Day 11, Team Show Jumping

Vollunteer shift schedule 7:30 am to 5:30 pm
It was a very chilly 42 degrees this morning. But this time we had enough clothes. I wore 3 layers of long pants and 5 layers of turtleneck tops plus my coat. The sun was kind later in the day and we peeled down to shirts and jackets.

Our "F" gate, showing teeny blue "smurfs"

I estimate the show jumping crowd was half European. I noticed it is easy to tell them from Americans: Europeans tend to be rail thin--Americans not so much. Europeans are "put together" in dress (usually with a nice scarf or hat)--Americans tend to be more "thrown together". Europeans clothes are black, tan, or skinny jeans--no tennis shoes.

Today was the Show Jumping Team Competition and it will continue tomorrow adding a whole session in the afternoon as they have more riders than were able to finish today. Therefore, the volunteer boss has increased our shift tomorrow from 4:30 to 10:30 to 11:30 to 10:30. We are pretty worn out after the past 2 days of 10 hour shifts. We haven't yet figured how we could manage it or what we will do.

The Jumping always begins with the "course walk" for the riders and coaches measuring strides so they can plan their jumps.

The view of the Main Stadium from our Gate F

Many flying horses

We had dinner with another volunteer at the Mexican restaurant. As she was by herself and we were all wearing our Smurf (volunteer) outfits, we invited her to join us. She is an attorney from Louisville and is here to be a runner at the vaulting. It was quite interesting to compare notes, and to hear what life is like in the Cadet Training Corp. Not so great, actually. We were lucky to move up to our funny B & B. She was given a bed-roll, period! She had to ask for a towel and a glass to brush her teeth. There is nothing to do and no lounge area to make yourself feel at home and relax. She is knitting.

Today My Eyes Were On:

More beautiful, powerful, and very game flying horses

Teams of athletes from all over the world

Flags flying around the stadium in the wind

Hard-working volunteers with a little less spring in their step, but still big smiles on their faces

Long lines at food stations and long lines at long rows of porta-potties

My 9th hamburger in 11 days!

Day 10, Show Jumping Speed Phase

Volunteer shift schedule 7:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m.
It was 6:30 am, dark and 42 degrees when we left our nest. Cold, cold, cold! We equipped ourselves with many layers of clothes and thermacare arthritis heat pads and were still very chilled. Coffee or hot chocolate helped. During my lunch break I puchased some winter riding gloves. The vendors were down to one choice. There had been a run on sweatshirts and coats as well.

Our volunteer shift lasted from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. We were happy to be reunited with our same teammates from last week, taking tickets at our same gate. We scanned many, many tickets today. The Slovak vaulting team came through our gate, among others.

Swiss and Italia

Germany and Bermuda

Also today we watched rebuilding the water jump from Saturday's cross-country into an water obstacle for  the driving marathon, teams of 4 horses competing on a different cross-country course next Saturday. They actually constructed a heavy wooden bridge for the horses to go over.  

Under leaden skies we took turns watching the competition. Show Jumping features higher jumps (up to 5 feet 6 inches and five feet wide) that are placed in more difficult positions than for the 3-day eventers.

The sport of show jumping evolved from the English tradition of fox hunting back in the 18th century. The first time a horse sees the course is when he enters the arena to compete. Therefore, it is imperative that a horse has complete trust in his rider.


Today was all about speed. We were able to watch about a dozen of the 121 horse/rider combinations, during rest breaks. Only 18 went without faults (knocking off a rail).

Again the flying horses amazed me! How can they propel their 1200-1400 pounds over 5 feet in the air, with a rider on their backs. The show jumping lasts all week and the final on Saturday features the top four riders all riding each others horses.

Tomorrow our schedule repeats today's. And so to bed!

Day 9, Eventing Jumping

Another crowd of 50,000 gathered at the horse park today, like yesterday. Half of those were at the Jumping phase of the 3-day event and so were sis and I.



It was about 50 degrees and began to rain as we walked into the park. We put our clear plastic ponchos given us with our volunteer uniform over our coats and they blocked the breeze as well. However, by the time of the medal ceremony three hours later we had begun to chill.

The riders were splendidly turned out, and the horses groomed to perfection. We saw 55 horse/rider partners tackle the world class course. Again I was impressed by the horses' willingness and power.

Team Eventing Medalists--Gold to Great Britain, Silver to Canada, Bronze to New Zealand. 
Individual Medals to Michael Jung of Germany, William Fox-Pitt of Great Britain, Andrew Nichoson of N.Z

Now we have used all our tickets ($600 worth apiece) and tomorrow go back to work as volunteers at the main stadium for Show Jumping. We report at 7:45 and go until 5:30, another long day. We are now equipped with thermacare heat wraps for arthritis that also keep you warm for several hours. We hope to see a bit of the show jumping during breaks.

We had Waffle House pecan waffles for breakfast and it felt very luxurious!