WEG Day 4

Wow, day 4 and I really got to see HORSES today! Totally rad! They were high level dressage horses (are those animals REALLY horses? They don't move like the four legged animal in MY barn.)

It started out with an unexpected phone call from a board member, Mary Lowry, Oldham County eventer-farm owner-instructor and realtor extraordinaire. She had an extra Team Dressage ticket, did I want to go?

Does a bear ....?

Oh yeah, I'm there.

Of course, typical of me, I'm running 10 minutes late leaving for KHP, then I get on a shuttle bus that has a jammed handicapped lift.. and a boy in a wheelchair waiting to get off. The driver worked on it for about 10 minutes.. while I tapped my foot and bit my tongue wanting to be politically correct -- and not push the poor kid over the edge of the stairs just to get going (OOO, my bad!)

We were finally on our way, met Mary and arrived at the new Outdoor stadium. Then the important stuff... Dippin' Dots. Yum.

OK, so I settle in, dig out my camera with a ginormous lens (smuggled into the park despite the rules about no lenses longer than 4 inches... I talked to the guard about the Horse Council while quickly flashing the body of the camera.) I immediately put the lens cover in my lap which then rolled off, and dropped under the stadium. Not a good start.

The first horse entered. WHOA! Is this a horse or is this a machine? Totally rhythmic steps, floating trots, high knees, a neck to die for.

For those of you not familiar with dressage, each competitor performs a fixed set of movements and is judged (by FIVE judges) on each element, on a scale from 1 to 10. Music accompanies the routine, chosen by the competitor. In team dressage, the four members of the team contribute to a total team score.

What was amazing is that even at this level, it was obvious that some horses were having fun. "Look at me! Look what I can do! I'm SO cool!"

While others were thinking about getting back to the stall and munching hay: "AW, do I HAVE to do this? Well, I'll just switch my tail at every step, flip an ear or two, and eventually this guy on my back will give up." Amazingly, even with the tail-switching horses, their movements were precise and athletic.

Now for the rest of the story: USA came in fourth. BOO HOO, no medal! Just missed it. Netherlands got the GOLD, and no wonder with one of their rider/horse teams scoring a full 10 points above the other competitors. That horse was AMAZING, seemed to do his job nonchalantly, as in "Yeah, that was easy, what's next?" with not a single mistake, high energy and perfect tempo.

Back at the booth, today's crowd was a bit larger.. I think the attendence will continue to grow as we approach the weekend and then peak out next week. I sure hope so, this stuff should be shared with everyone.