12/27/10: Pictures

Jessie and I by the Christmas tree!

Mr. Drea with Helga and Buzz.

Louisa, Jessie, and I.

Luke showing off his new hunting coat.

Mrs. Drea with her new crystal bottle for port. The only port she could find was left in the pantry by the previous owner of the house, so Mrs. Drea poured it into the bottle for show but said she was afraid it might be poisonous.

Reindeer tracks in the woods!

Snowy field at the Drea's yard.

The school!

The view from my bedroom on Christmas day!

Pumba!

12/26/10: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! For me, December 25th, 2010 was full of firsts: my first Christmas away from home; my first white Christmas; my first Christmas drinking alcohol legally; my first Christmas eating parsnips; my first Christmas with gifts from “Father Christmas” instead of good old Santa; my first Christmas with crackers on the table (I half expected a flowery bonnet to pop out of one like it does in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). What more could a girl ask for during her first Christmas in England?

I spent a good portion of the day sleeping because I have a terrible cold. Green tea and Emergen-C helped me feel a little better, and I managed to help my current adoptive mother, Mrs. Drea, make an English trifle. It was a bit of a disaster because, after layering shortbread and fruit on the bottom of a bowl, Mrs. Drea mixed boxed jello into a liquid and poured it into the bowl without firming it in the fridge first. It turned into a gooey mush, so we put it in the fridge to harden it up into a shortbread/fruit/jellow mixture instead of a layered trifle. We told everyone at dinner that it was a traditional American trifle. Luckily, I don't think they noticed how disastrous it was!

It was tough being away from my family at Christmas for the first time. I really miss them! On Christmas morning every year, when my brother, sister, and I are making our way down the stairs to open presents, my dad always makes us stop and smile for a picture. It always makes my siblings and I want to shoot him, but I have to admit when I walked downstairs on Christmas morning in England, I missed taking that picture just a little bit. Maybe I'll bring some British Christmas traditions home with me next year! Brussel sprouts, anyone? Or maybe parsnips?

12/22/10: The Frozen Tsunami

I must admit, dealing with the British weather is quite tough! I bought a very warm coat; Dubarry boots; an eskimo hat; and a pair of waterproof socks (literally the demonstrator stood in a bucket of water to prove that they work) at Olympia on Sunday, and my hands and feet are still in a constant ice cube state! I never want to get out of the shower because I always dread feeling the cold bathroom air. As Jessie said today, "the weather spoils everything... It's like a frozen tsunami!" I couldn't agree more. The school is too frozen to ride in again today, so we are hanging around the house and may do some Christmas shopping later. Luckily, on days like this when we have very little to do, we never run out of things to chat about! It turns out horse show drama is certainly not exclusive to the American show circuit.

On an exciting note, the Drea's 14th century house is being restored at the moment, and the bathroom outside my bedroom door is nearly finished! Luke informed me that he caught the nice, but somewhat creepy, builder named Kimberly (yes, a man named Kimberly...) peeking through the crack in my door this morning, so I will be very happy when the bathroom is finished and he evacuates the premises.

Just so you know for future reference, 14th century country houses are beautiful, but the central heating; electronic outlet; and toilet flushing situations can be problematic. I spent the first few days wearing five layers to bed until I found superb heater hiding in my closet. I absolutely love it, but the fact that my room has access to only one electronic outlet means I can't run my heater and charge my Blackberry at the same time. Wow, I sound like a stuck-up American princess! However, it is amazing how much one takes these simple pleasures for granted. Flushing the toilets has also proved to be challenging. The trick to flushing an old British toilet is a very short and quick press down on the handle. If one cannot master this technique, he or she might as well just give up on going to the "loo" at all.

Oh, the British! They call themselves English by the way... British is apparently just a term used by Americans. So confusing!

Pictures: 12/21/10

From left: Geoff Billington, Jessie Drea, and George Whitaker.

Jessie and I preparing for our take down of London!

Jessie's yard covered in snow!

The leader board during the H&M World Cup Qualifier.

The course for the H&M World Cup Qualifier.

The course for the Young Rider Championship.

The Christmastime specialty at the Bolney Stage, the classic British pub down the street from Jessie's yard!

12/21/10: Adventures At Olympia.

