Greetings from day one of the team GP in Normandy, where the sky is crying on the ring but thankfully not in the stands, which are covered. Not that there are too many heads that need to be kept dry on the first half of the first day of team competition. The place is probably less than a quarter filled. Maybe word got out how viciously uncomfortable the seats are. I felt like I needed two hip replacements when I got up from the opening ceremonies the other night (more on that sorry performance in a bit). As a French friend said to me, this is a soccer stadium, where fans usually spend most of their time standing up. The seats would have been designed to withstand lots of feet on them, and to be firmly fastened down so that they can’t be torn up and bashed over someone’s head. Very practical for this rowdy dressage crowd.
So Canada’s first pair to canter down centre line this morning was Karen Pavicic and Don Daiquiri, who did a wonderful job out there, eighth in the ring. The test was not only clean; it was harmonious and expressive. Don Daiquiri looked to me like he grew a bit bigger out there, which is of course a very desirable thing. I wish the score had tipped over the 70 point, but it was awfully close at 69.486. Karen was emotional after her ride – very happy and proud of her horse. Having known Karen as long as I have, I admit I got a little teary eyed too. I know what a journey it is for anyone to arrive at the world championships, and it does rather hit home when it’s someone I know personally from my own home town.
Kristina Sprehe just laid down a 78 and change test with Desperados, who looked great except when his hind legs trailed as they always do in the trot extensions. No doubt whatsoever that Germany has the team competition completely sewn up. So far today I’ve been generally underwhelmed, though that isn’t terribly surprising given the fact that there are 100 horses to get through. I’ve seen a lot of very short necks and some pretty low polls. I really do think it’s time for the FEI to increase the score for its certificate of capability above 64%. 59 and 60% really don’t have any place here in my book. If you want to sell dressage to the masses, forcing them to sit through two full days of tests is not the way to do it. One pleasant surprise this morning was a Friesian from South Africa that did some really impressive trot and piaffe-passage for his rider Chere Burger. Unfortunately the canter (the downfall of many a Friesian) cost him some points, but it was nice to see the crowd get behind a member of an underdog team.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow, where the scores will rarely dip below 70%. I predict that somewhere between 71 and 72 will be the cutoff for the Special.
Just a quick mention of the second half of Saturday night’s opening ceremonies, which was both better and worse than the first half, which as I said in my post from the hideous green seats, was dismal. After the interminable athletes’ parade was over, something awesome happened. They turned out the lights, and the crowd went wild because complete darkness was, until that moment, the most exciting thing that had happened. Cameras flashed everywhere in the black as the mostly French crowd captured the moment. I’m not kidding. The smartest thing the opening ceremonies organizers (who I think should be taken out and shot) did was to leave Lorenzo the liberty wizard until the end. Because he was pretty much the only thing worth remembering about the three hour-long snore-fest. I could go on, but I know you probably already think that I’m the sour old piece of nasty someone called me on my blog of the opening ceremonies in Lexington four years ago. But you can take my word for it. They stank.
I’ll check in again later today with an update on how much fun I’m having. I’m not sure how FEI TV is working, but if you want to follow the scores they seem to have managed to get the live scoring to come to life.
