WEG Wrap Up by Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch

Hey Everybody,

I’m finally back in The Plains, VA getting settled into normal life after what has been a very exciting competition for Canada!

We are all just one big bundle of emotions. First of all, there is the sense of relief that the Team is now qualified for London with plenty of time to spare. Secondly, there is the huge amount of pride and excitement that we all have in our horses and their performances over three of the biggest days of our lives. Third, we really feel like we have something to look forward to, now! I feel like this is really the debut year for the new and revamped Canadian program. David has been with the Canadians since 2006, and his from the ground up restructuring of the way things work has brought us all to this point of a Silver medal at the World Championships. The exciting thing about it is that this isn’t it. There are many up and coming young horses and developing riders for future championships, and none of the pairs that participated in this games were maxed out with their results. There is wayyyyy more up our sleeves, we just have to keep it all coming together!!

I’d really like to say on behalf of the team a huge thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters. The CET was lucky enough to be outfitted with breeches by FITS, gloves by SSG, protective wear by Phoenix and Point Two, as well as helmets by GPA. The horses enjoyed Omega Alpha supplements, a Niagara Equissage system (which we had for a very generous 4 weeks) and Horseware Ireland sheets and blankets. We also have to give another huge thanks to Mrs. Mars for providing us with a great facility for training camp. Then of course there’s Randy, and Dr. Ober, Deb Furnas and Graeme Thom for all that they do, and also to the owners of our horses. I own Ollie with my mother, and I know that it is a huge expense to compete and maintain a horse at this level, so thanks for giving us the opportunity to do this.

As a rider who is new to the international game, I have to say how incredibly lucky I feel to have had the opportunity to be a part of this. Not only was it a huge personal success for myself and my competitive goals, but to contribute to something that meant so much to my team was an experience that I hope to repeat in the future.

Thanks a lot for reading!



Stephanie

Sunday and Monday at the WEG's by Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch

Sunday, we noticed a real change in the temperature here in Kentucky. It was really the first cold morning we have experienced so far this fall, and I think some of the horses were absolutely loving it!

Team Canada had our little team jogup in the morning to make sure that everyone looks the way they should, and it seemed kind of strange to be pulling coolers off horses before they do their trot up. Wasn't it just 100 degrees last week??? I have to say, it was pretty refreshing after our hot last 3 weeks on the road. All the Canadian horses are doing great, and we're feeling good headed in to the competition.

After the jog up, Canada had a dressage ring booked for 2 hours so we each got to head down and have a quick school with David in a 20x60. It was a little ways from the barn, so the hack down was nice for the horses, and then there was plenty of room in the middle of all the arenas to warmup before our 20 minute time slot with Coach. In the afternoon, we had an opportunity to ride them again in one of the arenas that is more in the middle of the action. This was a nice thing to do with the horses because it was a lot busier than our more remote arena in the morning, but it still wasn't so busy that it was a distraction. Sort of trying to ease them into having tons of people on the outside of the arenas. Ollie feels good!!

Monday, we started off with another team jog, but this time we got to use the official jog strip. This was a good thing to do because we get the chance to have the horses see the decorated jog strip, as well as make sure that everything looks great on the actual surface they will be using on Wednesday morning. Some of the European horses were doing jogs and canters around the steeplechase track right beyond the jog strip, and Ollie thought that looked like a great idea. He was very well behaved, but I had a hard time keeping up with him when it came to be his time to jog!!

After our jog, I joined the fun on the steeplechase track, but at a walk. Ollie hasn't had a really good hack out in a while, so this was a great opportunity. It was cold and rainy, so we put the rain sheet on over top of my legs and over his butt and off we went!! Rebecca and I walked around for 45 minutes or so before our loop brought us back to the stables. I think Ollie and Rupert were beyond pleased that they escaped morning dressage. They were even more excited in the afternoon when we went down to our jump school!! A dressage free day.... it was pretty awesome.

Jo Ann Wilson worked on the horses again today and yesterday, and I'm so excited that she is here with us. We have a pretty sound bunch here with us this week, but Jo Ann is going to help us all to look and feel our best through the whole competition!! Very lucky....

Tomorrow is the competitor briefing, the course walk, the official schooling time in the main stadium, AND the dressage ride for Moorlands Totilas. My grandparents on my dads side are Dutch, so I"m thinking about sportin some orange when I go down to try and soak up some of the absolutely indescribable awesomeness that is Edward Gal and Totilas. My expectations of that performance are a little high :)

Thanks for reading, keep in touch


Stephanie

Tuesday & Wednesday at Camp CET by Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch

Tuesday, we had the wonderful opportunity of going down the road to Sharn Wordley and Craig Martin’s farm to do a showjumping school. The footing in their ring (done by Sharn and Craig’s arena company Wordley Martin Equestrian) was amazing, the horses really pinged off of it, and it gave them a great amount of support and cushion. Lucky us!! They have a larger arena than the one here at Jackie Mars’s farm, so we were able to set up some stuff to give us a feel of course riding again. Big thanks to them for having us invade their place for the morning. Also, they are the guys behind PointTwo airvests here in the USA, so we got our team Canada airvests yesterday as well!! They are verrrry pretty.

Today was our last real dressage school before we hit the road. I am pleased to say that Ollie feels great. The level of detail that we are working on within the test is really exciting…. 5 months ago I couldn’t even imagine getting that deep into it. His quality of movement is so much better, but its really up to me to know exactly where and how to get every mark that I can out of that test. So hopefully I can get it all together and nail that test next week!! 8 days!!

The trunks are loaded, except for the stuff we have to use in our gallop tomorrow, and we are having our last Training Camp group dinner tonight at David’s for some final “team bonding” moments before life gets crazy.

Looking forward to it!!



Stephanie

Monday at Camp CET by Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch

Today was a bit more of a relaxed day for Ollie and I at camp. After our 7am jog, I had a very nice long walk hack and long and low warm up before my 8:15 lesson started. The lesson was a little quieter, in mostly a deeper frame and just working on installing some of the tools that I’m going to need for my test in 10 days. David mostly just let me carry on and play for the first little while, and then started to help me out with some accuracy stuff within my movements.

After the lesson, I went into town to have the CET crest and flags sewn on to my Shadbelly!! Very exciting… after running some errands we ended back up in the barn packing up our wonderful red trunks! At first, I was a little put off hearing that we had one trunk to put everything into, but after opening up this wonderful trunk and seeing how much stuff really did fit into it… wow!! They are very cool looking, and really functional. I’m so excited to have them. That might be a little thing, but its part of the “team” experience, and its cool to me!!

We had a group dinner at Jen and Kyle Carter’s farm tonight, which provided even more team bonding!! We are going to be one seriously bonded group of people by the time we leave for Kentucky!!

Stay tuned…



Stephanie