Proud to be an Aussie and fly the flag
Well Aachen is over and what an experience it was. Crowds, shopping and an atmosphere you could only ever imagine in Australia.
I hopped onto the eventing stewarding team on Thursday and kept an eye on the large warm-up area, which was shared with the show jumpers as well. It was great to see the Aussies out with their friendly faces, big smiles and of course their English language made it very easy, unlike their German counterparts!
Trot up on Thursday saw one horse not accepted from Sweden with all others going through. I attended the official meeting with the riders, team managers and the officials from the ground jury, technical delegates, stewarding and organizers. Arena familiarization was held in the afternoon and was very organized with team riders, then individual riders in two groups respectively.
Aussie officials, riders and supporters watch on the side line
Friday was a busy day with dressage being in the morning and show jumping in the afternoon. I watched the Australian riders go through their paces and observed the bit checks, which are done the same way as we do in Australia. Stewarding is somewhat more relaxed here but there is a watchful eye on everything that is going on, without disturbing the riders. Spur and whip checks were only done if needed so it was very rider friendly, which the riders obviously appreciate.
Once dressage had concluded we were allowed some time to have a quick look around before we prepared for show jumping. I was given the task of getting the combinations from the final warm up into the main stadium! I considered this a great honor really as I was able to watch each of the rounds and without being biased congratulate our riders personally and of course wish the others good luck. There were very few clear rounds with six double clear rounds out of the 41 competitors. At the conclusion of the day the discipline steward met with us all to discuss the cross country proceedings the next day - a rather relaxed 9am start.
The action in the cool down area
We awoke to the sun shining on Friday with a cool breeze, perfect conditions for cross country over a course of 4057m with 28 elements, with the final four being in the main stadium. I was positioned at the cool down area after the finish with other stewards and the vets. But we didn’t miss out on any of the action as there were televisions set up so we could watch all the riders. As the horses came into the finish they all seemed to pull up extremely well. There were a few horses with minor stifle scrapes but otherwise no major injuries were seen, evidence of a great course.
Haruzac shares a moment with his owner Allan Skinner
The highlight for me was obviously welcoming and congratulating Chris after his run on Underdiscussion and then waiting with baited breath for the British rider, Laura Collett who was in the lead, to finish her round as the margins were very tight. Michael Jung (who was lying second before cross country) came in with 1.60 time and Laura had a slight misjudgment in the main arena causing her to have 4.4 time moving Chris into first place. It was cheers, hugs and kisses all around the Australian camp! Rob Hanna mentioned that earlier that week Chris had looked at the ‘roll of honor’ board with all the names and wondered if his would get there, well now he knows it will. After the excitement had settled the stewarding team had a meeting to discuss the discipline stewarding and we were able to provide our feedback!
The happy winner
I have had a fantastic time at Aachen, meeting and working with some lovely people who were all very welcoming. I will take this experience back home and treasure it. Goodbye Aachen and good luck to the Australian team for London, I think we have a great chance at medal prospects.
And now I will get on with my vacation with my daughter Courtney as we begin our travels … starting in Paris!
Photos by Courtney Webb
