They were awesome. Cesar got it going with a solid, mistake-free effort – which is the job for the pathfinder on the team. Marisa and Heather then had personal best performances on Frankie and Paragon respectively and then Steffen, batting clean-up – did just that.
It was awesome. All four into the top 10, I have been to enough of these to know that is very, very rare to feel as confident as I did yesterday about our team. But they just never wavered. We are lucky to have such an awesome group.
If you need to catch up on nuts and bolts and facts and scores, click here: http://usefnetwork.com/news/7751/2011/10/16/gold_for_us_dressage_team_at_2011.aspx
It was a long day of dressage with 47 rides, so we spent the whole day at the venue. The eventers were out getting organized at Club Hippica – and then came out to watch the first half of the Individual Final for dressage. We dominated again, finishing first, second, third and sixth. The eventers came out to cheer on their teammates, they have been living it up in the Athlete’s village (well I don’t know about living it up, but they seem happy in their digs) and it was good to see them.
The competition in Wednesday’s freestyle promises to be fierce.
The Sweep Report can be found here: http://usefnetwork.com/news/7755/2011/10/17/us_riders_shine_in_individual_fin.aspx
So to catch up on the few days: most importantly HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEVE MORRIS. My non-horse understanding father has supported me on whatever hair brained adventure I have embarked on over the last 32 (nearly) years. His ability to understand the fundamentals of what is going on in my life even if he doesn’t know the difference between a half-pass and a half-halt is extraordinary. He’s an incredibly smart man who can still implement an ‘authoritative voice’ that can stop me in my tracks. I hope he had an awesome birthday by the ocean. Family is such a huge part of what we do – just going over the list of credentials and hotel rooms: athletes, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers are all here to support Team USA. Some are integrally involved in the industry others are like my own Dad. Marisa has a daughter of her own, Cesar has two kids, Michael Pollard has three and another on the way – because our demographic slightly older than some other sports, we seem to involve a lot more family.
It’s the most important thing we have.
Yesterday ended up being a long day and we wrapped it up with a great dinner at La Tequilla which has the best authentic Mexican food I’ve ever had.
Today is a day off from competition, so we went out to look to see the eventers, the grooms are happy and speaking from experience – if the grooms are happy, everything runs a whole lot smoother. They had a jump this morning in eventing land and Capt. Mark said they all jumped well and he is very much on his game which is always very good news. He’s been around for a long time, and has won us a lot of medals. Since 1994, there is only one games from which we came home without a medal. It’s been a tremendous run and we will miss him very much when he hangs it after next year.
Eventing Grooms Cat Hill and Sara McKenna
More after the cross country course walk tomorrow - with photos.
Joanie