Jessie and I spent this past weekend at the Olympia Horse Show in London. It is an incredible show in downtown Kensington where many of the world's top riders compete. After unloading Jessie's horse Baloufina on the sidewalk next to the London Olympia Exhibition Center on Friday night, Jessie and I went back to our hotel to rest up. On Saturday morning, I went to Whole Foods (my very favorite grocery store) just down the street from the hotel. I got Jessie a smoothie for strength and picked up some organic snacks. I've been missing Whole Foods since I've been in England! The biggest grocery store in Horsham is called Tesco, and it is not quite in the same league.

Sadly, the power smoothie didn't help Jessie win the Young Rider's class at Olympia. She had a great round with just a single rail at the B element of the triple combination and ended up sixth in the class. The class format stated that the top five horse/rider combinations from the first round would return for a jump off and carry forward any penalties they accumulated in the first round. Jemma Kirk, Matt Sampson, Mark Turnbull, Sam Hutton, and Tim Page all returned for the second round. After a speedy jump off, Jemma pulled out a second clear round with the fastest time to leave Matt; Sam; Mark; and Tim to finish second; third; fourth; and fifth, respectively.

The excitement continued for the rest of the weekend, with Britain's Michael Whitaker winning the H&M World Cup Qualifier on Saturday after an insanely fast jump off of fourteen horse/rider combinations. France's Penelope Leprevost triumphed in the Kingsland Olympia Grand Prix on Sunday, a class in which the famed Ellen Whitaker actually went off course. I think all of England was shocked!

Jessie and I had lots of exciting adventures over the weekend! We ate at the delicious sushi restaurant Nobu. It was terrible for our wallets, but I think the smoked salmon was worth it! We also met a famous English futbol player named Jermain Defoe (and got his number!); we went Christmas shopping at Harrod's, which was also pretty dangerous for our wallets; and we lost a little self-confidence watching the best riders in the world run faster than children's jumpers in jump offs! All in all, it was a great weekend. I am back in West Sussex now, but it was so snowy today that riding was not an option. Tomorrow we should be back in action!

Pictures: 12/16/10

The lovely Jessie Drea!

The Drea's lorrie.

A fence being built at the Drea's yard.

Marcus Beerbaum and his daughter!

Gotta wear a hat, scarf, and at least six layers in Europe!

The barn at the Warsteiner Brewery in Germany where Alois Pollman-Schweckhorst keeps his horses. I will start riding there at the end of January!

Christoffer Lindenberg from Denmark.

Lena Pollman-Schweckhorst riding.

Frances and I with Ger Poels.

12/16/10: ZED?!

So sorry I have been MIA! Turns out my computer doesn't get along well with the internet in the lovely English house where I currently reside. After spending a few days driving around Germany and Holland last week with my Dad and my sister Frances, we bundled all my luggage into four bags weighing a total of 60 kilograms; hopped on a RyanAir flight (which was about an hour late as usual. I don't think RyanAir pilots pride themselves on punctuality); and flew to England.

My dad and Frances drove me to a horse show where they handed me off to my new British family, the Drea's. I met Jessie Drea, a successful British Young Rider, at the Olympia Horse Show in London last December and we quickly bonded over our shared love of the movie Mean Girls. I plan on riding with the Drea family at their "yard" in West Sussex for six weeks.

Upon my arrival at the show, Jessie introduced me to her dad and I stayed the night in their lorrie. After Jessie competed in and won the meter 1.40 classic (the "Silver Tour Grand Prix" in British terms), we drove back to the Drea's yard where I met Jessie's mom and her brother, Luke. Along the way we hatched a plan for me to pretend I thought Luke's name was Lucy and yell "TA!" after every sentence while speaking to Mrs. Drea. The plans worked splendidly and Luke looked horrified when I said, "Isn't Luke short for Lucy? Lucy is a boy's name in America." Mrs. Drea also thought I belonged in a mental institution, but after about ten minutes she realized what was going on and accused Jessie, Mr. Drea, and I of making jokes.

Monday the 13th of December was my first day at the yard. Jessie and I feed, water, and muck out the stalls ("boxes" in British terms) starting around 8:00 am each day. After finishing, we go inside for breakfast and then head back into the cold to ride the horses. The Drea's have a varied collection of horses, including foals; green hunters (for fox hunting, not American style hunter riding!); and experienced show jumpers. I have been riding four horses each day and my favorite is a gray four year old mare named Garner. She is about 15.3 hh and a lot of fun to ride! All the horses have been great so far, and my biggest challenge is understanding Mr. Drea when he instructs me in the ring (the "school" in British terms). He is Irish and I find his accent supremely confusing.

