Kristi Nunnink is here at the Pau CCI4* competing her lovely mare R-Star for the USA. She was kind enough to agree to blog for us again and tell us about her experience here in France. After dressage, Kristi stands in 41st place on a 54.1 following a dressage test that had both the good and the bad. Thanks to Kristi for writing, and thanks for reading!
From Kristi:
Pau is incredibly beautiful. If I could speak more than a smattering of French I might even think of staying! The weather reminds me a lot of Southern California, but it is much greener, with grass and flower gardens everywhere you look. The grounds are very impressive, and much of the event is held on a large steeplechase and racing training center.
Sadly, Rosie and I did not have the stellar dressage test that we were counting on. We had some very last minute bitting issues with her double bridle and had to put her in a snaffle. I wasn’t quite able to get her back from the extensions, and we had the occasional bobble as a result. However, Phillip and Hannah Sue had outstanding rides and scored very well. The rest of us may have not received the scores that we wanted, but we are certainly not embarrassing the United States here at Pau.
David took us on our course walk today, and we spent over two hours discussing how we would ride certain combinations. At the end of the walk he informed us that he was counting on all of us to turn in clean rides tomorrow with a minimum amount of cross-country time penalties. This, he explained, is what we need to make better team results. The good news for me is that he’s less concerned about perfect dressage riders! Rosie and I are hoping to have an awesome ride tomorrow, and I hope that all of the US and Canadian riders do the same.