Aachen - Day 5 - CDIO GPS
The Grand Prix Special in Aachen for the Team Nations Cup was incredibly exciting today and I am very please to report that Canada moved upto become 5th overall in front of Sweden, Denmark, Australia and Spain. We were very close to 4th placed Belgium but Holland was way out in front of Germany and Great Britain and clearly is the front runner for the World Equestrian Games. The Dutch have to be very proud of their riders andthe depth which they have created since their first huge star, Anky Van Grunsven, came on the scene almost 2 decades ago.
I also am very proud to have two Canadian riders, Ashley Holzer and Belinda Trussell, in the Grand Prix Freestyle tomorrow and know they will do a great job! This has been by far the strongest competition since our squad arrived in Europe 2 months ago and I have seen tremendous growth in our athletes.
I also want to say that 2 things struck me as I watched most of the 2ndhalf of the class today. First is that I am truly blown away by the fantastic quality of so many of the horses competing! The bar in unbelievably high with regard to horse-flesh these days and if you really want to play the game at the world level, you had best recognize that it is just not going to happen without what can only be termed a “super equine athlete”. I have been hunting for a baby which might grow up to be such a horse but alas, so far nothing has jumped out at me. I would say that the top horses were all spectacular even if they had a mistake here andthere. Of course, one or two of the judges missed so many of the so called mistakes I’m referring to that had I had an ejector button for them they would right now still be sailing through the air toward our outer stratosphere! Sorry, but that is just the truth as I saw it. But even the poor judging by some could not dampen my excitement from watching Totilas and others perform to the thrill of many thousands of spectators, including myself.
Tomorrow stands to be just as exciting and I am betting on another broken world record by the end of the competition. Say something a bit over 92%. We’ll see.
Cheers!
RD
