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 :)
Monday, June 7, 2010
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 ^Saturday, June 5, 2010
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!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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
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