Karen's WEG Blog -

Germany's Isabell Werth & Satchmo winners of the individual - Photo ©Kit Houghton/FEI

Worse not Better…
So I’m giving the Germans an ‘F’ for their traffic and shuttle performance. Today the snake of cars going towards the site and parking was so stationary that walking was roughly twice as fast as driving, for at least the last mile to the gate. I’m going to figure out another way to get into the north of the city before next week’s show jumping, when it will be even worse. I’m sure the Germans thought it was clever to send everyone to the same exit to keep us all from bothering Aachen’s citizens by driving through the city, but the Spanish approach in Jerez, which helped people get to the site from any direction, was much more expedient. Imagine that, the Spanish out-organizing the Germans. And come to think of it, Athens was a piece of cake compared to this. And that was the Greeks! Another problem has been trying to determine what time things start. Until the actual order of go is published, no one knows what time to come, as some documents say one time and others say another. All the schedules showed the cross country starting tomorrow at eleven, but now that we have the order, we see it starts at 9:30.

I have to tell Mike Gallagher he should head over the Belgian border, only about five km from here, to find good food. He says they have yet to find a good restaurant in Aachen. I am very pleased that I opted to stay in Belgium on a lovely farm in the countryside with Cealy Tetley, my husband and friends. It’s a welcome peace after the hordes at the Games. Last night we went out for wonderful mussels, which are just coming into season and are pretty much the national dish in Belgium. They cost about as much as bratwurst at your average German restaurant. The free meals we accredited folk are entitled to on site looked so unappetizing when I checked it out the first day that I haven’t used a single one of my vouchers. I don’t do grey meat. The ‘restaurant’ where these meals are supplied resembles a high school cafeteria, with no natural light and the acoustics of a gymnasium.

It just started really pouring and there are still five hours of tests to go – oh good, it stopped again after a few minutes. There are starting to be some real concerns about conditions on the cross country tomorrow. Early reports are that this is a tough course and if it’s heavy going fatigue could be more of an issue than is ideal. We had to push our car out of the mud in the lot today. Okay, so it was a VW bus, but still.

It’s more fun to be critical than complimentary, but the German people have been really welcoming, and when they see a good ride they get right behind it no matter where the rider comes from. I have met plenty of very nice Germans this week. Kim Goodyear says that the organizers here were very supportive, helpful, and sympathetic when we lost our dressage team.

It was Speciale!
The horses all seem to be much more settled today than they were for their first tests. My buddy Rebecca Garrard was at the out gate after the medal ceremonies the other day when Salinero bolted out of the gate into the back of the police honour guard. She says Anky was frozen in panic and screaming for help. When the police horses stopped them from bolting all the way back to Holland, Anky was off her horse faster than you can say Warsteiner. Needless to say, she opted to have a groom remove Salinero from the scene when the victory lap started today.

They have music kind of tailored today, for some horses better than for others, but Russian music for the Russian horse, and Latino for the Mexican, as well as changes of music for the changes of gait. ABBA for the Swedes, of course.

My Mexican freestyle client Berna Pujals came into the ring I had heart palpitations on her behalf. I really want to see my freestyle at WEG….and I will!!!!! Her wonderful test which got 72.48% put her in tenth place. Now I’m really going to have palpitations.

The whole caliber of the performances went up a notch starting with Berna Pujals. The Swiss rider Silvia Iklé on Salieri CH, had a really exciting test, and some of the very best piaffe and passage we’ve seen all week.  Austrian Victoria Max-Theurer, the youngest (I think) rider here in the dressage, wears a coat with cut-off tails. I noticed it in Athens too. I think it’s because the horse, which is quite hot, doesn’t like feeling the tails on his back. The wonderful French horse Falada M decided to have a chestnut mare moment or two in the piaffes today, which was very unfortunate. Up until then she was working on a mid seventies score.

I have really enjoyed watching Steffen and Floriano. They have a well-cemented harmony and I love the way Steffen allows so much forward energy without any loss of engagement. Floriano is very much over his pins at all times. After him Briar looked like a big pony. He just doesn’t have that fluidity in his gaits, though his passage is always a treat to watch.

It looked like Heike Kemmer over-revved Bonaparte today. So far she got the most unreasonably forgiving mark, two sevens and three sixes for ones that had a mistake. And the changes weren’t that good even without a mistake, because he was so tense. And I have to be honest – I just don’t see why Anky is getting some of her scores. The passage was always shorter on one hind leg, but she got sevens and eights, more eights than sevens.

On the other hand, Satchmo’s trot half passes gave me goose bumps. He got three nines for one of them. She really rode a better test than Anky.  It was impossible not to feel caught up in the mood in the stadium when she finished her winning test.  So World Champion on your second string horse. My goodness.

The Mares Have It!
There were only ten mares in the Grand Prix, but seven of them proceeded to the Speciale, which is an impressive proportion. The highest placed, bronze medallist Blue Hors Matine is just such a heartbreaker because she tries incredibly hard. She flexes her joints so deeply in the passage you think she’s never going to make it back up again. But she does. It is a shame that Brentina pulled out but I don’t think many people were surprised. They really nursed her along going into this competition, knowing that without her the Americans had no shot at a medal. Debbie admitted that she didn’t feel quite right at the end of her Grand Prix test. I know she’s been getting the kind of care she’s used to at home, because I saw her Mexican groom walking beside her after Debbie’s schooling session the other day. Now that’s one well-traveled Mexican!