HorsesDaily Behind the Scenes for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games

US Eventing WEG Shortlist Updates with Torri Nahorniak from USEF

July 27 - All the horses are here at Aston and doing well. The grooms and I left at 6:00 Monday night from Gladstone and caught our flight out at 9:45 to Heathrow. We all had an easy time on a relatively empty fight so it was as good as possible. The horses all shipped very well with Max and Dr. Scott Angstadt attending to them. Colby was supposed to be on the flight but due to a Fed Ex mix up with her passport and a pilot with an attitude she was unable to travel with the horses and instead took a flight over that day.

The vans, both the horses and the equipment, got stuck in traffic after landing in Heathrow and were delayed. The horses arrived at Aston around midnight on Tuesday, tired, but in great shape. All drank and were eating well. The equipment was delayed even further and arrived at around 2 am. We broke our previous record for equipment weight and we were a bit nervous about the unloading. All took bets as to how fast we could get it off the truck and we underestimated ourselves. We managed to get it done in 18 minutes and were quite pleased with ourselves and by that point exhausted. Everyone is now starting to catch up on sleep and the riders are starting to arrive.

Today was a good day. Some rode with Mark in morning, with Kim, Karen, and Jan jumping and some others doing flat work. The rest of the day was spent packing and getting ready for leaving tomorrow. Kim and Will had an exciting day getting all decked out for a photo shoot. A professional photographer, Elma Garcia, is donating her services to the USET for a "Portrait Campaign". Both of them had their hair and make up professionally done and clothes brought in and they both looked great. I must confess, Karen and I snuck out and played 9 holes of golf and after WEG we will be joining the tour and signing Nike sponsorship deals. Everyone is feeling really good and ready to get to England to get started. It will be great to join up with Amy at that point also.

Tomorrow will be a busy day for all. The equipment will leave Gladstone by 4:00 and we have a ton of it. I can only hope that it doesn't all actually weigh a ton, but we might be close. The grooms and I then leave at 6:00pm for a 9:45 flight out of Newark to Heathrow. Jim and the riders will oversee the loading of the horses at around 10:30 and then they will be off to Newark also for an eventual 4:00am departure. The riders will arrive at various times through out the week.

July 22 - I am going to try and keep everyone up to date on what is happening with the horses, riders, and support staff through out our trip. If there is anyone you would like me to add to the mailing list just let me know.

As I'm sure everyone knows by now the selection went as follows:
Squad
Jan Byyny - Task Force (Jedi)
Kim Severson - Winsome Adante (Dan)
Amy Tryon - Poggio
Heidi White - Northern Spy (Farley)

Alternates
Stephen Bradley - Brandenburg's Joshua (Joshua)
Will Faudree - Antigua (Brad)
Bonnie Mosser - Jenga (short enough)
Karen O'Connor - Upstage (Woody)

Sara Mittleider will also be traveling with us and being running at Blenheim. Everyone is still here in Gladstone and doing well. Time is spent between riding, packing, and some relaxing fun. The group of riders and their support teams are amazing and this promises to be a great trip.

Tomorrow is the packing day and then everything leaves on Monday. All the grooms and I will also head out on Monday to get things ready at Aston. The horses will load around 10:30 on Monday night and then fly out of Newark. As always they have the big shiny semis coming to pick them up and will be traveling in style and comfort. I wish the seats in coach had as much leg room. The riders will get there in the days following and we'll get started.