One of my and Jessie's favorite pastimes is comparing British and American words. When Jessie told me the password to the internet connection in her house, we discovered we say different alphabets! While reading off the password, she said a few normal American letters and then, out of the blue, the word "zed." I was baffled and kept saying, "zed? what?" After a minute, I realized she was saying the letter "Z." ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY and zed... That's the alphabet according to the British! Sadly, only last week I wouldn't have passed kindergarden in England because I couldn't recite the alphabet.

Tomorrow Jessie and I are heading off to London where she will compete at the Olympia Horse Show. I'm so excited about a weekend in London! Jessie is riding in a Young Rider class on Saturday afternoon. Wish her luck and I will send updates!

11/30/10: The Packing Scramble!

Terrified Taylor

There is a five day countdown until I leave for Europe and so far I have two empty suitcases and at least ten piles of clothes! My European adventure will start in Germany with my dad and sister Frances. I will spend a few days traveling with them before heading to England (along with at least a hundred pounds of clothes and shoes) to ride at Michael Drea's farm. I'm very excited, but the last weather report I heard announced that London is covered in snow and the current temperature is 10 degrees below zero. How will I survive that?! I am not an abominable snowman! My current plan is to buy a floor length North Face jacket and a pair of Dubarry boots before I leave, and live in them for the duration of my European adventure. Sadly, style is going to be very low on my priority list for the next few months. Wearing puffy clothes 24/7 is better than getting frostbite and having my toes fall off though!

Days 29 and 30: Goodbye Europe...

Days 29 and 30, 6/6/10-6/7/10:

Today everyone flew back to North America. The team split up in several directions: Jen flew home to Ohio, Michael went home to Florida, and Karl headed to California for a few days and will fly to Spruce Meadows this weekend where he will show along with Nick and I for the next five weeks. As if we haven't bonded enough already! Yesterday the horses headed to Germany with Claire, and she flew with the plane out of Luxembourg going to Spruce Meadows. After seeing the horses off, we all had a last hurrah in Amsterdam, exploring the city during the day and seeing the floating flower market, Van Gogh Museum, and even a beach volleyball game in the city center. Later, we checked out the Red Light District. I may be scarred for life! We all said sad goodbyes and went our separate ways. Luckily for me, both Nick and Adele were on the same flight today from Amsterdam to Spruce, so I didn't have to face leaving Europe behind alone. We got into Calgary at 3:30 pm, just an hour after we left Amsterdam. The time difference is very confusing! The horses arrive at 9:00 tonight and can't wait to show at Spruce this weekend. The Young Rider Tour was incredible and I will really miss the team and our new foreign friends! Go Team USA :)

Pictures from Days 27 and 28

Team dinner after the Nation's Cup victory ^

Setting jumps for Jen during the Nation's Cup ^

Nick chatting with a Norwegian rider ^

A picture with Jonas, the victor of the pony Grand Prix (seeing as we are the same size, maybe I should take up pony jumpers...)^

Jen and Ginny packing the lorrie ^

Chatting with a Dutch rider ^

Day 28: The Last Day.

Day 28, 6/5/10:

Today was the final day of the show in Wierden. The whole American team is both sad to be leaving Europe on Monday but also excited to see our families and friends again. It has been a long trip and we are all tired, but it has certainly been amazing and worth all the work! We have learned a lot about riding and competing in Europe and how it differs from American training and shows, met young riders from many other countries, and gotten the chance to prove our skills against top riders our own age.

Starting with the meter 1.35 at 8:30 am once again, Jen competed and won once again aboard Shakira, I made yet another mistake on Tusker (I HAVE to get it together one of these days!), and Nick rode Belly Button just to get one last practice round in before shipping to Spruce.

After this class, there was a lot of down time before the Grand Prix. The riders flatted their horses, took naps in the barn, and started packing up everything that was not needed for the afternoon. Finally, the 1:30 pm class time arrived and we walked the course of twelve jumps, including the open water to a quiet five stride line, a big oxer in a curving six strides to an airy triple combination (vertical-oxer-oxer), and a spooky wall as the final jump. Malcolm and Venturo both jumped in the Prix and it was very clear that they were tired from their two rounds and extra jump off in the Nation's Cup. Karl rode Toby and made a mistake to the trip combination, getting to the first element in six and a half strides from the oxer before it. Mike also made a mistake that caused him problems at the last jump with All Star. I rode Karonda too quietly to the first jump and had it down, then jumped the rest of the course clear. It was very frustrating!

