Day 6, 35,000 Steps and Counting

Our first day here my sis's pedometer counted 35,000 steps. Then the pedometer disappeared as things are wont to do. I am sure today we walked more. We explored the horse park all afternoon.

We saw herds of children arriving at the horse park. When the WEG committee ran short of money a month ago, an anonymous donor stepped forth to help out, and asked that local school children be admitted so they could experience the games.

One of the treats today was watching the beautiful and elegant Andalusian tandem riding.

 Painted ponies and horse art abound.

 

Woven tapestry for sale in trade show

A globe made out of horseshoes

Horse design on Main Stadium rails and statue of Bruce Davidson

 

 Man o'War and Secretariat statues

 

Then we walked the very, very long trek to the new Alltech Indoor Arena for the Reining Freestyle. Besides introducing the team medal winners, fourteen top reiners entertained us with their flying lead changes, sliding stops, spins and rollbacks, many without bridles.

    

Today My Eyes Were On:

Jane Savoie, Clinton Anderson, a skeleton of a horse jumping, a neonatal ICU for foals, an operating suite, and an immobilization sling for horse transport or recovery

Herds of school buses and kids, guests of an anonymous donor

Sis thrilling a deaf lady by using sign language to talk to her!

The statues of Man-o-War and Secretariat

We actually ate salads (healthy) and also discovered Bourbon Balls chocolates, an old Kentucky tradition.

Thousands of years old artifacts, horse art and clay tablets from as old as 2000 years BC, in the exhibit of the history of the Arabian horse called The Gift from the Desert. Awesome! This exhibit was presented by the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Foundation. A week could be well used absorbing this exhibit alone!


Twirling horses as the champion reiners performed their magic.

Article on Grand Prix Special

http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2010/09/30/weg-totilas-gold.aspx?sc_cid=4580986

Day 5, Grand Prix Special Finals

Volunteer shift schedule 7:30 to 5:30
Alarm at 5:45 this am. We reported for duty at 7:30 am at the Main Stadium, scanning tickets. Today the patrons paid $125 for the morning session tickets and another $125 for the afternoon session of the Dressage Grand Prix Special.



Our gate was very busy much of the time.  Our shift lasted until 5:30 p.m. It made a very long day. The temperature was 42 when we drove into Lexington in the dark this morning. It was in the upper 70's by afternoon. Freezing in the morning, but by afternoon the sun felt quite hot after standing in it for several hours. (Below: Bob, Debbie, Kay and me)

A German couple came through the gate, but the man couldn't find his morning ticket, though he had the afternoon one and his wife had hers. He wanted to know where he could talk to Ticketmaster to have them look up his credit card and issue a new ticket.



I knew that even if we knew where Ticketmaster was sited in the horse park, it would take all morning. I looked at the book of tickets in his hand ($4500 worth) and said, "That is good enough for me. Please go on in." 

We did watch much of the competition today, taking turns to have a break during our long day. A spectator took pity on sis standing in the cold so long and bought her a hot chocolate. One of the fun things was talking to Carol Lavell who won bronze in Barcelona. She spent quite a while at our gate visiting with us, and with one of today's official judges.

Crowd-pleasers Fuego XII and Isabelle Werth

The Dressage Grand Prix Special Medalists--Gold Medalist Grand Prix Special Edward Gal (Netherlands) and Moorlands Totilas, Silver to Laura Bechtolsheimer (GBR) and Bronze to Steffan Peters (USA)

 





We didn't lose anything today, but. . . we were not without mishap. . . We had our first real meal since last Friday (not counting 5 hamburgers in six days) at a Mexican restaurant we were lucky enough to find. We were so excited to be having real food we raced into the restaurant, ordered, ate delicious fajitas and chatted for a long time with a couple we met in the restaurant.


When we came out two hours later, the passenger's side door of our car was wide open! We thought, "Oh, no! We've been robbed." But strangely the gps, cameras, bags and all were intact. We still don't know how we forgot to close the door, but we do believe Kentuckians are a very hospitable and HONEST lot!

