USA Training Camp

I’m still here at Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia. It’s a bit of an odd experience continuing to train and condition your horse for potentially the biggest competition of your life that you most likely won’t even be competing in. Bench warming to the extreme!! Arthur feels amazing. He is an entirely different horse and I know that if I am called in off the bench I will make the US proud. I so wish I had a definite spot on the team, but it is truly an honor to be in this company. I think Boyd said it best tonight: every rider and horse here is exceptional — there are no one hit wonders amongst us. I think the depth that the US team ended up having to choose from was so much better than anyone ever expected. I’m not sure how this happened, but it has and Team USA is only getting stronger. We do have a few older horses, but we also have many great younger horses coming along. The team camaraderie has been amazing here. I do wish Holly, Stephen and Will were still here as they are missed. The training has been going very well. Oded has helped produce a trot in Arthur that is absolutely unreal — I’m not entirely sure I can properly sit it! (Side note: Bettina Hoy is on grounds this week teaching — I hope I can somehow connect with her too — I think the quality of the gaits Oded has helped me to create combined with the incredible ringmanship and polish that Bettina produces would be a most deadly combination for the rest of the world)!!!! We had a gallop day today. Arthur did pull a shoe (which I didn’t realize until I got all the way home — after hacking all the way back on a gravel road). I think he will be OK as he is tough as nails and Steve Tichman (team farrier) will be here tomorrow. I have iced and packed the foot and he seems fine… fingers crossed. We have all found ourselves with a ton of extra time on our hands (just having one horse to train on).  I am getting caught up on computer work and organizing stuff. Arthur is in hog heaven being my only horse. He LOVES the individual attention. I probably should dedicate some of my extra time into training my dog, but I have decided he is soooo cute when he’s naughty that it just wouldn’t be right to change him!!!!