Despite our issues in the Grand Prix, the Americans were still elated from the Nation's Cup win, and I think Karonda ended on a very good note and is ready for Spruce Meadows. This afternoon, we watched the pony jumper Grand Prix (it is massive! Big Tour ponies jump meter 1.30-.35 during the year and up to meter 1.40 at the European Championships in July). A really adorable little Belgian boy named Jonas who stabled his ponies across from my horses in the barn won the class after an intense jump off against ten other pony riders. Henk Nooren's youngest daughter, Lisa, also competed in the class but her pony misbehaved.

As the day drew to a close, we had to say goodbye to all the foreign riders and I must admit I was really sad. I am going to miss the foreigners and I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to my teammates, the grooms, and Michele tomorrow! Although I'm sure everyone would agree that team bonding got overwhelming at times, I think all the Americans really enjoyed this European adventure. Everyone on this tour was a blast to spend time with and I loved getting to know them all. I wish we could stay here longer!

Day 27: Team Gold!

Day 27, 6/4/10:

Today the team won gold in the Nation's Cup at Wierden! Jen, Michael, Nick, and Karl finished with a score of 21 faults and jumped off for gold with the Dutch team. By taking an incredibly tight cut to a vertical, both Jen and Michael posted incredibly fast times although they both had four faults. After the Dutch posted two slow but clear jump off rounds, the US team thought all hope was lost. However, Nick and Karl produced two clear rounds and the Dutch team cracked under pressure and had two rails, resulting in gold for the US! Everyone rode great and it was a wonderful day. The team won very Dutch prizes: bikes. The seats were so high poor Jen could not reach the pedals and the victory lap aboard the bikes proved to be quite a challenge! Michele was ecstatic with all the riders' performances and all the Americans felt very proud hearing the Star Spangled Banner. Tomorrow all five riders will compete in the Grand Prix.

Day 26: Waiting For The Finale...

Day 26, 6/4/10:

None of the Americans showed today. We just had a quiet day of flatting and preparing for the meter 1.35 power and speed class and the Nation's Cup tomorrow. We went trail riding through the woods by the show and also took advantage of our extra time to make friends! We spent more time with the Norwegian team (Nick is definitely their biggest fan), and also met a few new German, Dutch, and Belgian friends. There was a rider's party tonight in a tent by the ring with a DJ and disco lights. The Dutch are definitely big partiers! It was a lot of fun, but the US riders had an 11:00 pm curfew set by Michele because she wants everyone rested for tomorrow. 8 teams will compete in the Nation's Cup and we go fourth in the order, with Jen riding first, Michael second, Nick third, and Karl fourth.

Day 25: Speedy Americans.

Day 25, 6/2/10:

Today was our first day of showing at Wierden! We started out with the meter 1.35 Table A speed class at 8:30 am. Jen posted a quick clear with Shakira, I made a mistake and caused Tusker to have a rail, Nick had a slow clear with Belly Button; and Karl and Michael jumped Uno and Katina, respectively, over just a few jumps to make sure they are prepared for the Nation's Cup on Friday. Jen's speedy time held out to win the class! It was the first American win of the weekend and gave the whole team a great start. The next class was the Grand Prix Qualifier in the afternoon (the first round of the Nation's Cup is also a qualifier, and it is required that each rider jump with four faults or less in order to compete in the Grand Prix). Jen jumped with four faults aboard Venturo, Karl had four faults with Toby, Michael jumped clear with All Star, Nick brought home the win with a very fast time aboard Malcolm, and I jumped last with Karonda and had a quick clear to earn third place behind Nick and Max Weishaupt of Germany. The Europeans all think the Americans are the fastest riders because we practice tight turns in equitation classes!

After the class, Michele decided that Jen with Venturo, Michael with Katina, Nick with Malcolm, and Karl with Uno should jump in the Nation's Cup on Friday. Tomorrow we do not have any classes, so the riders will just flat the horses and prepare for Friday.

