August 27, 2006

World Equestrian Games Journals from Aachen
Mack's Musings
By Father Mack (a.k.a.: Father Larry David McCormick)

“Learning From History” - My Two Cents Worth! Page Three
Special to Dressage Daily #18

LOOK AS MUCH LIKE THE UNITED NATIONS AS WE CAN - Having taken a mild sideswipe at the Aachen exemplar, DO model the Kentucky games after the multi-cultural character of WEG 2006. Ask my fellow attendees at the Aachen contest how few times they went into a vendor’s stall and could not glean information or conclude a sale sans any knowledge of the German tongue. I rest my case.

May I be so bold as to suggest that the Kentucky Horse Park staff begin RIGHT NOW to raid the nearby universities and their language departments to secure bright young (okay, call me “age-ist) men and women with competence in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, et alii? If Aachen brings in half a million visitors to the city, what are our hopes and expectations for 2010? And they aren’t all going to bus in from Poughkeepsie.

REMEMBER THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE SMALL BLADDERS - I hope you will pardon the indelicate manner in which I have phrased that introduction, but the intervals (they called them “Pauses”) at Aachen between portions of the competition were insufficient. Even if you have an iron constitution, you will want to slip out for a cup of coffee or a (reasonably priced, remember?) sandwich in the course of the rides. (Enough porta-potties and “real” bathrooms distributed all over the Horse Park will be lovely. You can disguise them giant statues of Elvis if it will help bring in advertising dollars.)

A theorem associated with this fourth suggestion is that the Horse Park (and the rest of the city where visitors will roam) should provide recognizable meeting places (“We’ll rally under that giant umbrella over by the dressage arena when the Grand Prix is over. Okay?”). You should be able to get interested advertisers to pay for these. Assembly points along the lines of the Atlanta Olympic Games (without the mad bomber, if you please) will be nice.

SET A SCHEDULE AND (INSOFAR AS THE FEI WILL LET YOU) STICK TO IT - You want to see a bunch of dressage (and show jumping, and reining, and all the other disciplines) fans as mad as a cluster of wet hens? Just tell them to be on the show grounds at 9:00 a.m. . . . and then schedule the first ride of the day at 8:00.

Not only the timetables handed out when one purchased a ticket, but the “final and approved” schedule published on the FEI web site AND the media guides given to journalists, all of these contained conflicting (and WRONG) start times for multiple events. Talk about your soggy fowl!

I could go on, but the nice people who create and edit our web site will beat the snot out of me if I do so. For the boys and girls in Kentucky: Give me a call. We’ll talk. To the nice women and men who labor to make much smaller events happen: I wish you the best of luck.

If I have a general rule to propose it is this: Ask yourself, “Would my husband/wife/significant other want to come with me to this show? (Disclaimer: Of course they would! But they would also follow you barefoot across the Mojave Desert . . . Because he/she loves you. Dummy!) Let me rephrase that: “Will the non-horse fanatic friends and family I care about have a good time at this show?” With ample careful preparation, Kentucky (and our regional shows) will be talked about for years to come. And in a positive manner.

Just my two cents’ worth.