations where nerves were an issue since the first time moving up the levels in eventing. Being that I did my first advanced 10 yrs ago, it was strange indeed. I found myself falling into some of the instinctual habits I though I had long killed off. It was a tremendously educational experience, aside from Anne’s invaluable jumping advice, I learned a lot about myself and how to get the best preformance in difficult situations. So long story short, I almost feel as if I should be more nervous about this trip, but for now its just a different mode of transportation to another event. Done that 100 times already this year!
I’m currently sitting on the runway getting yelled at, so I better get back to everyone later…
-D
–Kelly Prather and Ballinakill glory won the intermediate over Alexandra Slusher and Last Call. As an interesting statistic, the Woodsite intermediate cross-country produced 0 jumping penalties for all 8 pairs and the show jumping produced 56 penalties for the same pairs.
–Sarah Cousins had a great Saturday at Maryland with two wins in the Intermediate. Boyd Martin and Remington were second in the intermediate after a 26.00 in the dressage, two rails in the show jumping and 5.6 time on cross-country. I am guessing we will see Remington at Pau in a few weeks.
Eventing Nation has been really focused on the WEGs for the last two weeks but it’s important to remember that most of the eventing world has been carrying on with business as usual. This afternoon we bring you part four of Jenny’s adventure as a working student and EN guest blogger. Jenny has ambitiously decided to spend the next year as a working student in Lexington, Kentucky. Thanks for writing this Jenny and thank you for reading.
Hello Eventing Nation!
Bear with me as I try to fight gravity and keep my eyelids from falling! I asked John if I could go an extra week until my next post because of WEG and it being pretty crazy here, and now I am finally finding the time to sit down and write about the past few weeks. While it might be hard to remember life before the WEG because every day has felt like a year (in a good way J), I do want to report that Molson and I successfully completed our first HT! We shipped up to Illinois a few weeks ago for Dunnabeck with a few horses, and I came home very proud of my horse with a score of 35.9, plus we managed to qualify for the area championships! Last weekend we were in Wisconsin at Otter Creek HT, and boy was it COLD! I thought it was still too early in the year for 32° mornings, but I was sadly mistaken! I think we brought the cold weather back with us, because we are already putting the medium-weight blankets on– skip the light-weights!
This past week began what I like to call the final fitness boot camp program for Megan’s upper level horses to get ready for Fair Hill. I am lucky to get to do trot and gallop sets on her two boys, so it has also been a pretty good workout for me as well! Last week, every time my legs started to feel like jello, I would just look up into the sky and see the Adequan banner flying over the KHP, which reminded me that in just a few days I would be there watching the games. It’s funny how excited the whole town is for WEG– Andrea and I went into Wal-Mart the other day for some groceries and the second we walked in, a little girl stood stone cold with her jaw dropped to the ground in complete awe of us, as if we were some famous riders here for WEG. Employees were coming up to us and asking if we needed any help finding anything, and when one woman came up and started talking to us about the opening ceremony, I almost thought it would be funny to introduce myself as Karen. I figured karma would find me somehow so I refrained, but it was still funny how people are going a little crazy every time they see someone in riding pants and assume they are some famous rider… I wish!
While it seemed to take forever for WEG to finally begin, it also seemed to fly by in an instant! Megan wins the super boss award for buying tickets for Andrea and I to go see one of the days of the Eventing Dressage, so I will forever be in debt to her! That was an amazing experience, and the lunch break was the perfect length of time to go do some shopping…. except where were all of the tack stores!? I don’t know if I’m just used to the Equine Affaire, which is complete equestrian Mecca, or if I somehow missed all of the good shops, because I personally thought the vendors were rather lame. Unless I wanted to buy $1000 custom boots, new flooring, or a Big Ass Fan, I was pretty much out of luck when it came to shopping at WEG. I guess since I don’t actually need anything/have any money to spend, this actually worked out for the best, but I was still sad that I didn’t get buy myself… I mean Molson… new things! On Saturday we spent all day watching the XC, and I attempted to take some pictures with my camera, however the only good pictures I got turned out to be refusal shots, so there goes my photography career. The only real disappointment I suffered was not meeting Hamish and Dave, although I didn’t visit the Bourbon tent so that’s probably why.