Pictures from Days 23 and 24

Living in Holland means tractors, mopeds, and bikes ALWAYS have the right of way ^

Gail and Debbie chatting by the barn ^

The food and party tent at Wierden ^

The show ring at Wierden ^

The lorrie parking area at Wierden ^

Day 24: Cows and Sheep... Sheep and Cows...

Day 24, 6/1/10:

Today was the FEI jog at the horse show. After a night barbequing with the Norwegian young rider’s team, we had lots of time to chat with our new friends while waiting in line at the FEI tent. The jog was first come, first serve (as they have been every weekend) and ponies, juniors, and young riders all jogged at the same time, so it was quite chaotic and the wait was very long. Karonda was very stubborn and did not want trot! I had to drag her along and one of the show officials even ran behind her clapping his hands to urge her forward. She is truly a chestnut mare! All the other horses jogged successfully. After finishing up in the barn, the team vet, Meg Mullen, and Henk’s eldest daughter, Billy, along with Michele, Jen, Nick, Karl, and I went into the cute town of Weirden for dinner. Weirden is by far the cutest town we have stayed in so far on this trip. It is quaint and adorable with a lot of good restaurants and clothing stores. One of my favorite aspects of Holland is that people are very active here! Throughout the day, one sees walkers, bikes, and joggers constantly! On the way to the show in the morning, we see groups of kids biking to school. The bikers have the right of way and they are absolutely insane! They will turn directly in front of cars and come within inches of hitting pedestrians. There are also lots of farm animals to be seen. Cows (including ones with white stripes on their bellies and black heads and tails that we have dubbed “oreo cows,” and yak-like cows with long horns and long, scruffy coats), sheep, and goats seem to live in everyone’s back yards, while giant wild hares roam all the crop fields.

It is definitely a foreign experience to drive past cows, ridiculously overgrown rabbits, at least a dozen bikers, and then office buildings all within a half a mile. Tomorrow our first class starts at 10:30 am with the meter 1.35 horses!

Day 23: Back To Our Belgian Home.

Day 23, 5/31/10:

This morning we woke up in the Park Hotel and met for breakfast at 8:30 am... or 9:00. There was a bit of confusion regarding the riders' departure time and the problems continued to escalate! After a bite to eat, I got in the car along with Karl, Nick, and Jen, with Michael in the driver's seat. There were several things wrong with this situation: #1. Michael is only 16 and the legal driving age in the majority of European countries is 18. #2. The legal age for driving a rental car is 25. #3. We had no GPS or directions to Henk's farm. Right from the start the morning held great potential for disaster!

First, I was determined that I knew which direction to turn onto the highway and ended up sending us towards Aachen in the opposite direction of the farm. After turning around, we still could only guess at where to go and chose to aimlessly follow signs towards Liege. Luckily, this proved to be a pretty effective method until Michael decided we had driven too far on the highway and got off on an exit in the middle of nowhere. Quickly realizing we were about to get incredibly lost, we had to drive up a winding mountain road until we found a spot to turn around, nearly wrecking in the process because of our stick shift car. We drove into a train station parking garage (where Mike exclaimed, "wait, I don't want to PAY for parking!" before realizing we definitely did not want to park in the garage in the first place), stalled out at a roundabout, and sat in unmoving traffic before finally finding our way to the barn. Arriving a spectacular hour and a half late, the whole group was still very proud of our successful team navigating!

After all the excitement of the morning, Jen and I had another fun experience when we got to see our friend Matt Sampson, a British rider we met at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival a year and a half ago. Matt is working and riding at Henk's for a few months, but he was at a horse show in the Ukraine when the US team stayed at the farm last week. It was really great getting to catch up with him!

Finally, it was time for everyone to ride. Tusker was wonderful this weekend and worked hard, so he just went out in the paddock. Wild energizer bunny Karonda, however, jumped a four stride to an oxer-oxer combination to another four stride to work on her adjustability. She was a bit stubborn in the beginning of my lesson with Michele, but by the end she was jumping very well. Jen just walked both of her horses to stretch their legs. Karl schooled both Uno and Toby, jumping some bending lines and practicing the water jump. Michael also schooled his horses, and Katina jumped a quiet vertical to vertical four-stride line with guiding rails to work on her straightness. Nick's horses both had the day off and were very grateful for the rest!

