Rolex – Sunday

Sunday mornings are always very early ones at the three days! We have to wash all the poultice off, check and make sure he feels good, give him a light stretching ride to loosen up any muscles that might have gotten tight over night & braid him. A lot to do before 8:00 am! He was perfect at the jog, and for the second year in a row he somehow got darker, shinier and dappled over the weekend!!!! I?m not sure how he does it, but I always take him to Rolex wishing his beautiful dappled liver chestnut coat would grow in, bummed that he looks so dull, and whalaa by Sunday he is the most gorgeous horse there?. I?m not sure how he does it!!!
After the jog I did my planed light gymnastic school with Katie and Henri. I am always worried about the horses feeling tired and flat on Sunday, but Arthur seems pretty bright. I am glad we did this school as he needed to forget about his long rangy fabulous cross-country jump and think about jumping up and around the colored poles.
We walked the course when it was opened for inspection at 11:00 am. I walked the course with Katie and then walked it a couple times by myself. Then went back to the barn and waited for the start of show-jumping. The barns were pretty quiet and you could tell everyone was a little nervous. Bodie (my fabulous terrier) and Harley Davidson (Buck Davidson?s fabulous terrier) did an amazing job of lightening up the mood in the barns by singing along to the National Anthem with the opera dude bellowing it out!!!! It was hilarious? they had everyone in stitches!
When the show jumping began I met up with Katie to watch the first few rounds and talk about how it was riding. I patiently waited for my turn and then began my warm up. It was so nice having Katie & Henri there. The warm up was relaxed and well thought out. We did exactly what we needed to do? which wasn?t a lot and then I went into the ring. Arthur felt amazing? such a huge difference from last year (last year he still felt stiff and terrified of the crowds). We had one rail at the Liverpool oxer, I thought I needed to get down the line a bit and we ended up the least bit close to the fence, Arthur also had a spook at the Liverpool off the ground, so the combination of the two mistakes left us with one rail. Everything else was smooth and beautiful. I am soooo proud of my boy!!!
I finished in 14th place. It was my goal to be in the top 10, but I was not unhappy with my result ? I was thrilled with our huge improvements from last year. This was a whole different ball game with so many good European horses and riders ? people were dubbing Rolex 2009 the ?Mini WEG? (World Equestrian Games). I was the 6th place American horse and rider combination AND for the second year in a row we were awarded Zeppa Trophy for the best turned out horse at the 1st and 3rd horse inspections as chosen by the ground jury (thank God he grew that coat in!!!) I am so encouraged by my result and I know that we will be whooping some European butt in no time!!!
Sunday night I was able to meet up with my dear friend Elizabeth Iorio and some other friends for a much needed steak dinner and a real coke!!!