Day 5 and competition day 3

Day 5 and competition day 3

    Today, like this whole week, was amazing! This morning we got up a little earlier than we needed to, just so we could go for a little walk around downtown Aachen and just be tourists. I pretty much begged Jen and Charlotte to let us go to the burial site of Charlemagne. Unfortunately we arrived at the cathedral and it didn't open until 10:45. We still got to walk around and enjoy the beautiful Aachen city center!

     This morning, with the dressage competition not starting until 3:30, we snuck in a little eventing dressage and watched team USA rider Philip Dutton put in a very steady test!

     Later we had the privilege of talking to USA dressage team vet Dr. Rick Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell knows so much with all his years of experience, it was just so educational to talk to him! He spent his time explaining to us about what he does to look after the team horses. He doesn't just ensure the horses are sound, he also wants to make sure their nutritional needs are being met while they are in such an intensive program. Furthermore, he guides the riders in general horse care. Dr. Mitchell says he loves the sport of dressage because of the connection horse and riders have.

            We were fortunate to meet Uwe Mechlum, one of the most respected German judges (he will be on the supervisory panel for  judges at the Olympics in Rio). Mr. Mechlum had wonderful things to say about how American dressage has improved! He said that he was very impressed with how theAmericans are riding!

    Mikala Munter Gunderson, of Wellington FL, had just a few minutes to tell us about her horse, this is their last chance to qualify for the Danish Olympic team. She also discussed the importance of coming here to Europe to train. She highly recommended that if we wanted to do that we should first come over without a horse.

  The competition today was the Under 25 Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special. Before the competition we purchased a little ear piece so we could hear commentary done by our friend who we met yesterday, Christoph Hess. He had wonderful commentary for everyone's ride. At the end of the Grand Prix Special we were actually able to talk to Christoph about the class! Christoph made all of us come up with comments about each horse and rider to. It really made us think about what we were watching. My favorite to watch today was Hubertus Schmidt. He and his horses are always so harmonious and the picture always looks exceptional!

     Have I mentioned how incredibly inspirational being here is? I am so excited to go back to Horses Unlimited and bring everything I have learned here home to the phenomenal horses I get to ride there! I'm so thankful to ride the horses I ride and will continue to do my best to learn as much as I can to bring to them up the levels and help them develop!

  Looking forward to tomorrow and the surprises the competition holds!