Chelan Kozak, Eventing Nation’s Canadian Olympian and guest writer extraordinaire, is on scene at Galway and she will be generously sending us a few reports throughout the weekend. Check out Chelan’s website here for more about Chelan. As usual, Chelan speaks her mind, and as usual I will get one or two uptight texts about it, and as usual I won’t care. Thanks for writing this Chelan and thank you for reading.
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From Chelan:
Galway day one was pretty busy. They do the CIC’s over two days here–Friday is dressage and SJ and Saturday is XC in reverse order to add excitement to the thing. Like 3 star XC isn’t exciting enough?? Apparently this is the format in Europe. Personally, I think it is weird. Seems a bit horse trials-ish. Further, it doesn’t help the riders get a feel for what sort of horse they will have in a few weeks time at the big CCI’s they are preparing for, which obviously have the SJ at the end of the weekend. Nobody asked me, of course, so there you have it.
Ali Slusher on ‘Last Call’ started the day winning and kept it up, despite a rail in SJ. Ali had this to say about Friday’s performance, “I thought ‘Fergie’ jumped great. She tried hard and the rail was my fault. My dressage was the best she and I had done as a pair. I’m very excited about XC.”
The most influential part of the big SJ track was the middle of the course. A somewhat airy vertical bending line to the triple combination proved to cause a stop, rails and one fall. Debbie Rosen landed on her feet, but I have a feeling that she is seriously rethinking her trip to Rolex. Again, this sport is cruel and we are all a little insane to play it!
I did not get to watch all of the dressage because I am riding and coaching this weekend, but there were several people in the 2 and 3 star CIC whose marks were 8+ marks apart from different judges, which is too many!
I chatted with one of the many volunteers that one encounters at an event. Denay Lane was in charge of opening and closing both FEI dressage rings at the same time. I asked her approximately the numbers of top hats to helmet ratio in the FEI. She felt that it was about 3/4 top hat–1/4 helmet. I consider her probably the most reliable source since she stood there all day. She did have a chair set up in the shade, but she rarely sat down. Shade was a good thing today as it was in the low 90’s. Last week down here in Southern California it was mid 40’s and rainy… Suddenly the flies are out. Isn’t Mother Nature divine?
Speaking of hard workers (and Mother nature), I chatted with Bert Wood briefly this morning. My horse trailer is parked across the road from Galway at Kingsway Farm. I told Bert that we hear the boys in the water trucks and on the tractors at 10 PM when we go to bed and at 6 AM when we get up. So Bert says, “Yup, we go all night, it’s the only way”. Um, actually Bert, there are plenty of other options. It’s just that none of them get the job done to your high standard. Here in Southern California, there is no point watering days early because the sun simply dries the ground out again. I can tell you personally that the footing down here is fantastic. God help you if you leave the prepared track–ground hog holes, ant hills, etc. await. But without exception, the path that has been laid for us is second to none. A huge shout out to the course builders, who are normally also the ones who prepare the ground that we gallop Hell bent for leather on. Thank you so much for taking such meticulous care of our horse’s welfare. We appreciate it.
David O’Connor told me last night on a course walk that Bert was one of the hardest workers he knows, which is saying something because David is not exactly a slouch himself. We all had some laughs as well as serious learning on the walk. I asked if I could print a few gems and I got ‘the look’. I speak ‘DOC’ fairly well, so I guess that means what happens in ‘Vegas’ stays in Vegas, so to speak. he he he…
Don’t you think that this Ecogold gecko could kick the snapping turtle at the Badminton Lake’s ass?!?
The 3 star XC looks good. Ian Stark has added a few changes since last autumn’s CCI, and of course this course is shorter. The biggest change (which John posted my photo of Thursday) is the uphill log to brush chevron. I told Ian Stark and Robert Kellerhouse that I tripped near the fence and the camera in my iPhone accidentally went off. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Anyhow, log to chevron sounds pretty average on paper, but the uphill is steep, then you gallop through the trade fair to get to the next jump, the water. I’m sorry, I LOVE THAT. Galloping through the trade fair?!? Excellent, love it!! I’ll have video of that later tonight for everyone.
The weather for XC is supposed to be a little more reasonable mid 70’s which should be nice for the horses to Rock and Roll. It’s pouring rain back home in BC right now, so I’m not whining, but it has just been a pretty quick acceleration into HOT temperatures. More later after the XC.
