Centerline Goes to the Olympics:
An Amateur Rider's Journal by Maureen Crump

Day One: The Plan

I realized that I wanted to go to the Olympics after attending the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain.  I found that I loved the international venue.  Mixing with people from all over the world who have the love of their horses in common is just the kind of global experience that I enjoy.  I also found that watching this top caliber of competition really positively affected my amateur riding.  Watching the skill of these riders impacted my own riding.  Watching the rider maintain obedience, cooperation, and the confidence of their mounts in the electric setting and with incredible pressure taught me so much.  In this type of situation I felt it really was the rider who makes the difference. 

Planning the trip was a bit of a challenge.  I was unable to find any "group" type of trip.  How to go about finding accommodation was difficult.  The typical hotel accommodations were exorbitantly expensive.  I ended up surfing at ultimatedressage.com and Equestrian Vacations was suggested.  I called Karen Lancaster who owns Equestrian Vacations and indeed she was making referrals for accommodations at the Olympics.  She worked with her partner George Kopitsas at Trekking Hellas in Greece to search for an appropriate accommodation.  Trekking Hellas was arranging for visitors to stay in homes and apartments which were actual residences of Greek citizens.  George and Karen found a perfect apartment for us in the middle of Athens.  After the reservation was made, Trekking Hellas handled all the remaining details attentively.  As it turned out, it was Equestrian Vacations who arranged for accommodations for the US Equestrian Team.

You may want to check out the Equestrian Vacations web site.  The company offers carefully chosen horse back riding vacations around the world.  The type of riding ranges from trail riding to training vacations including training with top dressage trainers.

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