So, today was eventful and unfortunately there were some tears involved. Our team member from Quebec, Anne Mylaine, and her horse Marzipan, did not pass the jog. She had the chance to re-jog tomorrow morning, but after the vet looked at her horse they found some swelling on a tendon in the front leg. Therefore, she will not be re-jogging or competing and our across Canada team is down to three members. This means that our team will not have a score that can be dropped when tabulating the total team scores. This is so unfortunate in every way and we feel very sorry for Anne and hope that Marzipan can make a full recovery and she can compete in the next two years of her eligibility.
All Canadian team members did have the red hair buns on for the jog, sponsored by the Dressage Boutique, and they looked great! The plan was to get pictures of the team after the jog, but the weather didn't cooperate and we barely missed doing the jog in the pooring rain. The jog was actually bumped up to avoid the huge thunderstorm looming in the distance. We had to stand in the rain for a bit but fortunately we missed the pouring rain. We have decided it is either really hot and humid or pouring rain from a thunderstorm here!
The Easterners arrived yesterday, Monday, so Erika and I met Santana, the other girl on our team. She is from Nova Scotia and is a good addition to our team!
We got to ride in the stadium today where we will be riding our tests. It is an electric atmosphere and just the ten minute walk from the barns over there gets Oslo wound up. At first he was super hot, very tense, and wouldn't walk. Eventually he settled a little though and let me supple him, increasing the relaxation. He does seem more calm this year overall and also more focused on me. Therefore, at this point I think as long as I stay calm and keep his attention (and nothing crazy happens while we are in the ring!) we should be able to lay down a fairly good test. Unfortunately though, I can never completely know what is going to set Oslo off and can still lose his attention at times. Therefore, I am not as confident as I could be, but I also know that our partnership is stronger than ever and that if I ride well, his hottness will be an advantage for us. Fingers crossed!!
Ride times for tomorrow morning will be posted this evening and I have been placed as the anchor rider for the team! I am very excited about this privilege, but also wondering if this will make me a bit more nervous tomorrow.
All the security fence has been put up around the barns now and we all need photo idea to get into the barns. After hours we also have to sign in and out. This is quite sucky for Oslo and I since we cannot hand walk outside the fence without a special time being arranged with our chef d'equipe and a steward. This means that Oslo's time in a stall is kept at a maximum unfortunately. I will be hand walking him between the barns a ton though and hopefully they will have a nice grazing area available for when we can get times to go outside.
The dressage schedule is Young Riders and Juniors compete in the team test tomorrow morning starting at 7:30am. Thursday morning starting at 7:00am the Young Riders compete in the Individual and the Juniors ride the Individual at 7:00am on Friday. The Freestyle is on Saturday for both groups and only the top 15 riders from the Individual test get to compete in the Freestyle.
That is all for now, and live results can be found at youngriders.org! I will try and post the results at some point tomorrow as well and let you in on the inside scoop of how all the tests went!
Good night!
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| The stadium where we ride our tests |
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| Oslo and I on Sunday when we rode with Albrecht |
Good luck Lindsay!!! I know that you'll do fantastic. Kiana's and my thoughts are with you and Oslo. You two are an amazing team and you're the best rider that I know.
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