Austria Nations Cup

It was a rainy cold day at the Lamprechtshausen show in Austria, but that didn't stop anyone from showing in today's nations cup.  There were five teams in the Young Rider Nations Cup: Germany, Italy, Austria, U.S. and Switzerland.  After the first round, with Catherine putting up a score of 4, Ricky with 1 time fault, and Jessie and Reed with fault free rounds, the U.S. team was tied for first with Switzerland with just 1 fault each.  When the second round began, the rain had been pouring down for quite some time, and the footing began to get a bit slippery. Our first, Catherine, jumped clear.  Ricky's horse had a little trouble with the footing and refused one jump but finished the course.  Reed once again jumped clear, so we had two clear and a 15 fault round in the second round.  Switzerland, too had scores of 0, 11, and 0, so it all came down to the anchor riders.  Our anchor, Jessica went first, and had one unlucky rail down.  As we all watched, biting our nails, the final rider for Switzerland had 9 faults, two rails down and a time fault. So, that meant the U.S. won! Everyone was so excited because it was the first Nations Cup this tour that we hadn't been second, we finally won! Ceremonies followed, and the National Anthem was played.  Everyone was very proud, and now we are all confident heading in to our Grand Prix day on Monday, but more importantly as we head to Hagen in Germany, probably the biggest show of the tour.  

 

Michelle, our Chef for the final weeks of the tour, is clearly just as excited as all our riders!!!  Awesome Job Everyone

Some Pictures of Austria

Austria

Tuesday was our big road trip to Austria.  It was about an 8 hour drive for all of us, and we arrived late afternoon, and moved the horses in Tuesday night.  We seem to all have a pretty good system down and the moving in and unloading has gone pretty smoothly. The drive here was absolutely gorgeous, with the Alps off in the distance behind stretches of open green farms.  The town we are staying in looks like a candy land town, with pastel colored buildings and cobblestone roads.  All the horses successfully passed the jog on Thursday, and showing began Thursday afternoon.  All the horses went well, jumped great, and we were all a little more conservative with our speed so the horses got a smooth, confident round.  Now we can all start to be more competitive.  Last night was the opening ceremonies for all the countries competing.  This is the first show so far that has held such an event.  There are so many countries represented here, which is also a little different than the past two shows.  There are countries like Serbia, Czech Republic, even Australia has a rider here.  The usual countries are also here like Germany, Italy, and of course Austria is here.  Nations cup isn't until Saturday this week, and the Grand Prix's run on Monday.  So, we have a nicely spread out week of showing which will help save our horses a little bit for the final show in Germany.

Photos from Show in St. Gallen, Switzerland

Nations Cup Course

Charlie Jayne and Athena

Christine McCrea and Romantovich Take One 

Philip Richter and Flexible

Margie Engle and Indigo

The Week Off

This week has been our week off.  We are laying over in Liége, Belgium at Henk Nooren's farm which is absolutely beautiful.  During the beginning of the week, on tuesday-thursday, we had the opportunity to take lessons with Mr. Barnabas Mandi, an international dressage judge who taught us flat work to help stretch and balance out the muscle development of our horses.   Everyone had a great experience with Mr. Barnabas. Personally, it was a very different type of flatwork than I am used to, but I was so impressed by how relaxed my horse became, and how light and supple she got with a very low, stretching frame.  I felt like it was flat work that really made my horse feel better.  She's always struggled with really relaxing through her neck and back, which results with her struggle to break over all the time.  But from Mr. Barnabas' training, she's already learning to stretch more and becoming much more comfortable with her topline.  I really loved the lessons, and I think everyone else did too.

On Thursday, after we all rode, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Switzerland.  We were going to watch the big team ride in the Nations Cup in St. Gallen.  After landing, and driving around for a while, a bit lost, we found our hotel.  Friday began with another breakfast together, and we were off to the show by 9:30, to watch the first speed 1.50 class.  The show grounds were beautiful, the weather was perfect, it was a great day to watch a horse show.  We had the chance to walk the 1.50 course with George Morris, which was such a privilege and an amazing opportunity.  He always introduced us to the other riders as the next generation, which was also exciting to hear from George.  

We also got to walk the nations cup course, which was very impressive.  For this walk, we were with our Chef Michelle Grubb, because obviously George needed to be with the team and focussed.  The first round went really well, we were tied for 2nd with just 4 faults.  Margie Engle and Charlie Jayne both had 4, Christine McCrea and Philip Richter were both clear! The second round proved to be a little bit tougher, as it usually does because the horses know what to expect and anticipate a bit.  Charlie Jayne had 12, Christine McCrea was again clear, Philip Richter had 4, and Margie Engle had 8.  The team ended the day with a four place finish, behind the winning team of The Netherlands, silver was Great Britain, and bronze was Switzerland.  It was an amazing show to watch and we saw so many amazing horses and riders jump.  Truly inspirational for us younger riders to see what the big time is like.

Reims Day 3

Today was Nations Cup Day!
The U.S. team rode great... The course was a fair size, quite technical, but the most difficult was the tight time allowed.  Hardly any rider could manage to jump within the time allowed.  In the first round, Reed Kessler was one of the only to find her way around with a clear round and no time faults.  Both Karen and Jessie had no jumping faults, but just one on the clock.  We were leading by only one fault at the end of the round.  Right behind was the Netherlands, then France.  Obviously, pressure was on in the second round.  Again, everyone was awesome.  Catherine Pasmore had 2 down, Karen just one time fault, Reed another clear! and Jessie had five faults (one rail and one time fault).  Unfortunately, this put us just behind the Netherlands, who had two clear and two rounds with just one time fault, a pretty stellar round for them.  But everyone was happy.

Katie was talking to all of us after, and was reviewing the calculations of the faults, and she figured out that if we had gone with no time faults, that we would have won.  The lesson here was how important it is to be within the time, no matter how tight.  As we've all heard before, Katie repeated, time faults lose championships.  It is something we all realize we need to work on, really committing to a forward pace with efficient turns and slick tracks.    

Today, we saw some amazing riders and horses, with all different styles.  We got a taste of true competition with another country.  It was a great day, and another amazing experience here.

Reims Day 2

Today was the first day of showing in Reims, France.  The field was beautifully set, and the weather was gorgeous.  The entire team got on at 7:45 for a morning flat, followed by a 9 am start time for the Young Rider class.  All of the horses jumped great, and U.S. placed first, second and third, with Catherine Pasmore, Karen Polle, and Jessica Springsteen.  As for the juniors, both Meg and I had one down in the 2 phase class, but no worries, we are just warming up!

This is such a big change from the last show. This show is not only on a huge grass field with open water, but also it is quite a bit larger with much more going on around the ring.  There are shops, a champagne bar, and bunches of little children running around on school trips and what not throughout the park.  It's really a cool experience here to be a part of the public park, and to be part of an event that is being watched by all types of people.

Tonight, we had a team dinner at the hotel, where we heard stories from Anne and Katie about past team and international horse show experiences.  More seriously, we talked about who the real competition would be at this show, and of course how we all want to win!  The Nations Cup will take place tomorrow at 1 o'clock.  I'm really excited to watch, because unlike the last show in Bonheiden, there are a few more countries being represented, like France and Germany.  Both of which are very competitive and have different styles than what we've seen so far.  So, wish us luck!