Robin Brueckmann's Road to Belgium

Saturday, September 23, 2006 - Uneventful Flight

The flight was uneventful. Becca and I were not seated together. I managed to sleep, and by the time we arrived in Frankfurt I felt nearly human. We had to get onto another plane to Brussels, where we were going to meet Denise.

That went fine. Denise got our rental car, and we drove the hour or so to the venue. All of us had been there before, and we helped each other remember the landmarks to get us there.

We had no heard from Laura. As it turned out, our horses, and Laura, had not arrived until the wee hours of this morning. When we got to the stables and found the horses (Mibis had also arrived at the same time), they were all asleep. Mibis kept nodding her head to the side; she was lying on her brisket but was barely able to balance there.

There was a jumper show going on at the venue as well; there were only a few horses in now for our competition next week. The jumpers were using the outdoor warm-up and the outdoor competition areas. We would have to ride inside.

We went to find the bathrooms. There was only one that was unlocked now, and it cost .30 Euros to get in. That seemed odd to me. There was another bathroom nearer the stalls, and we hoped that it would be open for our competition days, at least. This one was a significant distance from the stalls, besides being expensive!

Our directive from Missy was to give the horses a long and low ride today.

Becca and I got our horses groomed and saddled. We went into the small indoor warm-up area. It felt very small indeed. The footing was that fantastic European coated sand with fibers, and it was perfect.

I did not like riding Rocky long and low. I found it particularly difficult to sit his trot when he was not put together. I let him have an easy day, but it was not precisely long and low work. I rode him in his snaffle bridle, and let him in more of a working frame. He liked it. He no longer seemed sleepy; he had plenty of energy.

I worked him for about half an hour, and then Becca and I took them for a tour of the rest of the venue. There were no classes going on right at this moment, so there wasn’t the entertainment value that I had hoped for.

We brought the horses back to the barn, and got them washed and put away.

Laura had been at the hotel, sleeping, but she came to meet us. She said that we were going to have to move the horses; when they came in last night, these stalls were to be temporary. She did not yet know where they were to go.

Barb and her dad, Bob, came, and Barb got ready to ride, too. Becca and I were done, and I was eager to get back to the hotel. Becca elected to stay at the barn. Laura drove me back to the hotel. We stopped at a small market on our way, and I got food for dinner.

I got checked in. It was much nicer than I had expected, with a deep bathtub and a relatively spacious room. Soon I was snuggled down for the night.

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