Once the riding was over, we cleaned up the barn as quickly as possible and headed to the pita shop in the tiny nearby town for sandwiches. Of course, the IPad had to come with us in the car, and Nick and Karl were locked in a fierce Scrabble war while awaiting the food. We rushed back to the barn and packed the trailer as quickly as possible, driving out of the farm at about 2:30 pm, heading towards Wierden. The show is very nice and the horses settled in well! It is not quite as picturesque as Reims, but the ring is big with all weather footing and nice jumps. The stalls are also very convenient and the town of Wierden is adorable! The grocery store right by the show entrance is also a bonus.

After getting the horses organized, the group headed to our hotel, the Sandton Hotel De Rijsserberg Hampshire Classic, which is a beautiful weekend getaway type of place located in a forest. It is not far from town, but the location is reminiscent of the Hundred-Acre Wood in Winnie the Poo!

Day 22: So Close!

Day 22, 5/30/10:

The US was second today in the Young Riders Nations Cup here in Reims France! The first round left the US Team with 8 faults. Jen had 4, Michael had 4, Karl had 10 and Nick was clear. We were in 4th place behind Belgium with 2, France with 4 and Switzerland with 5. Italy followed with 9 and Germany with 16. Denmark and Norway did not make the second round.

As we know in Nations Cup Jumping, things can change in a hurry! In the second round, the first rider for the Swiss and our first rider Jen Waxman were clear. Belgium had 8, France had 4 and Italy had 8 and Germany had 16. Michael Murphy then stepped up to the plate and produced the US second clear round of the second round. Belgium had 9 and France 8. When when the Swiss had 6 we realized that the US was almost in a position to win it all and at least a great chance at a top three finish. An unfortunate 12 faults from Karl left the final placings in the hands of the the final riders. They don’t call the fourth team position the “Anchor” for nothing! When Nick entered the ring for the US a clear round would give us the top spot. A very late rail left him with four faults and the US with only four for the second round after dropping Karl’s score. This left the US with a total two round score of only 12 faults. Only the Swiss could beat us and it would take a clear round to do it. Their Anchor rider Jennifer Meylan and Candella were up to the task jumping a perfect clear to secure the win for Switzerland on 11 faults (she had jumped the first round with only 1 time fault and was the best two round score of the day).

It was a great end to a fantastic week for the US Young Riders. The US was in the top three of virtually every class! After the forth place in the Nations Cup in Moorsele Belgium 2 weeks ago, the Team is aiming for Gold this week!

- Courtesy of my dad, Jay Land

Pictures from Day 22

Nick and Malcolm ^

Karl and Toby ^

Michael and Katina ^

Jen and Shakira ^

Day 21: Maintaining The Champagne Collection.

Day 21, 5/29/10:

Today started out with a bang! After meeting for breakfast at the horribly painful hour of 6:30 am, I headed to the show along with Michael and Nick to ride in the meter 1.35 power and speed class at 8:30. Michael rode All Star and had two poles down. I followed a few trips later on Tusker and had a fast clear, moving into the lead. Nick showed Belly Button next and had a single rail. Nick and the mare are becoming a better team every day and she is jumping great. At the end of the class, there was some confusion during the prize giving ceremony because a Swiss girl named Melanie actually tied my time in the speed phase of the class down to the hundredth. Rather than having another jump off, we simply shared the first place spot. However, no one bothered to inform me before I entered the ring for the presentation that I had tied for the win. At first, I thought I had won the class. When the Swiss national anthem was played first, I was very confused and thought I had been second instead. Then I felt disrespectful for standing next to the winner, rather than in the line of horses behind me! However, the American national anthem was played next, so I decided to just wait it out. Then Melanie and I cantered beside each other in the victory gallop! By the time I exited the ring, I had no idea who had actually won the class. The rest of the team met me at the in gate and explained what had happened when I asked them for an explanation of the proceedings in the ring. I was ecstatic about tying for the blue (the first place blue, that is, since all the ribbons are blue) and the whole presentation was quite comical!

