September 1, 2006: WEG and Sardines

To say that the quality of the riding at the World Equestrian Games was phenomenal would be an understatement... Never before have I seen such brilliant performances, whether on video or in person, including previous Aachen-CHIO’s and the 2005 Las Vegas World Cup, nor from so many athletes. Nor have I ever experienced a crowd like that in ANY situation.

First, a few words about the performances. (I could go on and on for pages, but I won’t... at least not with today’s entry). I was incredibly proud of my countryman, Steffen Peter’s performance. He rode Floriano to his maximum capability, showing true harmony... it was something of beauty to behold. There were many (me included), that felt he deserved the individual Bronze for his performance in the Grand Prix Special, and that the grey mare ridden by Andreas Hegelstrand was riding the wave of her fabulous performance in the Grand Prix with regard to some of her marks, thus edging him out. His fourth place finish still gives Steffen plenty to be proud of... and the Team Bronze is certainly a matter of pride for the entire team.

Heike Kemmer’s Grand Prix performance with Bonaparte was my favorite ride of the show. Although the judges placed her second, I would have ranked her first: it was flawless. Jan (a boarder and friend) and I turned to each other after her ride, mouths agape and with tears in our eyes, and said in unison, “That was amazing.” We had neither one of us seen anything like it before. I doubt that I will see it again. WOW... The winning ride belonged to Blue Hors Matiné, ridden by Andreas Hegelstrand, whose performance was NOT flawless, but who at the tender age of 9 showed the most expressive piaffe/passage tour of the evening, and certainly among the best any of us had ever seen. The judges were throwing her 9’s right and left, and that made up for a number of mistakes earlier in her test, edging out Bonaparte for the lead.

The mare did not, however, have the strength and endurance to sustain that quality through all three tests; more errors followed in the Grand Prix Special and you began to see her use her head for balance in the piaffe/passage, and by the Freestyle, the use of her head was really quite in evidence, as was some irregularity in the passage that appeared to be due to loss of balance. This was not just my view, but also noticed by Christoph Hess, the International Judge that was providing the radio commentary in English. The judging panel, however, appeared not to notice significantly... while they didn’t place her first as they had in the Grand Prix, they still rewarded her with very high marks (even in the movements that contained significant faults--you could tell because there was live scoring), so that she finished with the bronze on both evenings. I disagreed with the scores and placement: once again, the dressage world really would be better off if they’d make ME a judge. :wink: (The mare is quality--don’t get me wrong--and if she holds up to the pressures, both mental and physical, she will undoubtedly show up in the top medals over and over again, deservedly so, but to my mind, she does not yet have the strength and endurance for the FULL Grand Prix tour required at a competition like WEG. That should not come as a surprise, nor require any apologies, given her tender age and the tremendous stamina that the Grand Prix test requires... nor should it detract from the stupendous performance she DID put in during the Grand Prix. It WAS super, and DID deserve the scores she received. I’m just making the point--entirely my own--that she was not able to sustain it through what amounts to marathon for these horses as rigorous as what the 3-Day Eventers go through.)

My favorite combination was a big surprise to everyone on the scene: Bernadette Pujals, a rider from MEXICO, of all places! Her horse was named Vincent, and she trained near Bremen--and her riding was absolutely lovely to behold... none of us had ever heard of her before this show. She placed consistently in the top 10, with rides that were correct, harmonious and elegant. I think she will be a force to be reckoned with...

And finally, Isabelle Werth on Satchmo: WOW again. That horse is a real firecracker. You can see it in how he moves, and with such power! Isabelle has to ride with incredible tact, and because she does, she gets amazing things from him, without tension or mistakes... but I have the sense that if she were to push her luck, things would fall to hell in the blink of an eye. That is the measure of greatness. I was thrilled for her when she won the Gold for her Grand Prix Special and Silver for her Freestyle, deposing Anky for the Grand Prix Special. (Anky was back in the pack for the Grand Prix (tying for 3rd), which was quite gratifying, since that was exactly where she deserved to be; her freestyle, however, was the best I’ve ever seen her go with Salinero and she was the clear winner. Fan or no fan--and I’m not a particular Anky fan--I think there is no argument that Anky, when Salinero is on her side, is the reigning Queen of the freestyle).

Now, let’s talk sardines... The crowds at WEG were unbelievable. We had it relatively easy on the days of the Grand Prix because the 70 riders were spread over 2 days, and the better riders went towards the end of the second day in most cases. (Each team could choose the order in which they placed their riders). By Friday, however, the stands (seating 44,000), were pretty full and it was getting pretty dicey trying to walk around outside the stadium and through the streets between the vendors. (There were so many vendors that they named the “streets” between them so that you could find the one you were looking for again). And Saturday, the day of the freestyles? You could bloody well forget moving from point A to point B if you hadn’t gotten there an hour before the freestyles started... I made the mistake of thinking I would get from one end of the stadium to the other going THROUGH the stadium rather than walking around the back side of it (it HAD been the quicker route earlier in the day) about an hour and a half before the freestyles were to start. It was a HUGE mistake. I found myself in a crush of people pushing and shoving to move in one direction against a crushing tide of people pushing and shoving to move in the other, and having to squeeze my body into spaces that were only one half a body wide in order to make any progress at all... but I would succeed because there were people behind me shoving me along, reminiscent of the Japanese subway conductors who shove folks into the cars so that the doors will shut. My arms were pinned at my side and I had to pray that there were no pick pockets in the crowd (though I, fortunately, did not have a wallet... instead I’d taken a purse that has the “wallet” built in so someone would have had to steal each bill and credit card individually if they’d tried, and probably would have found better pickings from one of my neighbors in the cr
owd). I did check to make sure none of the cards were missing when I came out the other end, though. There were essentially no mishaps, and I say essentially only because at one point a large lady who looked like the fat yodeling woman from a Swiss Miss commercial started kicking everyone around her in the shins. I told her to stop kicking me. She said she was being shoved. I said that may be, but I was not the one doing the shoving, so she should kindly leave my shins the you-know-what out of it! Other people were not quite so nice; I think that’s how riots start. I was never so relieved in my life as when I came out the other side.

That night, for the freestyles, there were 44,000 in reserved seats, 10,000+ in standing room, and another 5,000+ in an adjacent stadium watching on a big screen because they had been unable to push and shove their way into the standing room area. Can you imagine a crowd that large to watch freestyle dressage performances in this country??? They said they had 60,000 in ticket sales on the evening. Mind-boggling. Absolutely mind-boggling. Especially when you consider that those that didn’t make it to Aachen to see it in person were able to watch it LIVE on German television!

There’s a lot to love about Germany, and their dedication to horse sports is at the top of my list.