Another great day. A little old volcano was not enough to stop any of the riders getting to Rolex. Some came in little planes that had to route around the mountains and along the coast and took forever. Ollie had his $3000 dollar taxi ride from Paris to Madrid. British owners lent private planes, and as always, the indomitable eventers made it. Unfortunately, the officials were not quite as determined but all sorts of US officials stepped up to the plate at the last moment and the party is in full swing.
A dressage school with David this morning and he says he wants to see Colombo do a school in a double bridle. Well, we don’t have a double bridle with us do we? So I go running….(yes, I do mean run, and it’s not a pretty sight), around the trade fair to buy a double bridle. I tried Bit of Britain and Schleese Saddlery first, no brown double bridles…nada! Thank goodnes for team mates who really are a team. Diana Burnett had already schooled and lent us Manny’s double bridle. Colombo liked it, Selena liked it and most important David really liked it and told Selena he wanted her to show in it. Eek! Manny goes in right before Selena, so we are back to no double bridle. Leslie Law offered us one, but the bits were too small and that one was a no go. Finally, on my third tour of the trade show (it’s huge this year) Prestige Saddlery came up with a lovely brown bridle and truly gorgeous (and very expensive) German bits. OK, here goes the Visa, but it IS Rolex. What is it they say on the adverts? Riding at Rolex….Priceless!
Colombo’s owners, Elaine and Michael Davies arrived just in time for the jog up and I am more than happy to say they brought Colombo’s wonderful FEI groom with them, Pamela Nunn who took care of our boy in Hong Kong. How can looking after two horses possibly take up 12 hours a day for two people, never mind three. But it’s true, there is just so much to do every day that it really does take two people to look after one competing horse and a third person is needed for any other horse you might have with you. The grooms wristbands are allocated, two for each competitive horse and one wristband for every two non competitive horses. The ratio is spot on. I was very glad to see Pamela’s smiley face and know she was there to take over and I thankfully stepped into my ‘assistant’ capacity.
Lots of horses were held for re-inspection, our very own Ian Roberts Napalm amongst them. Fortunately nobody was spun and all were deemed ready to rock and roll starting tomorrow. Tomorrow the pace steps up, dressage, course walking, shopping….don’t forget shopping.
Rolex, Bridgestone and Land Rover are all major sponsors at Rolex this year. They really do deserve any support we are able to give them. I can’t see me buying a Rolex or a Land Rover in the near future, but I definitely mean to use Bridgestone tires from now on.
Selena’s five cent’s worth.
YAY ROLEX !! Woo Hoo! K got that out of the way. Well we left on Monday morning and thanks to GPS we made it here in 13hrs. Tueday morning mum and I unpacked the trailer into our tack stall. Then we took Solo and Colombo out for a nice hack. Around the polo fields and back. Then we played around in the dressage rings near the barns. I worked mostly in long and lo. Very important after a long haul to spend some time stretching Colombo out. Wednesday monring I put Colombo’s electro magnetic blanket on and went to the riders briefing at 10am. HA. Well that wasn’t brief. It took till 11:30am. Phew!
I love rolex rider briefings because there is a lovely lady there who makes up luck ponies for everyone to take home. They are cute plastic mini toys. horses of all colours with messages wrapped around them on a small piece of paper with an elastic around to keep it on. I keep mine in my grooing kit always. They are kinda like fortune cookies only its best not to eat them. I rode Mr. C after that in the double bridle to see if it helped me to keep his frame a bit higher and shorter in his neck. It did, so David suggested maybe I use it in the ring. I used to show Cman in a double briddle a few years ago. He felt wonderful, so mum went to the trade fair and found me a beauty. VERY expensive bits. We had an opportunity to ride around in the main arena where al the grandstands are from 4:30 to 5:30pm. SO I took Colombo down there and hacked him around in long and lo at the walk. I spent a bit of time working on the counter canter because that really helps me to raise his frame. David watched him for a little and once I had the frame at the height I will for the ring he said that was enough. Don’t want to over work him.
Cocktail party at 7pm was very nice. I LOVE baked brie!!! Elaine and Michael met us there. Becky Holder won the Rolex watch in the draw, Lauren Keiffer won the best dressed female for the jog. Very nice pair of Dubarry boots. Peter Atkins won the best dressed male. He also won a pair of Dubarry’s. All in all it has been a great Rolex so far. Horses all looking good. Riders very happy. weather holding out for now…rain in the forcast. I like to stay positive and say “it will help the footing for cross country day” that’s all for now as I am very tired.
