Following Canada's Equestrian Team

Olympic Cross Country…..wow

Wow is the best word to describe my experience at my first Olympic cross-country. The course was absolutely stunning. The fences were massive with a real Chinese theme. The layout was quite spectator-friendly where you could easily find a few vantage points that would enable you to catch a few jumps. The horses were magnificient and the riding was awe-inspiring. What more could you ask for?

The weather didn’t seem to be a factor. It was overcast for the majority of the competition with rain during the last hour. Definitely ideal conditions, although things did seem to get a bit slick for the last few horses that did the course.

The Canadians looked really fantastic out there. They really attacked the jumps and put in an Olympic effort. Both Kyle and Sandra went clean over the jumps and only incurred time penalties. Selena looked fantastic, but unfortunately pulled a shoe near the end of the course which resulted in Columbo slipping a bit on the footing and running out at a couple of jumps. It’s really a shame because I think had the shoe stayed on, she would have likely only incurred time faults. Mike also had a stroke of bad luck when his stirrup leather came off early on in the course and he had to stop in order to get it back in…..a wise decision considering the course required an aggressive ride. No coasting here! Samantha also looked fantastic but unfortunately had a couple of run-outs and time.

I’m very happy to say that there were no serious accidents and almost everyone made it home. There were 2 big surprises that happened: USA’s Amy Tryon and Poggio II (a strong medal favourite) were taken out at fence # 10 when Poggio hung a leg which caused him to stumble and flipped Amy over his head. Under the new eventing rules, a fall by the rider constitutes immediate elimination. The French team suffered another loss when Jean Renaud Adde and Haston d’ Elpegere also were eliminated….you might have heard that former 2004 Gold Medalist Nicolas Touzaint had to withdraw prior to the dressage when his horse suffered an injury while being lunged.

There were tons of people who came out to see all the action. I got up at 5:30 am, was eating breakfast by 6am and lined up for the shuttle by 6:30am. This got me to Beas River at just after 7am….enough time for the long walk to the first water jump to meet Mike G. who had brought Canada’s chef de mission (Olympic gold medal diver Sylvie Bernier) to check out the sport of eventing. Sylvie had brought her daughter with her as well, who was very excited to get as many photos as she could (Florence, Sylvie’s daugher, takes hunter lessons back home in Quebec). This was their first exposure to Eventing and they were both wowed.

The action began at 8am with Mark Todd the first rider on course. I managed to get a video of him doing the first water jump which he made look like a piece of cake (of course!). Mike G. said that he did the math and the course worked out to a jumping effort on average every 8 seconds. Holy smokes that’s a lot of jumping. Not to mention that the terrain was quite undulating and hilly in places. I bet there will be a lot of tired horses and riders tonight.

Everyone now packs up their gear from Beas River and the exodus begins again back to the Shatin venue where the final stadium phase gets underway tomorrow night. The Germans, Aussies and Brits are incredibly strong, so it will definitely be a photo finish. In the meantime, I’ve been dripping hot, then soaking wet, then freezing from the a/c on the shuttle bus. But never been happier! Till next time….. 🙂

the crowds start to gather around the first water jump at 7:30am

Eventing's High Performance Chair Grit High with Jump's chef d'equipe Torchy Millar

Mike and me showing our Canuck team spirit

evidently I had an overabundance of Canuck spirit.....but I chickened out from wearing the pyjama pants

some Brit spirit!

The cross-country course was actually built on an exclusive swanky golf course....just a couple of weeks ago they were still playing!

check out the huge jumbotron in the background

Mike with chef de mission Sylvie and her daughter

Danish dressage rider Andreas Helgestrand (with paper in front of face) came to watch how things are done on the 'wilder' side

Mike hanging with the media gals: Jenn Ward and Karen Robinson

I'm very happy to say that the horse ambulance never moved from this spot during the entire competition

to truly appreciate the monstrosity effect of this jump, you really need to be standing in the ditch

The Great Wall of China.....cross country style!

this one's for you Al!!!

my new British friends

fixing divets between horses

next time I'll be brave enough to wear my Canadian jester hat with bells

check out the chinese lanterns...a nice added touch

absolutely stunning carved dragon combination

chef de mission Sylvie Bernier, team leader Mike G and me

heads up!

waiting for the bus for the trip back home....

Dressage Jog Done – all systems go!

The dressage jog took place this afternoon – always a nail-biter and after so many days of being here, it now finally feels like a competition.  The Canadian horses passed with flying colours and looked pretty darned sharp doing so! The team dressed in a Chinese theme complete with chopsticks in the hair. They really looked fantastic and were the best dressed team there (I know I’m biased!) I’ve posted a few pics below so you can see how nice they all looked.

I have to hit the hay as the cross-country is tomorrow morning. The Canadian team currently sits in 9th position following dressage. Selena O’Hanlon put in a terrific performance last night to be the top ranked Canadian after dressage – and she had a huge grin on her face the whole time during her test. It was great to see! I walked the course yesterday with Mike G. and it is quite spectacular. It should look stunning on tv although it is very twisty and turny….not a lot of galloping spots and 8 jumping efforts within the first minute. Most people are saying that this definitely won’t be a dressage competition and that no one will make the time. There are some options built into some of the fences, but they look pretty huge and technical as well. Sure reminded me why I quit Eventing once I reached the Prelim level! Waaaaaaaay too scary for me. I’ll stick to a nice little white-fenced arena where the scariest thing to deal with is a judge’s booth or a camera 🙂  I’ll post some pics of the cross-country tomorrow.

it's show time! (leaving the barn for the jog)

Jacquie and Gran Gesto

Leslie and Orion

Ashley and Pop Art

Dr. Jenn, Ali and Leslie

smiles all round following the jog (l-r: me, Dr. Jenn, Leslie, Jacquie, Ashley and Ali)

Ashley sports her chopsticks

My Hero!

