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» Jenni
& Steve Go Euro II
A
second successful summer season in Europe –
read on!
Friday,
July 28, 2006
Hi show jumping fans!
I have included the letter from our Chef d’Eqiupe
Bernie Traurig (see below) about our first show
of the 2006 WCAR European tour. We had a great
start to the tour in Royan, France and have
now moved on to Spain, where we will rest up
and prepare for the big show in Gijon, a Nations
Cup competition. For three of us it will be
our first start in a Nations Cup and for two
of us it will be the first time we 'officially'
represent our country. Hence we get to say we
have ridden on "THE TEAM" and finally,
of course, we can proudly display our beautiful
red coats with blue collar, and smart looking
US team patch. Yes, the years of hard work that
have gone into finally being able to wear this
coat, it is truly amazing!
Also, I have included some pictures we took
of the team. The two jumping pictures are courtesy
of my friend Xavier, at Antares Saddlery. We
were lucky enough to spend Monday afternoon
with him and tour the factory, where they make
this lovely saddle, which I just happen to ride
in. What a treat for us! A friend of his who
shoots for a European magazine took these super
shots. The horse is ' Spy Girl' who I borrowed
for the week from Stephex Stables in Belgium.
Enjoy the letter and pictures. Hope the next
story we have more exciting news.
Cheers, Jenni
Wednesday, August 09, 2006 3:35 PM
Hello again,
We have now completed our second show here with
the West Coast Active Riders
Euro tour in Gijon, Spain. This was a five star
show, which is the highest rating a show can receive.
This is a well-deserved rating. The show organizers
were fantastic hosts and made us feel like super
stars. The ring is one of the most beautifully
decorated that I have ever seen. Everyday the
course designer would bring in new jumps, and
the most unique water decorations; it was like
having a landscaper design a new garden every
day! The crowd here was also very enthusiastic.
They actually bet on us. It seems that they group
us together and then they make bets on how we
will place in each group, so that adds a bit of
excitement.
We started the week off a little slow. My team
mate Joie Gatlin and I had one rail down in the
warm up class before the Nations Cup. Francie
Steinwedell-Carvin had a clean round but her jump
off produced a four fault score and she ended
up in seventh place. Joie was 15th and I was 17th.
Our speed horses were ok, but we all made little
mistakes that put us out of the ribbons.
Friday came along, and we were ready for the big
Nations Cup class. The class is scored as follows:
Each nation has a team of four riders, who each
jump the same course in the first round. The best
three of four scores count towards the round total.
In the second round only the top six placing teams
compete. The same course is jumped again, and
again the top three scores count to make the total
for the round. Both round totals are then combined
to produce an overall score, and the Nation with
the least amount of faults wins the competition.
In this case eight Nations
started the competition: Germany, France, Great
Britain, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium,
and of course, USA. The first round started
well for us, with Joie and Sun Cal's King having
only one rail down for a four fault score. I
went second with my young horse V de Pomme and
had a foot in the Water and a tap at the biggest
vertical, a true 1.60+meters - somehow they
managed to put ten rails on this one fence!
I was also a little slow and added a time fault
to produce a nine fault score. Things got more
difficult when Susan Artes had to pull up with
her horse Presto B. Our hopes were riding with
Francie and her mount Ness Go. She was clear
until the triple combination, Ness Go made such
a huge effort to jump the oxer in that he could
not find his feet to jump the second big oxer
in the middle. She had to restart and jump through
the triple, and managed with just one more rail
and one at the last fence, plus two time faults
left her with a score of 14. We thought the
day would be over, and we would be out of the
top six, but apparently other teams had problems
of their own, and we did make it Round 2 sitting
in fifth place.
Round 2 was the same big course, our horses
were more rideable, but also a little tired.
Joie had a great round but had two jumps down
to give her a score of eight. I tried to speed
up to avoid the time faults but got in other
trouble and produced a twelve fault score. Susie
could not return so we had no score from her.
Francie made a brave effort and gave us another
eight fault score. We ended up with what seems
like a bowling score, but we were still good
enough to move up to fourth. France was first,
Spain second, Great Britain third, USA fourth,
Netherlands fifth and Belgium sixth. We were
proud to hang in there and get to the victory
gallop. We are a young and inexperienced team
and this truly was one of the biggest courses
I have seen. I thought we handled it well.
The show was not done
after the Nations Cup. There are three more
days, so our speed horses got back to work.
I just missed a good ribbon in Saturday’s class
with Lapinto, when I had the last jump down
in the jump off. I finally hit my mark on Sunday.
Lapinto and I sped around for a third place
finish in the speed and handiness class and
managed to do it again on Monday for a fifth
place finish. Everyone rides super fast and
accurate here, so any ribbon is a great one.
Monday afternoon they finish the show with the
Grand Prix. The course was difficult enough
set at 1.60m (the highest it can be), but after
the Nations Cup it seemed a little more tame.
V de Pomme jumped well but I made a small riding
error that gave us a four fault score. My team
mate Joie and Sun Cal’s King had the first jump
down also producing four faults, but with a
very fast first round time. It wasn’t Francie
and Ness Go’s day and they had two rails for
an eight-fault finish.
In this class the top
12 finishers (scored on faults and time taken)
go to the second round, where they carry their
faults to a shortened course of 10 jumps. The
fastest time with the least amount of faults
wins. Nine returned clear, one with a time fault,
and two with four faults. Joie was part of the
fastest four from the first round so she returned
11th. She managed to get through the 10 jumps
with a fast time and four faults to move up
to ninth place. Great job Joie!
All in all we had a fantastic show and we learned
something every day. Competing is very different
in Europe. Emphasis is put on each and every
performance, and everyone tries to win every
class, not just the most important ones. The
fans are fantastic! It is a real sport here,
just the way it should be,.
At Gijon every course
was difficult in its own way, and the jumps
plus their decor was fantastic. You felt like
you were jumping through the park with lots
of cheering fans. Make sense?
I have photos are of
V. de Pomme in the Nations Cup and Grand Prix,
and Lapinto in the speed classes. There were
so many to choose from! Photo's are courtesy
of Juan Oliveras and can be viewed online at
www.quierovermisfotos.com
Hopefully we’ll have some team photos next week.
We are off to Holland now. Our final show on
the tour is Valkenswaard, keep good thoughts!
Cheers, Jenni
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