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!
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