Slept at Ingrid Pollack's place, a most divine residence
at White Fences with stables and nickering horses right
on her court yard. The show schedule wasn't as tight
as yesterday but there was still much work to be done.
The main ring, arena 1, featured freestyles all day
varying from the international intermediaire I kur,
to the AHSA open Grand Prix freestyle, to the World
Cup qualifying one. The weather heated up quite well
today and my body felt drained from the past few days.
Walking with blisters all day, the job wasn't any easier.
Nevertheless, I had a great time. Mainly holding up
the fort at the camper to collect invoices for tapes,
I had little time to watch the tests.
However,
for certain riders I snuck away to see one of the rides,
namely Robert Dover's freestyle with Rainier. I saw
him compete with Everest in the Speciale, a decent test
but with many tiny errors. Although the 9 year old Rainier,
and yes it's spelled RaInier, is very inexperienced
he still possesses a great moving mechanism, excelling
in his piaffe and passage work which was therefore highlighted
in his freestyle. Especially the last reprise, a a passage
on the centerline, piaffe in a circle at X and then
a passage to G, made the crowds faint and get goose
bumps all over their bodies. Carrie Schopf's elegance
is unbeatable, but her classical music could have been
more tuned into the horse's movements. While the passage
and piaffe matched the beat, the trot work and canter
didn't give such rhythmic kick. Interviewed Robert Dover
and that attracted a crowd of listeners. Tina Konyot
was highly fascinated by our questions but needed more
time to come up with an answer.. We'll hear from her
again..
Packed up, brought some genuine Belgian chocolate to
the ladies (DocLilly) of the dining boot, went to Ingrid's
place again and than grabbed dinner at Boonies. Last
show day, last day of dreaming, last day.....
Images by Astrid Appels and copyrighted for Phelps
Photo
However,
for certain riders I snuck away to see one of the rides,
namely Robert Dover's freestyle with Rainier. I saw
him compete with Everest in the Speciale, a decent test
but with many tiny errors. Although the 9 year old Rainier,
and yes it's spelled RaInier, is very inexperienced
he still possesses a great moving mechanism, excelling
in his piaffe and passage work which was therefore highlighted
in his freestyle. Especially the last reprise, a a passage
on the centerline, piaffe in a circle at X and then
a passage to G, made the crowds faint and get goose
bumps all over their bodies. Carrie Schopf's elegance
is unbeatable, but her classical music could have been
more tuned into the horse's movements. While the passage
and piaffe matched the beat, the trot work and canter
didn't give such rhythmic kick. Interviewed Robert Dover
and that attracted a crowd of listeners. Tina Konyot
was highly fascinated by our questions but needed more
time to come up with an answer.. We'll hear from her
again..
