Kaitlyn Hamilton's Diary in Germany

Euro Indoor Warm Up – A New Experience!

Since the big arena was still being decorated (including little Santa's holding each letter) everyone had to school their horse in the warm-up area. And when I say everyone, it's the understatement of the century. I walked in and had a bit of a shock. In an area that was about half the size of a standard arena there must have been 30 to 40 horses. I tried to trot around and warm up but it seemed like I couldn't get more than 10 steps without almost colliding with another horse. Noah was not amused. He was jumping around when the other horses came too close, but my trainer Jochen told me to calm down because it is normal for there to be even twice as many horses in the warm-up. Once I relaxed, Noah did too and by the end I felt confident and was excited for the first day of competition.

Later that afternoon all the riders had to get together for the "draw" where our names were pulled out of a hat to determine the order of go. I pulled 11th, which I was very happy about. (anything but first!)

Getting to our hotel was quite an adventure. We probably would have been better off without the navigation system in the rental car. "..prepare to turn left.." it would say, then the next second "...turn right...", and the streets of downtown Frankfurt aren't exactly the easiest to follow. But alas, we pulled up to the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, a beautiful old hotel in the center of Frankfurt. Jochen's wife Sarah had arrived that day, so we all had a great dinner and headed off to bed.