I spent last night stuck in Orlando and then Charlotte before finally getting home well after 2 am. Tornadoes ripped through North Carolina and there were a lot of stranded people. It was very encouraging that it was all over the news in the airport.

I could have been stuck in Ocala at my lovely friend Max's house. She was kind enough to let me stay while I was at Live Oak, she works for Karen O'Connor, and lives on their wonderful farm, so I had it pretty good for 5 days. I paid for it by spending 12 hours trying to get home.

The weekend has been great despite the stuck-ness (I like blogs because you can use words like stuckness). The driving at Live Oak was phenomenal, the US drivers have upped their game and all the FEI classes the level was really superb. Jimmy Fairclough raised his game to a-whole-nother-level (again, love the blog…) with his newly leased leaders: Splash and Uniek. He survived a hairy moment today when he got stuck on the bridge in the cones, but he never wavered in his execution.

Jimmy and Chester both had the option to delay their start in the cones as the weather deteriorated rapidly. They both drove on – in some horrific conditions.

Chester and his crew at Live Oak outdid themselves.

I talked to him for a long time at the end of the competition - about training, competing at home and horses.

He is a thinker in a way many horsemen (and people for that matter) are not.

He wrote a two page plan of attack for the cones yesterday and by the looks of it, he executed it perfectly. When things get really hectic or start happening fast, the best athletes have the amazing ability to think really slowly. When he was hung up on the hazard on Saturday, when Jimmy got himself in a pinch at the bridge Sunday, where most people would panic, they thought it through and prevailed.

He runs a world-class event at his farm in between winning a national title and he considers that a disadvantage.

“Life doesn't stop, people think it gives me an advantage, but I will come to their house to show.”

His horses, if somewhat confused as he imagined, didn't show it – but they were having to put in world-class performance in their backyards.

They delivered.

“I sometimes think it is an advantage when I go to Europe, the phone doesn't ring for half the day, I can focus.”

I know what he means, despite the hours we kept at the 2008 Olympic Games – we were at least 12 hours removed from our lives at home. The WEG this fall in Kentucky will prove challenging for us all in that sense. Staff and athletes.

Watching all the horses at Live Oak really made me realize how amazing horses are. All shapes and sizes, from Fjords to fancy Dutch horses, trotters to Connemaras – they have all found their niche and a way to excel.

I hope their trips home were easier than mine, except for Boy, Grumus, Para, Horace and Rolex – that is the one upside about being at a competition at home, Chester's horses were just steps from their stalls at the end of the competition.