It’s weird that WEG (or at least the best part of it) is over, but it does mean that days will go back to being normal… No more waking up before the sun to feed/turnout, and staying out doing trot/gallop sets until after sunset! Now all concentration is on the two big boys to get as ready as possible for Fair Hill. There also might be some preparation for Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge going on, involving costumes for the xc phase… maybe…
Until next time J
xo, Jenny
From Cynthia:
Scenic Hart Farm in Tewksbury Township New Jersey provided a world-class venue for training sessions to prepare for the Boekelo Horse trials in Holland the weekend of October 15th. As you know, Tiana Courdray, Will Faudree, Sinead Halpin, and Doug Payne are all a part of this experience. Sinead and Doug are local NJ equestrians. Many thanks to Dana and Sean Callanan who hosted the sessions and closed their facility to other riders so that this most important training could take place! (Tiana Courdray, did not attend the sessions, but will join the team in Europe).
Captain Phillips brought things into focus for these young men & women who have worked so hard, first to be recognized, and then trained, to compete for a place on the team who will go for the gold in London in 2012. Sara Ike, the team’s director, assisted Mark by providing real time course changes and jump adjustments. The sense of commitment to winning in Holland was clearly evident in everything the Team’s coach and riders did. Even lunch was the equivalent of a locker room talk from the coach before the game. The team ate; the coach talked. When asked if he wanted some lunch, too, Captain Phillips replied, “I have all afternoon for lunch. Let’s get going!”
It was a privilege to watch these riders and horses as it is clearly evident that they are very talented and have been working extremely hard. Watching the next generation of eventers training with Captain Mark Phillips was an experience that I will not soon forget. The positive energy from the riders and Mark was great – everyone was confident and happy. I was afraid to take my eyes off of the riders for fear of missing something brilliant. If only more people could attend these sessions to see these rising stars first hand. Perhaps with additional promotion of these events we could raise more money for these riders.
The first session was devoted to dressage with all horses and riders looking very impressive and ready for Boekelo. Captain Phillips provided quick and incisive direction while remaining engaging and complimentary to the riders. By zeroing on subtle corrections, he was able to help each rider determine how to move from an 8 to a 9, and possibly a 9 to a 10. Watching the riders process Phillips’ instructions and make the corrections for immediate improvements was inspiring.
Sinead went first on her horse Manoir de Carneville, also known as Tate. Doug was second with Running Order known as “Skinny” (I can I assure you this horse is not skinny at all, as he once was). Will completed the final session on his mount. It was especially exciting to see the transformation of Tate and Skinny, as I have known these horses for years. Having observed their day to day conditioning, training, and progress, it is that both horse and rider have accomplished something special, and that it could not have been possible without each other.
Just when I thought it could not get any better, I attended the jumping session on Thursday morning and, was in heaven. My apologies to Will as I did not get to see any of his sessions (due to this silly thing I have to do called work). However, the feedback is that Will and his mare are amazing. One person commented that the mare was very special and like nothing they have even seen before “she is more than ready to go”. Sinead and Doug had exercises customized for their horses with both Tate and Skinny jumping strong and willingly. It was breathtaking to see how well the horses jumped, and how confident, focused, and strong the riders are.
Of course, both Sinead and Doug (not wanting to improve and/or be competitive J) took advantage of Mark’s visit by having additional lessons with their other promising prospects. Most exciting that they have a new “pipeline” of horses to take on the eventing world!
Who will win at Boekelo remains to be seen, and who will ultimately compete in London for the gold in 2012 is an even greater mystery. I am certain, though, that I will be right there, too, cheering on whomever among these bright young stars and veterans, too, and remember the terrific training session they received at Hart Farm from Captain Phillips.
My thanks to Anthony from www.anthonybphotos.com for coming out at a moment’s notice to take the pictures. He also gave me wine – how much better can my day get?!
The American Horse Trials Foundation helps riders pay for their training and competition expenses. This is a tax deductible – nonprofit organization. To make a donation to one of these riders please visit www.ahtf3day.org.
Kim and Paddy: Withdrew before first horse inspectionBuck and Reggie: Stop on the cross-countryBecky and Comet: Withdrew from final vet inspectionKaren and Mandiba: Stop in the show jumpingPhillip and Woodburn: 18thBoyd and Neville: 10th
Hey Eventing Nation,
I would like to start this off with a gigantic Thank You to everyone who was involved with this trip to WEG. That includes ‘my’ people, as well as those who helped all the other Canadian pairs. This isn’t intended to be an “I’d like to thank the Academy” spiel, so I will leave it with this. You know who you are, and we couldn’t have done it without you!!
I really want to remember the way that this competition felt for the rest of my life. It was uncharted territory for me, being my first team competition and my first World Championships, and it was also the first time I have been in a field with so many of the riders that I have looked up to (from a distance) for my whole life. To be in a barn aisle with Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson, and to routinely be riding in the same ring as Mary King and Pippa Funnell made me feel more than just a little wide-eyed for the first few days at the park. But, once we got down to the serious final preparation, it was surprising to me how I was able to convince myself that this would start to feel normal. Comparing the way my horse was going to the way that all the others were going, I actually believed that I could hold my own, and for me that was such a proud moment. I am so looking forward to what I hope will be many more opportunities to be in that kind of an atmosphere to learn as much as I can from these seasoned pro’s about how to play this game.
