August 19, 2006

HorsesDaily Behind the Scenes for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games

Follow the US Eventing WEG Shortlist Updates with Torri Nahorniak from USEF

Off to The World Equestrian Games

It is finally time to head to Germany! It has been a very emotional roller coaster the past couple of weeks while we waited to the Squad to be finalized and hoping against hope that all the horses remained sound. We did not get so lucky however, and Joshua had to be withdrawn from the squad. The selectors then had the difficult decision of deciding to replace Stephen with Karen or Bonnie. In the end the decision was made that Karen will go (She had a clean run at the Hartpurt CIC***). Then came the next difficult decision - deciding the team and individuals. The team will be as follows Kim Severson, Will Faudree, Amy Tryon and Heidi White, with Jan Byyny and Karen O'Connor riding as individuals.

All of the equipment left this morning to arrive in Germany tonight. Jim is there, along with Dougie, and the crew from Endurance to help unload it. We challenged them to do better than our 18 minutes 21 seconds. Considering there is quite a bit less to unload they should be able to meet our challege, but I'm not so sure.

From Jim's descriptions it sounds like we did really well regarding the stables and we have even managed to secure 2 tack stalls. I don't know how and I'm not asking. The horses will then leave tomorrow morning at 4:30am to arrive in Germany at 4:30 pm. (Germany is one hour ahead of England) It should be about an 11.5 hour trip. I am really excited to be traveling with the horses and to get the chance to see some of the country. I'm also excited to be a passenger for a while and not have to worry about the driving. I have manged this far not to hit anything and have only been honked at 3-4 times, so overall I would say that my driving was a huge success. For the drive with the horses we will go to Dover where we will take the ferry across to Calais and travel through France before getting to Germany. All of the riders are scheduled to fly out of Heathrow at 12:45 tomorrow to arrive in Brussels at 2:50 and then head to Aachen. Bonnie will stay at Aston along with Becky Holder and Sara Mittleider to prepare Jenga for Burghley.

I know everyone here is anxious to get this thing started. I'll keep in touch through the games.