This pic deserved a post all on it’s own. I felt like the ultimate groupie tonight but as Ali pointed out to me….when am I going to get another chance to hang out with Mark Todd!?!?! Yes, I did feel embarrassed to tap Mr. Eventing Legend himself on the shoulder and introduce myself as a huge fan who would be thrilled to bits if I could have my picture taken. But it was well worth it. Check it out! That’s me and Mark Todd!

my smile doesn't even come close to demonstrating how excited I was to be standing next to Mark Todd with his arm around my shoulder 🙂

Jog is done – all systems go for Canadian Eventers

A quick post before I hit the hay tonight. The jog was held this afternoon for the Eventers at 4pm. Luckily it didn’t rain on the parade in spite of it being a very rainy morning.

All of the Canadian horse/riders were turned out smartly and breezed through the jog. In fact all horses passed with the exception of Chile’s Ricardo Stangher and Brazil’s Fabricio Salgado. Great Britain’s William Fox Pitt was asked to stay for a second inspection but was eventually passed (the jury was concerned about a girth gall).

Dressage starts VERY bright and early tomorrow morning with Canada’s Kyle Carter being the second rider in and the first Canadian, following the one and only Mark Todd who gets the party going at 6:30am.

Canadian team heading back to the barns after a job well done

by the looks on their faces, it's obvious that jogs are serious serious business (l-r: Jenn Ward, Mike Gallagher, Jennifer Miller and Holly Jones)

just had to take a snap of this perfectly braided tail.

The Jade Market

Thursday was a bit of a slow day again. I accompanied Eventing Team Manager Janette Leask to the airport to pick up some owners and family who were arriving for the Event Team. We had a big Canadian flag with us so that people could spot us easily. Touching down in Hong Kong today were the Davies (owners of Columbo), Samantha Taylor’s family, Selena O’Hanlon’s mom, Kyle Carter’s family and Grit High (High Performance Chair for Eventing). That’s a big contingent! Everyone arrived safely and are excited for the competition to begin. The jog is today (Friday) at 4pm with Canada being the 4th country to go after Belarus, New Zealand and Poland.

Between airport runs, Janette and I found some time to check out the Jade market in Kowloon. I’m not a big shopper, but was interested in checking it out. 1 hour later and I found out how dangerous the place is even for a non-shopper like me! I came away with quite a few bags of stuff after spending $1,000 HK (equivalent to about $133 Canadian). I was also starting to get the hang of bartering and managed to get some swinging deals. Every seller at a stall has a calculator, and when you ask how much for something they type out the price on the calculator. If it looks like you’re balking, then they’ll immediately drop the price. If you start to walk away, then they push the calculator towards you and ask you to type in what you want to pay. The non-shopper in me worked wonders because I had no problem walking away from the majority of things I saw……so the price was always dropping for me 🙂 . I picked up some gifts for back home and a beautiful yellow jade pendant necklace for me. Janette swung a great deal on some jade bracelets and I became the lucky owner of a beautiful purple jade bracelet. Dressage team vet Jennifer Miller and team rider Leslie Reid met us at the market but Janette and I had to leave to be back in time for airport run # 2 which was a good thing because who knew what other things I would have bought! It was a good prep excercise for me for the Ladies’ Market (dubious name, I know!) and the Stanley Market which I hope to do next week.

Although I was able to go to the venue that night, I hear that the place was really hopping. The main competition arena was open again with a dressage ring now set up and the judges’ huts. Dressage chef Ali Buchanan told me that the ring itself was packed with some near collisions. Our dressage riders stuck to riding around the outside of the ring which was likely a good plan given the chaos on the inside. The jumbotron was on, but no cartoon horses this time. The screen didn’t pose a problem to any of the horses.

This afternoon is the Eventing jog followed by a welcome reception to usher in the beginning of the games. After being here for so many days, people are definitely starting to feel the excitement now! Will do my best to grab some snaps and post here later.

The media hotel (where I’m staying) is also starting to get packed. Our jumper team is staying here with Jill, Jonathan and Mac already here. Ian and Torchy arrives later today with Eric coming tomorrow. Then our entire Team Canada will be here! I ran into Jenn Ward and Karen Robinson in the lobby who are both covering the events with a Canadian perspective. I know that Cealy Tetley has arrived as well but haven’t seen her yet.

One last thing…..Marks & Spencers rocks! Just bought some Sweet Thai Chili and Coriander flavoured chips. De-licious.

it was a rainy and foggy day.....the low hanging clouds over the hills looked very picturesque

the Jade Market

Jennifer and Leslie scoping out the merchandise

decisions, decisions, decisions.....

hitting a wee bit of traffic on the way back to the village

on the way to the aiport....this new tunnel has only been open for a couple of months and still looks shiny

I'm a huge Amazing Race fan, and I swear this is where they had to go in Season 2 to move containers in order to find their next clue

arriving at the airport for one of the many pickups

the Olympic shuttle bus area at the pickup