Because of my position as 3rd team rider, I was able to watch a ton of the competition, and this was a huge tool for me as far as getting in the mode to go out and ride. Watching the dressage, I could think to myself how each move would feel and comparing what I saw all day Thursday to what I knew I wanted from my horse. This was a great way to really get my head in the game, and I think I will maybe start perusing the internet for as much video as I can find over the winter to keep “practicing” these moves in my head.
Obviously, I was elated with how our ride went on Friday morning. Ollie felt super in warmup, and he really let me ride him in the ring. I felt like I really rode to my instructions with only minor mistakes and Ollie was right there with me. To have shaved about 8 points off of my last 4 star test score with just a couple months of practice is very exciting for me. I’m really looking forward to getting back at it with David after Ollie’s vacation!
I have to admit, I needed to watch the morning of the cross country to let the pro’s prove to me that it could be done. It was a much bigger track than Kentucky, and even though I always feel well prepared by my coach and well taken care of by my horse, I would not have wanted to be too early on in the day around that course. By the time I had to go back to the barn to get on, I had watched a lot of people make it look effortless, and I had also watched just enough “how not to’s ” and Oopsies, to give me a very serious conviction that I would need to go out and take every step seriously. I felt pretty level headed in warmup, and Ollie was ready to rock, so by the time we left the start box I was so ready to go and get it done. He was amazing!!! He didn’t exactly make it feel easy, but he was right there with me the whole time and never gave me the impression that he had second thoughts about anything. He is a real Superman cross country, and I have never been more grateful for that in my life!! What a boy J
Sunday felt like an entire week and merely an hour all at once. The morning started early with all the jog preparations, but then once all of that was done, it felt like we went non stop until we finally hit the pillow at whatever time that was. I still can’t really wrap my head around the eon/moment that was Sunday, but I can tell you that it was so incredibly special to be a part of the end result. I am so happy for myself and my team mates, and everyone involved with the creation of this result. I think the standout moment for me was having David give us our medals. He has poured so much energy and knowledge and support into this program and into each and every one of us, and I know that we made him a very proud Papa on Sunday!! I hope I get to be a part of repeating that many times over the next few years.
I am referring to the way I feel right now as my WEG hangover. I’m tired, my head hurts, I’m overwhelmed by almost everything on my to do list… but I still think back and say “Man that was sooooo awesome!!! Can you believe we did that??” And given just how awesome it was, I would do it over and over again.
Thanks so much for reading….
Steph and Ollie
“He pulled his left front shoe on course and pulled up lame…There was filling in the right front leg,” which indicated some degree of overstress to the compensating opposite foreleg, Furlong said. But “there was no pain on palpation, and he was ultrasounded by Dr. [Jean-Marie] Denoix, who is the world’s foremost ultrasound specialist. He could find no damage to any structure — tendons or ligaments,” he said.
The edema was determined to be superficial, and Courageous Comet “should make a complete and full recovery,” said Furlong. The gelding is receiving “standard treatment” for this type of minor soft-tissue injury: a course of anti-inflammatory medication plus those old horsemen’s standbys of cold-hosing, hand-walking, and limited turnout, Furlong said. Read more at TheHorse.com
Obviously, we are all excited to see Comet back in action soon. Go eventing.
Will Faudree and Andromaque
Doug Payne and Running Order
Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville
Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister
Mark Phillips is in Gladstone this week working with Doug, Sinead, and Will today, Thursday, and Friday. Those three will fly from JFK to Amsterdam on Saturday, where they will meet up with Tiana. The Boekelo training grants cover travel as well as incentives based on final placings and involve a big investment in each pair.
From Sinead’s Blog: “[Manoir de Carneville] and I combined have the most experience in the group in our Advanced competitions together. Will has the most experience as a rider with his numerous 4 star and team competitions on his former advanced ride Antigua. His mare is absolutely amazing and has been completely solid in the past year or so that Will has had her. Doug and Running Order are new to the Advanced level but Doug has more time in the tack than most and has proven on countless horses that he can be competitive. This will be a big step for both “skinny” and Doug but worth the investment. Tiana and her beautiful grey horse have both won at the 3 star level and had some spotty competitions. She knows her horse very well and has every capability to win the thing if things go her way.”
The US team is winning the WEG show jumping
