EN’s own dutiful professor of journotology, Tilly Berendt, says hallo from CHIO Aachen in Germany! She’s experiencing a computer adapter mishap and is currently out roaming Aachen’s dimly lit streets in search of a Best Buy, or whatever is the German equivalent of a place that sells computer stuff: “I’m going to keep looking until this whole stupid city shuts down. Which might be fairly soon this,” she says, unassuredly but with great conviction.
Half an hour later: “Okay. I have officially walked the length of this city and been into every shop that’s actually open at this time of night and I think I officially need to call this mission a failure.”
In the meantime, we didn’t want to leave everyone on tenterhooks about today’s horse inspection so here’s the scoop: all horses passed. Cathal Daniels of Ireland had to jogย Rioghan Rua twice but only because she was being a bit spicy, we hear. Team USA — Will Coleman with Off the Record, Sydney Elliot withย QC Diamantaire, Ariel Grald withย Leamore Master Plan, and Tamie Smith with Mai Baum, plus individual competitor Lauren Nicholson with Vermiculus — are on to the dressage phase and show jumping phases tomorrow, followed by cross country on Saturday.
The one tiny plus side of her mission unaccomplished, Tilly reports, “is that other people are out having a nice time, which means I’ve witnessed gems such as two German girls loudly singing along to Doja Cat.”
Tomorrow is a fresh new day, Tilly. We believe in you.
With 10 countries and nearly 40 riders represented, the 2021 edition of CHIO Aachen is bound to be an action-packed couple of days but we are here for it!
CHIO Aachen CCIO4*-S: [Website] [Schedule and Scoring] [Entries] [Live Stream] [ENโs Coverage]
A few more dispatches from international competitors:
