THRILLS SPILLS and CHAMPIONS!
day two was nothing short of totally extraordinary. The US Eventing Team went from a 7th place overall finish in day one of dressage to being in position to clutch the SILVER medal! As mentioned earlier, day 2 is when the horses are expected to cover about 5 miles of ground and jump about 25-30 natural obstacles as they go. Refusing or running around the jumps results in penalties, as does a fall of the rider. A fall of the horse is grounds for immediate disqualification. and yes, this does happen, and yes, it happened today.
there were some brilliant rides through some truly terrifying stuff. I will post my favorite of these below. Oh, and Great Britain is currently in first, and Canada right on our heels in third. This is monumental for Canada by the way. All of their riders went clear yesterday, having the rides of their lives, and i can't help but root for this 5 girl/1guy team of absolutely awesome people. Plus, Hawley Bennet of Canada actually trains in Temeculah near my parent's house outside San Diego, so it's practically like rooting for the hometown girl.
In terms of me, haha, well you can ask dan how deliriously bad i am at communicating outwardly my feelings about being here. i can't talk good right now. brains are too busy on horse things. that is exacerbated by the fact that yesterday in an attempt to see every jump on course, i ended up walking it about 2.5 times, which with short cuts equates to about 8-9 miles of walking, not counting the 3/4 mile walk to and from the car from the grounds. So i am deliriously happy and deliriously tired. And if you aren't those things at the end of fulfilling your life dreams, then your life dreams kind of suck.
here are pictures.
okay, you can have ONE of me. only because i'm wearing mom's hat.
a cloudy but lovely day for a cross country ride.
a large but rather welcoming fence.
day two was nothing short of totally extraordinary. The US Eventing Team went from a 7th place overall finish in day one of dressage to being in position to clutch the SILVER medal! As mentioned earlier, day 2 is when the horses are expected to cover about 5 miles of ground and jump about 25-30 natural obstacles as they go. Refusing or running around the jumps results in penalties, as does a fall of the rider. A fall of the horse is grounds for immediate disqualification. and yes, this does happen, and yes, it happened today.
there were some brilliant rides through some truly terrifying stuff. I will post my favorite of these below. Oh, and Great Britain is currently in first, and Canada right on our heels in third. This is monumental for Canada by the way. All of their riders went clear yesterday, having the rides of their lives, and i can't help but root for this 5 girl/1guy team of absolutely awesome people. Plus, Hawley Bennet of Canada actually trains in Temeculah near my parent's house outside San Diego, so it's practically like rooting for the hometown girl.
In terms of me, haha, well you can ask dan how deliriously bad i am at communicating outwardly my feelings about being here. i can't talk good right now. brains are too busy on horse things. that is exacerbated by the fact that yesterday in an attempt to see every jump on course, i ended up walking it about 2.5 times, which with short cuts equates to about 8-9 miles of walking, not counting the 3/4 mile walk to and from the car from the grounds. So i am deliriously happy and deliriously tired. And if you aren't those things at the end of fulfilling your life dreams, then your life dreams kind of suck.
here are pictures.
the warmup ring
running to the fences
big wide scary jumps. This is William Fox-Pitt of Britain, doing brilliantly.
i love the perspective on this shot. do you know how scary that would be???
this is what we call in our sport "insanity". also, "almost dying."
i hope you appreciate the creative obstacle. quack!
the last rider on the last fence! what a day!!!
sunset over kentucky. I will have more either tonight or tomorrow on the final results!
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