Still in France - More WEG

I was wrong when I said I would be free to check out the WEG marketplace on Wednesday.

Instead, I spent the day (also grand prix special day) trying to interview dressage riders and coaches for an educational project. I was in the tunnel, where the horses enter and exit the competition arena, since that was the best place to catch potential interviewees.

Pedro offered to make sure I was not interrupting anyone at a bad time. This was his attire for the day:

I would like to thank those who spared 2 or 3 minutes. As to the ones who made appointments and didn’t keep them…well…they simply aren’t part of the project I guess. C’est la vie.

By Friday evening, I was totally dressaged out – 2 days of dressage grand prix (same test over and over), 1 day of grand prix special (see above) and 2 days of eventing dressage (same test over and over). However, I do have a lot of halt pictures to use as conformation shots.

Eventer Opgun Louvo, my final dressage halt photo.

I opted not to head out to Haras du Pin this morning at 5:30 for a third day because I was concerned that a number of horses were not built to do an average 3* competition, never mind a solid 4* in less than ideal conditions. (Notice the terrain in the photos?) I haven’t heard or read the stories yet, but I did see that 63 of the 90 starters managed to complete the course. Likely a good thing that a shortening of the course was announced Friday.

Dressage ring at Haras du Pin

WEG XC Jump Copyright jwequine.com

Cross-country jump at Haras du Pin

63/90 is much better than endurance, where only 38 of 165 starters found the finish line. Along the way, 1 horse died after striking a tree and 2 riders needed medical care (rider of the dead horse and one with a broken leg from a fall).

It also remains to be seen how many of the 63 remaining eventers pass the jog tomorrow morning. If they do pass the jog, they will be loaded into horse vans and move in convoy to the main arena for the jumping phase, starting at 14:30. It took in excess of an hour to travel from d’Ornano Stadium to Haras du Pin in a shuttle bus very early on a low-traffic day. Nothing could possibly go wrong with a convoy of horse vans later on a Sunday morning, right?

If you have read any of the reports and/or blogs about poor transportation services and shoddy organization, I can confirm that many of my experiences have been similar. But…rather than jump on the complain train, I just say that it is France and you can’t change that. It will be France tomorrow too. Might as well make the best of it.

The photos are downloaded, my laundry is done, groceries and supplies have been purchased, it’s raining again and it is time for supper and then a long sleep…I hope. I’m passing on the Reining finals this evening in order to catch up on sleep.

Maybe I’ll head over to the Games Village in the morning and then to the stadium for the completion of eventing in the afternoon.

To be continued…