Day 6 and competition day 4

Day 6 and competition day 4

    Today for me started a little bit more difficultly than any of my other mornings here in Germany. I woke up to a message from my boss/friend that one of my favorite young horses had died last night. Pantsa Fire HU had a world of personality and I'm going to miss walking into the barn and seeing Pantsa first thing.

      Otherwise today started of normally. We met for breakfast at 8:00AM and then promptly headed to the show to watch a very full day of competition. We watched the the Grand Prix Special, Under 25 Grand Prix freestyles, Intermediare, and the Grand Prix freestyle. Busy day! 

  In the Intermediare something shocking happened. Isabel Werth went off course. It is important to realize that even the best have mistakes. After Isabel's mistake she ended up making a second mistake while trying to get back to the correct line, which resulted in elimination. Isabel had such a positive attitude that she finished off her test and ended her test laughing! This is such an amazing role model for this sport!

     Very exciting that overall today the United States of America ended up second in the Nations cup! It was super to being here cheering them on! At the end of the class we got to talk to Laura Graves, Alison Brock, and Kasey Perry. The three of them along with Stephan Peter make up the USA dressage team for the Rio Olympics. All three of them are absolutely a pleasure to talk to! They talked to us about there day to day preparing for the Olympics. All three of them have same plan of action, they are not drilling anything, they are simply working on making their transitions perfect! As we all know, when you have a good transition you have everything!

      We also had the privilege of talking to Bo Jena, team coach for Sweden!  He talked to us about long lining.  He said that bridle fitting is very important, especially if you are using long lining to start a young horse. You may even put latex on the bit to make it more comfortable for the young or sensitive horse. Long lining helps remind the rider what is going on behind them. 

     Really looking forward to learning so much tomorrow on our last day here at Aachen!