WEG in Aachen off With a Bang

Karen Robinson Website

The opening ceremonies were appropriately German. The horsemanship that keeps Germany on top of the world in sport and breeding was very much on display on Sunday afternoon. The highlight for me was the 64 horse quadrille. Four separate dressage arenas set up around the main field contained four groups of sixteen horses, ridden by (mostly) men in bright, historic uniforms. At the end all four groups joined in a double-sized arena for a brilliant display of riding, clock-work precision, and for horse lovers particularly, a moving display of harmony. The German majority in the stands were very much into the mood, clapping in time with the music and cheering madly when German equestrian heroes appeared in the stadium. The music, which was arranged (the promotion said composed, but this ear didn’t hear anything original) by Anky’s designers Slings and Kerkhoff, seemed to borrow heavily from the European freestyle repertoire of the past fifteen years, but its familiarity certainly struck a chord with the audience.

Now, the Germans have been touting their unequalled mastery of organization, but if you were trying to get into the opening ceremonies, you might wonder if that is entirely true. Everyone, including the media, had to funnel down with thousands of others through a tiny entrance – two little tents each with a couple of turnstiles. Endurance grooms also enjoyed a complete lack of toilet paper in the washrooms on their first night in the barely-finished-hours-before-occupation grooms’ quarters, while their four legged wards waited hours for the feed that had been promised on the entry forms.

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Tune in regularly to read Karen's personal reports as she covers the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany

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