By Chelan:
I’m over a 3,000 miles from Ocala, Florida where the Canadian training sessions are, over 2,500 miles from Georgia where the Americans are and over 2,000 miles from the Kentucky Horse Park where the rest of the event world is just arrived, or are arriving as we speak. Still, I can tell you pretty much exactly what is going on. Horses are horses and the prep will look a little different for each one, but we are 10 days from cross country and here’s how it will be playing out:
Gallops–The Canadians galloped last Friday, the Americans on Saturday. Traditionally, the ‘final’ real gallop is around 10 days prior to the cross-country (the Canadians gallop on Thursday) and sometimes there is a final speed run the weekend before XC. Galloping this close to ‘the big one’ is indescribably stressful. Riders will breathe a huge sigh of relief to get the last big gallop out of the way with out incident. It is also common to have the final 10 days leading up to the big event a little more chilled in terms of the exercise component. This lets the horses recover in preparation for the big day next Saturday. Realistically, the fitness by that point is there or it’s not. The purpose is to simply get the horse to go anaerobic, and to keep them SOUND.
I don’t know Australia’s Megan Jones at all, but I felt physically ill at the news that her horse is unable to compete. Imagine flying 1/2 way around the world, getting so close and then to be out. It will be a miracle if there are no more casualties to fate between now and the jog next Wednesday. By the way, horses are fragile, and we are all crazy!
Home-field advantage–The other countries are already at the KHP or nearly so. This has the advantage of settling into the atmosphere, but the disadvantage of no or little turn out. The other thing about arriving soon is that the horses (and riders) may struggle to relax in the electric atmosphere.
This brings us to jumping and dressage schooling. The ‘locals’ will have what I consider to be an advantage by doing off the property schooling shows (Florida dressage for the Canadians) which provides the opportunity to fine tune the ‘plan’ for each rider’s warm up. With regards to the jumping, the ‘locals’ will have a chance to do a little XC tweak and/or a show jump course school. While the real veterans might not necessarily need that, it will sure remind the greener team pairs exactly what they want to feel when the big days arrive.
The other advantage for the locals arriving a little later is that the arrival protocols will be old hat by the time they arrive. My expectation is that while Janie Atkinson has had years to whip everyone into shape, small glitches do arise. Many of the glitches will have been rectified with regards to stabling, groom housing, etc before the US and Canada teams gets onsite.
Regarding the dressage–I expect that each rider has watched him or herself on video a great deal, and has a very specific warm up protocol planned already. It will get tweaked as required, but the riders know the test inside out and backwards, and have had the chance to ride it at the AEC’s. When ‘learning’ the test at this level, it goes so far beyond simply memorizing a pattern. Each horse will have a completely different set of moment by moment instructions from the riders to achieve the maximal results. These will have been practiced and rehearsed both on the horse, as well as visualized by the riders off the horse.
Pressure–The Team (and by team I refer here to all riders competing for their country) atmosphere is very different than riding by yourself, for yourself at say Rolex or Badminton. Aside from the obvious pressure of preparing for a big competition, there are the forced different day to day patterns that can cause pre-competition stress. Think about it, the teams are full of type A highly competitive individuals who normally pack 30+ hours worth of activities into a 24 hour day. Now put them all together in an unfamiliar environment. Maybe the food is not what the rider is used to (food is a BIG one for me–I eat 24/7, mostly healthy, right up to moments before I get on before XC. Really!) Maybe the hotel room (or wherever they are sleeping) temperature is too hot or cold. In addition, they don’t have enough to do. Some of the ‘local’ riders might have other horses with them to keep them busy. Other riders, and certainly the riders from across the pond will have only one horse to ride. That is a tiny sliver of what these riders are used to doing in a day. Even if each of the team mates get along, these unfamiliar surroundings and circumstances can lead to stress. Imagine throwing a group of the WEG horses into a big field right about now–together! Enter the pool at Chatahochee, for example. Under these circumstances described above, blowing off steam (in the pool, for example) to release mental stress is as important as fixating on each minute detail of the dressage test. This preparation is all business, but it is supposed to be fun. Drawing support from each other can be a big help, too.
The other big difference in a team vs. individual scenario is that each and every rider takes the responsibility of riding for one’s country very seriously. These riders have worked a lifetime for this moment, and I assure you they each feel the weight of his or her countries expectations. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! The trick is to take that and turn it into a positive. Jack leGoff was a master at the psychological preparations in these cases. He was tough tough tough on the riders leading up to major competitions, but then upon arrival, he backed off and let the riders do their thing. He knew that adding more pressure at that moment was the wrong thing. The riders are hard enough on themselves. So, gang do what you need to over the next week. Get that pesky last gallop over with, keep your heads screwed on and go get ’em. I’m cheering for each and every one of you. Insanely jealous, truthfully, but cheering nonetheless. See y’all in Lexington next week.