Tomorrow we play. No more work for 4 days. We have tickets ourselves!

Today My Eyes Were On:

Driving the narrow, winding road in the dark to the horse park

Many dedicated volunteers trying to wipe down the wet seats of a giant stadium with very small towels

The extravagantly exquisite performances of the world's top dressage horses and riders competing for individual medals

The tumultuous celebrations at the medal ceremonies for the individual dressage medals. The proud Netherlands crowd wore orange.

A woman walking to the parking lot in leather shoes without backs. Flopping daintily out of the sides between her feet and shoes were the fingers of plastic gloves. When we questioned her, she acknowledged she had blisters and it was not wise to come without socks with all the walking. Sis provided her with medical provisions so she could repair the damage to her feet. She was most grateful.

A young man parked by our bed and breakfast with a dead battery. He was most grateful when we had jumper cables and were willing to help him.

More kind and friendly Kentuckians

Day 4, Dressage Team Finals

Volunteer shift schedule 11:30-5:30
Our volunteer assignment today had us manning a gate at the Main Stadium for the Team Dressage Finals starting at noon. Jill immediately renamed all of us volunteers in our blue outfits as Smurfs (little blue people-critters). So here we are in our Smurf suits. Luckily for us the event started in the morning and most spectators were in place. We took turns sitting in the bleachers watching.   

It was fun for me to see Isabelle Werth who scored 4th high and Anky Van Gruesven (reigning world champion in dressage) who is now doing reining and gave us an exhibition of her reining talents.

Stephan Peters on Ravel, US Dressage Individual Bronze Medal, a rider warming up and a dancing horse.

I was lucky enough to see the top rider of the day--Edward Gal from the Netherlands with a score of 84!



Gold medal to Netherlands team, Silver to Great Britain, Bronze to Germany
Individual Medalists were Edward Gal (Neth) on Moorlands Totilas, Silver to Laura Bechtolsheimer (GBR) on Mistral Hojris, and Bronze to Steffan Peters (USA) on Ravel

Victory lap for Netherlands Dressage team

True to form, I again lost something. This time, it was my lunch muffin splat on the gravel beneath the picnic table. Two choices presented themselves. Go back through all the lines and checkout OR cut the top off and eat it. I took the latter. There simply is not enough energy to do things twice!

Our volunteering entails trying to help people find their way around and keeping some semblance of order with ticket-taking. Many of the rules that were thought up months ago in a room far, far away seem not practical in real life.



For instance, yesterday when we were all freezing we were not supposed to allow patrons to go out of the venue once they were in. Today, the powers that be rule that ticket-holders can go in and out. Of course that makes very much happier public relations. As sis said yesterday, she had been thanked/sworn at in multiple languages.

Our B&B is about 1 hour drive from the Horse Park. The 2-lane road is winding and surrounded by drop-dead beautiful horse farms featuring ornate iron gates, stone fences and mansions. With the rain yesterday, the Kentucky bluegrass is once again its beautiful green. Kentuckians certainly take pride in hospitality and we meet kind folks wherever we go.



The fences themselves come in three kinds: black or white solid board (no plastic), stone wall or shrub. Often it is a combination of two or three types, and the fences go on for miles. We often saw a single gardener neatly trimming the miles of hedgerows and fence-lines and then picking up the clippings. We surmised the job was akin to painting the Golden Gate bridge. As soon as you finish you start all over again!

Kentucky's geology

Today My Eyes Were On:

Edward Gal and his horse Moreland Totilas, a very imposing pair in stature and action. They were the very picture of oneness, and were the epitome of JOYFUL partnership.

The medal ceremony for the team dressage was so thrilling to see. Four riders each from the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany rode out to thunderous applause. They dismounted to receive their medals individually and then the Netherlands national anthem was played. Then the fun began as they all took a rollicking romp around the arena with a standing ovation!