After the meter 1.35, we had time for some lunch in the rider's tent, always an interesting affair because the women serving food spoke no English. France is a difficult place for Americans as far as language barriers and general communication! The walk for the meter 1.40 Grand Prix commenced at around 1:30 pm, and the course was a bit smaller than the meter 1.40 classes at Moorsele but difficult because many of the distances were half strides and did not ride smoothly. It is not an understatement to say that the Grand Prix was an epic failure for the US team! After the American domination in the Qualifier, Karl had two rails with Uno; Nick had three rails with Malcolm; Jen had four rails with Venturo; and I had two rails with Karonda. Michael was the only rider on the team to pull out a clear round! Only four competitors made it to the jump off, and Michael ended up in third place with a score of four faults and a medium paced time. A French boy named Igor won the class with a beautiful and very quick clear round; an Italian boy was second with a slow clear; and a Swiss girl was fourth with a stop at an oxer. The whole team was a bit disheartened, but Michael's great finish definitely helped lift our spirits! Luckily, he also won us another bottle of champagne.

Karonda is not jumping very well this weekend and neither is Venturo, so I will not compete in the Nation's Cup tomorrow and Jen will compete on Shakira. Hopefully Team USA get back on its feet!

Pictures from Day 20

The ring at Reims ^

Taylor in the meter 1.30 awards presentation ^

Ginny with loot! ^

Caulks for the grass ^

Karl and Jen awaiting the meter 1.40 awards presentation ^

Day 20: Our First Star Spangled Banner!

Day 20, 5/28/10:

Today, the team heard its first Star Spangled Banner of the trip! We left the Novotel this morning and made it to the show without complications. The first class was the meter 1.30 power and speed, scheduled to begin at 9:30 am, in which I rode Tusker; Nick rode Belly Button and Malcolm; Jen rode Venturo; Michael rode All Star and Katina; and Karl did not compete. Nick competed aboard Belly Button first, having a very smooth round with just a single rail. This class was a bit different from the average power and speed in the US because, if the horse dropped a rail during the power phase, the rider could still continue on to the speed phase in order to practice. Belly Button is jumping better each class and I'm sure Nick will be winning a lot with her before long! Michael rode All Star next and he had two poles down. I was the next US rider to compete, having a smooth clear with Tusker that was not quite quick enough for the lead and put me into second place. Malcolm, Venturo, and Katina all jumped only a few jumps in the ring in order to warm up for the Grand Prix. The riders' main goals were to work the horses' jumping muscles a little bit and make sure they will not be surprised by the size and formidableness of the grass field when they compete tomorrow.

Tusker's time in the speed phase held out for a third place finish, and I received the first US blue ribbon of the weekend (all the ribbons are blue here...). In the presentation, I was given something much more exciting than a ribbon: champagne! This horse show is primarily sponsored by a champagne company, so the first through third finishers in every class receive champagne bottles as prizes. It seems strange that junior riders can be given champagne for winning here! That may be one of the reasons that so many American juniors dream of competing in Europe...

The US riders' next class was the Grand Prix Qualifier (it is called a qualifier but Young Rider competitors were permitted to show in the Grand Prix whether or not they showed in the Qualifier) and it was the final class of the day. We waited around the show for quite some time, looking in the shops and taking advantage of a free lunch provided to exhibitors in a tent by the ring. Karl's parents and girlfriend, Saer, arrived, as well as Nick's mom. This weekend is somewhat of a family reunion for the team! Michael's mom, grandmother, and brother are all here for the remainder of the trip, and my dad and sister are staying through the weekend.

After many introductions and a relaxing afternoon, the time for the meter 1.40 Grand Prix Qualifier finally rolled around. I rode Karonda, Jen rode Shakira, and Karl rode both Uno and Toby. Karonda was a bit rank and wild, having two silly rails down. Uno also had an unnecessary rail. Toby and Shakira, on the other hand, went beautifully, and Karl and Jen both rode very fast rounds that put them in first and second place, respectively. It was very exciting to hear the Star Spangled Banner played for the first time since we have been in Europe! Karl brought a big silver trophy back to the barn and added a bottle of champagne to our growing collection! Sadly, this was the only class today that did not provide champagne to the second place winner. Jen did not allow this depressing fact to ruin her glory, however, and we had a celebratory dinner at the hotel. Clearly we need to be more adventurous because we are spending far too much time in the hotel restaurant! Everything is looking good for the Grand Prix tomorrow!

Pictures from Days 18 and 19

Gail awaiting the jog with Venturo ^

Nick flatting Belly Button ^

Karl flatting Toby ^

Taylor and Frances in front of the Emile Galle Oak barrel ^

Michael, Frances, and Jen in front of the Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral ^