Pau 2011 Friday | Andrew Nicholson Well Positioned For XC

Andrew Nicholson & Armada

Andrew Nicholson has come to Pau with a full arsenal of 3 horses (Henry Tankerville, Armada, Mr. Cruise Control) for the CCI****, plus one in the 2 star. I caught up with him after his dressage test on Armada, which is a horse I've always admired as he's a 'little' exciting to watch on the cross country. This video interview turned out a little shorter than I expected due to a battery failure, but continues below. The thing I like about Andrew is he speaks his mind, and enjoys pulling your leg or trying to trip you up!

Pau 2011 - Dressage ✔ Done

Andrew Nicholson & Mr. Cruise Control | The Horse To Take Home From Pau

The sun here in Pau is still shining as the dressage phase finally draws to a close. Two Aussies, Clayton Fredericks & Chris Burton, sit neck-a-neck on 43.7, with William Fox-Pitt and Oslo half a point behind.

WEG 2010: Eventing - Dressage Day 1 | I Told You Ze Germans Were Coming

Simone Deitermann

The German dressage supremos exited the World Equestrian Games arena with the heating left turned right up today in the first day of the eventing competition, leaving a number of 4* winners in their wake. Simone Deitermann, the 28 year-old accountant, leads the dressage on 36.0 a full five points clear of her countryman, Ingrid Klimke (41.3), and the multi-talented William Fox-Pitt in 3rd (42.0).

You rarely get to see the young riders from other nations, and I remember seeing Simone go round her first Badminton earlier this year and thinking wow, this lady can really ride, but although she has lead the dressage before in some hotly contested big events, I have to say, I really didn't expect to see her so far ahead.

Another pleasant surprise was Mark Todd, who managed to get a score into the late forties, not an easy task with this horse. He's must has squeezed every last ounce out of Grass Valley to get that score. This might just put him in contention for some personal honours.

WEG 2010: Eventing - The Dressage | The Most Important Phase

Team GBR Selections Reflect The Importance Of Dressage 

The formalities of the World Equestrian Games Eventing trot-up are now over, so it's time to draw a line in the sand between each nation, and get on with the serious business of winning. Team GBR's Nicola Wilson will be the first to kick off the competition tomorrow morning at 9:00AM sharp, on her wonder horse, Opposition Buzz. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is one fabulous horse to watch go cross country, and Nicola has spent the last year improving her dressage, with much success. Her win at Barbury CIC*** sealed the decision for her inclusion in this WEG team.

Both this WEG and the last one, at Aachen, have very large arenas, more reminiscent of a sandy baseball field than a horse stadium, but judging by how well the pure dressage has gone over the last few days, I don't think this will phase the horses much more they get phased at any of the big 4 star competitions.

All the teams, and individuals have now been announced and looking through the list I don't really see any serious surprises in any of the teams. The only shock being the sad withdrawal of Kim Severson's grey due to infection, being replaced with Karen O'Connor. Reading between the lines, listening to The Captain in an audio interview, you could tell this was just one of many headaches Mark has faced in the run-up to tomorrow's competition.

WEG 2010: Dressage (Not In Jeans)

Moorelands Totilas | Photo: Samantha Clark

Another day nearer to Eventing, and it really isn't too far away now.......

Today though was all about pure dressage, and for those of us not at the World Equestrian Games, a first chance to see some Kentucky action via the TV. Now normally you wouldn't catch me watching this much dressage even at a horse trials, but there was such a buzz beforehand about Totilas, and one or two others I just had to take a look. Even though I find some of these pure dressage movements a little laboured (like the canter pirouettes), I was in total awe at how athletic these horses are, and with such control.

Moorelands Totilas, ridden by Edward Gal, did live up to his reputation, and I'm no dressage aficionado or geek, but even I could appreciate the silky elegant of this horse's performance. For me this was almost over shadowed by the incredible performance of the British team who wiped the floor with the remaining competition producing personal bests to win silver. British dressage hasn't been this good since Torvil & Dean!

WEG 2010: Aren't We All An Eclectic Bunch

Equestrian Sporting Athletes | An Eclectic Bunch

Only 2 days to go before the start of the World Equestrian Games eventing discipline - it's getting closer!

So far we've seen two of the 8 disciplines and I don't think you'd ever find a more eclectic bunch of people across any other sport. We've seen the ye-ha cowboy dressage sport of reining, which bears very little resemblance to the more serious formal sport of pure dressage, but is taken just as seriously (seriously good fun), by not just the gold winning host nation, but a number of European nations as well. The big story was dressage diva Anky Van Grunsven switching to reining and representing the Dutch at WEG.

Generally, when you think of world championship or olympic athletes, it conjures up images of  fit lean six-pack toting men and women that you see in track and field, but you've only got to look around WEG disciplines to see we really do come in all shapes, sizes, demographics, and any other segmentation you can think of. Although sifting through the multitude of photos from the bun-fight that was the Endurance race, these guys do all pretty much resemble marathon runners!

WEG 2010: Dressage in Jeans

Reining | Not Exactly!

It's intermission time whilst we wait for the Eventing discipline to gather some pace and the horses to arrive at Kentucky and settle in. Today I rode the Great White Charger in jeans and long chaps as I tried out a new brand of French saddle making an appearance on the UK scene, and this got me thinking, one discipline I had absolutely no clue about was Reining, and boy was I surprised to find out what it's all about. I was expecting it to be more cowboys without the cows, more cowboy gymkhana, but....

The Road To WEG2010...er, sorry, Highclere! cont'd.

Highlere Castle - our planned seasonal debut

Just weeks to go now until our seasonal debut at Highclere Castle Horse Trials (who does a seasonal debut in August?!), and a bit like the Australian WEG Team my own plans are a bit of a mixed bag at present.

The big white charger is actually coming along pretty well, fitness levels are up, weight is back to normal (perhaps a little too much), and show jumping nicely. One of things I'm desperate to improve our Dressage scores. Whilst he's never going to be a Nureyev in the ring we have managed some decent low-mid 30s marks, and I'm determined to re-capture and improve on these good tests. As I don't have a trainer on tap every time I ride, I've started videoing my flatwork sessions so I can review these, and start looking for the room for improvement.

I've just reviewed today's session, and there's plenty to do over the next few weeks! The video below shows the 'best bits' from today (I know, if that's the best bits boy there's lots to do!), and also one of my better tests. 

Barbury Castle Horse Trials 2010 - A weekend of hot competition to match the weather

With a high of 27 degrees and no shade this was one very hot and dry event. How Barbury manages to battle these conditions is with the old established turf, that at least muffles the rock hard ground on this chalk down land. 

Since it started 5 years ago, I've been to Barbury as a competitor, spectator, guest of a sponsor and even a supplier, and each time I've found myself wanting to call Nigel Bunter [Barbury's Owner] and say "well done but have you thought about..."

There's so much to love about this event, and considering it's relatively new you have to be a little forgiving over the things to dislike about the event.  Running this event here proves that you don't need a grand stately home setting to host a great event that draws in the public.

Barbury Castle Horse Trials 2010 - CIC** Dressage Leader Video

As I just happened to capture Andrew Hoy's Dressage Test on camera whilst waiting for our horse to go, and it was the leading score I thought I'd upload it for you to view.




It's been a great day at Barbury and the Cross Country Course has played havoc with the novice and CIC** classes so far. I did capture some of this on video and there's a fair bit to report, but I'll leave this until end of play tomorrow when I'll do a full round up on the weekend down here in sunny Wiltshire.

It's been a scorcher of a day, but at least there was a decent breeze and the occasional cloud to keep things cooler.

'til tomorrow.........