Thursday at Blenheim

On Thursday the competition got underway.  We used an early morning ride to practice the dressage test and focus in on all the little details.  As David said, I had to be sure not to give any points away since Quincy's gaits can only give us 7's at best. Quincy was very focused and relaxed so I was feeling good about my ability to get the most out of every movement.

The small North American contingent gathered an hour later to walk the cross-country course and I started to wrap my head around how I was going to tackle the monster... 

Fence 1

The first few fences were big but fairly plain and all in the shadows of trees. Quincy is very brave but sometimes aloof so I tend to walk lines that give me an extra stride or 2 to get his attention.  Right from the start the conversation was about the difficulty making time on this course.  The early sections were fairly flat but wound all around the trade fair and main arena so I thought it was going to be a challenge for me to get up on the clock early while keeping Quincy focused and jumping well. A combination of tables at 4 would give me a good feel of his length of stride and adjustability but fence 5, a massive ditch and brush, would make sure I wasn't getting backwards to the fences (because I would end up in the ditch).  After a quick uphill gallop fence 6 looked like a fairly serious question as we had to jump a rail towards the trade fair down into a bowl of water then turn sharp left to head up out of the bowl and over a tall, narrow canoe 4 or 5 strides later.  To me it was going to be key to get Quincy slow enough to get his focus and to trust he would be brave so that we didn't end up jumping all the way to the bottom of the bowl and either pecking or not being able to make the turn... 

If I describe all of the combinations I could really send all day writing so I'll just give you some other quick impressions:

• there were more brush fences over my head then I've ever seen...and it wasn't exactly brush I would want to jump through.. 
• all of the technical questions also required a great deal of scope as they were all spread fences & most with brush over my head (sometimes I wish I was taller so they didn't seem quite so big!).. 
• the drop was the biggest I've ever seen and the terrain was used mush more to challenge your ability to stay balanced while going forward..no second guessing..just get on with it!
• everyone needs to get much more comfortable jumping massive ditches (or as I was fond of calling them, canyons) as it seems to be the new trend.. there were 5 on this course and they started huge and got bigger so the one at fence 25 was outright ridiculous, if the riders here spend 15 minutes during the rider meeting trying to convince the course designer to give us an option you know it must be...
• the course never let up..the table to corner at fence 24 was a massive question and the 2nd to last was a question that did not seem at all appealing to jump on a tired horse
  

2nd to last fence.. a little surprise on landing

Last fence..still more brush!

• you know the course is big when they had to place the cabins from the Olympic course in the warm-up for us since they were too small for the course..and they were the smallest of the warm-up fences..

Olympic cabins in warm-up

Just another warm-up jump

So after a good look around the cross-country we decided to check out the trade fair. Adding to the theme of everything being massive it was as well.  Fortunately for Jeff I was feeling a little under the weather so had little interest in shopping and went back to the barn for a rest until the arena familiarization at the end of the day. The familiarization was not only to the main arena but also to the trek required to get to the main arena as it was a 20 minute walk past the cross-country, trade fair, over a narrow bridge, and through the woods. Fortunately Quincy was unimpressed by it all and was just as happy to stand around and take in the sights.  I hoped he'd feel the same Friday morning as we were first up at 9!

Quincy getting "familiarized"