Horsesdaily News: Leslie Morse and Tip Top - Dressagedaily 2006 WEG Journals

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The US Dressage Short Listed Team for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games - Aachen

WOW!! Check out the video clip we just got from Leslie Morse and Tip Top in the warm up at Hickstead.

Leslie Morse and Tip Top - Dressagedaily 2006 WEG Journals

Aug 7 - Dish from Laura Petroff - Horses and riders arrived Tuesday in Verden --Debbie and Brentina, Guenter and Aragon, Suzanne and Cooper, Heather and Arabella came from Klaus Balkenhol's. Leslie and Tip Top also arrived on Tuesday, coming from Kyra Kyrklund's in England. Catherine Haddad and Maximus arrived later in the week, in time for the vet check.

Leslie felt that Tip Top was a bit off both days and was somewhat lackluster, not really showing his best stuff. It was not until Monday after the show, when the pre-WEG vet check (for Brentina, Floriano, Aragon, Wild One, Maximus, and Tip Top) was taking place at Klaus's, that the vet advised Leslie that Tip Top was suffering from a cold. Tip Top's condition was confirmed by a blood test. We're relieved to know that he's not seriously ill, of course.

In the meantime, late Sunday 5 horses left Verden for Klaus's, including Brentina, Aragon, Tip Top, Wild One and Cooper. When the horses and equipment arrived after 10pm, there was the truest example of teamwork. In the yard were Debbie and Bob McDonald and groom Ruben, Guenter and groom Joel, Tuni and Dave Page along with daughter Charlotte asleep in the back seat of their car and groom Craig and even Charlotte's nanny, Leslie and I (her groom for Verden was Bernadette Reis, a groom for the Oldenburger auctions and her groom from today is Tyler Haney who had been in Virginia competing at the Young Riders Championships), Suzanne Dansby's groom Fiona, and even Steffen Peters and his mom who lives nearby.

We all literally rolled up our sleeves and spent about an hour unloading hundreds of points of horse and rider gear and equipment. There was lots of sweating and moaning and groaning and laughing, too. We also got help from Steffan Wolff who works as a rider for Klaus. He and Guenter thought to get some pizzas for the hard-working crowd. After over an hour of this symphony in motion, Klaus's yard looked almost organized, or at least enough so that when Klaus returned with Judith and Belli, they were pleasantly surprised at all the progress we had made.

The WEG team--decision still not final. The 3 members on the team, Debbie, Steffen, and Guenter are waiting to hear who (of Tuni, Catherine and Leslie) will be the 4th team member and who will be the "replacement", in case of veterinary issues. That decision will be finalized and announced on Wednesday. The very best of luck to all 3 combinations--each is strong and impressive and any one would be a significant contributor to the US team for WEG.

Leslie Morse Daily Dish

July 30 - I've been at Kyra Kyrklund and Richard White's to start my European tour and to prepare to show at Hickstead. I thought it would be a good way to prepare for Verden, where I'm headed to meet up with the US short listed riders next week. Life in the UK has been great for us. Tip Top has traveled here really well and has comfortably adjusted to the time zone and the climate. We're looking forward to the rest of our stay in Europe.Occasionally in the forest I can be caught practicing Top Top's piaffe. One of those times Kyra snuck up on us with a camera only to find Tip Top and me in one of our piaffing moments.
Photo by Kyra Kyrkland We train our horses early every morning. Then in the late afternoon or early evening, we take them out for a conditioning hack in the adjoining fields and forests. It's quite beautiful here and very different from the life we've had in the early part of 2006, which was from Wellington, Florida to Roosendaal and Amsterdam (the Netherlands), and back to New Jersey for the Festival of Champions and the Short List Selection. Yes, my home is in California and I haven't forgotten. Neither has Laura or our dog Pari. I'm making the most of this trip (Their second “across the pond” in six months!)Kyra and Richard are fortunate to have a dear friend as a next-door neighbor, Greta Haare, who has a beautiful pool in her backyard. When we can, we keep our competitive spirit sharp by a serious back-stroke race in Greta’s pool. Here you'll see the serious international splashing backstrokers pictured--in the far back is me, Leslie Morse of the USA, then Natalie Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein of Denmark, Kyra Kyrklund of Finland, and Kristian von Krusenstierna of Sweden.

These are some of the ways that we try to relieve the stress. Of course, it's not all fun and games, but the fun and games photos are the ones you rarely see of us.