Saturday, Marathon Day

Up early, still dark. Made our way to the stable and got ready. Singles were first, then pairs, then fours. We were off first, followed closely by Suzy, then Randy a bit later.


It was a beautiful cool morning with a breeze. It was supposed to get in the upper 70's during the afternoon.


Dottie, Lynn and Jeff and Jacob helped us get ready. It was easy to stay focused with all that help. Soon we were headed down to the start, and off on course.

Ready to head out on course, photo by Marie de Ronde

Some last minute words of encouragement from Chester,
photo by Marie de Ronde

Off we go! Photo by Marie de Ronde

 Cooper came in the vet check with a temperature of just over 100. He looked great and was barely breathing. Jacob and Dottie met us there, got water on Cooper and scraped it off. Dottie had searched high and low for ice, Cooper is not a drinker at the vet check but we learned this spring that he would eat ice (thanks, Sue Dougherty!). He was happy to see the ice and happy to have Dottie hand feed it to him :).


 After a quick briefing from Michael on how the hazards were going, we started on Section E. Michael told me that Hazard Two was getting deep in the turns to B, C and D.


The outer course was a busy place, with some drivers walking their ponies and some trotting. Soon we were in the first hazard, then on to the second, and before we knew it the marathon was over. Everything went pretty much according to plan, except in Hazard Three where I whizzed by my gap and had to make another loop into B. The water hazard was tight and slow as we had imagined it might be for us. Otherwise I think we worked our plan well. All our section times were right on.






Cooper, Shelly and Fran in the Water Hazard, photo by Marie de Ronde



More Cooper, by Marie de Ronde



Cooper going for the finish by Marie de Ronde

Interestingly at this event, there was a cool down section after the end of Section E. You went through the end of E, turned in your green card, then you started on a two Kilometer cool down section where you could walk or trot, your navigator could stay on or get off, and you could all relax. Once we finished this part, we pulled in to the vet check. Cooper looked terrific at the vet check. His temperature was almost normal and his breathing was. We finished with that and now the most exciting part - we had to unhook Cooper from the carriage, pull the carriage over to a crane and straps were attached to it so it could be lifted in the air and weighed! Hadn't seen that method before. Cooper seemed only mildly interested in the airborne carriage.  It landed back on earth, we hooked and drove back to the stable.


Once Cooper got settled, we went off to watch as much as possible. The day grew warmer and coats came off. We saw some great driving and some scary driving, all sorts and sizes of ponies and all ages of drivers. There were a few accidents, very well handled and no ponies or people were hurt that I was aware of. In one spectacular incident, a team of smaller ponies were galloping around a turn when one of the leaders tripped and fell. The other ponies ran on top of him, and then the carriage. There was a mix of legs and harness. The driver and navigators quickly untangled everything while the ponies laid quietly, then got up and stood calmly while they and the carriage were taken out of the hazard. The ponies were hooked and walked back with no apparent injuries. They did cones the next morning and looked fine.







Suzy getting it done, photo by Marie de Ronde

 

The serious US contingent watches, photo by Marie de Ronde

There were a lot of mistakes on course - at a World Championship everyone is going for it and mistakes happen. Some course corrections and some eliminations juggled the results for individuals and for the team competition. A Hungarian team driver knocked down a post in a gate, thus unable to go through it the gate, he continued on and was eliminated, then that decision was overturned, then reinstated from Saturday to Sunday morning. Other issues eliminated some top competitors - when a team driver was eliminated, all his/her scores were dropped and no longer counted for the team, including their dressage score.


This is probably a good time to explain the Pony Championship Team score calculations, since it is different from other Championships for Single, Pair and Four in Hand horses. A team is comprised of two singles, two pairs and two fours. One score from each class counts toward the team competition. So the one best score for single, pair and team for dressage counts for that competition, then again the same for marathon, the lowest one single, pair and four in hand score is counted for the marathon score. Cones just the same. So these eliminations and mistakes changed everything around.


I was judging at the CDE at Innavale earlier this summer. At the competitor's party, a man who was navigating at the show came over and introduced himself to me. His name was Alex, and he was from Slovenia. We had a nice conversation about what I could expect during my time in Slovenia, and what the area was like. Alex said he was coming to Slovenia for vacation in September, and that he would try to come to the Championship to watch.


Imagine my surprise while we were watching at a hazard and Alex came over to see us! It was fun to ask him lots of questions about Slovenian things that were a mystery to us. He stayed for the afternoon and we enjoyed his company. He was inspired by the driving he saw. It's a small world.....



Laurie flat out, photo by Marie de Ronde



Lisa coming up the hill, by Marie de Ronde

It was a long, exhilarating, exhausting day, followed by an award party. This one started at eight but the awards were delayed while the protest played out. We were pretty sure our team had ended the day in third place, but this could change according to what was decided about the protest. Finally a decision (albeit short lived) was made and we watched (and cheered and clapped) while Lisa Stroud received her marathon award.

Cones were scheduled to start at 9 the next morning, with walking starting at 8. Off to bed once again as the music played on.....

Friday, Dressage Day Two

Friday was a blur - a very busy day with lots of hazard walking between going to the dressage arena to watch our drivers compete. Suzy, Randy, Lisa and Laurie all did their dressage tests on Friday so we went to cheer them on.

Suzy and Josie photo by Marie de Ronde



Lisa photo by Marie de Ronde



Laurie photo by Marie de Ronde

I missed the course walk via hay wagon on Wednesday (my assigned time to work with coach Michael) and on Thursday as it was too close to my dressage time. The organizers said they would arrange a different time for anyone that needed it, so at 2 PM Fran and I met Christian Iseli, the Course Designer, for a personal spin around Section A and D. There were a few hills on A but it was a nice drive out in the country and well marked. The start was close to the stable area. When we got to the walk section, we could see white tapes everywhere stretched between trees. Christian explained that many team coaches and drivers walked the section (which stayed on a dirt/stone path) off the path cutting between the trees to save meters. He put the tape out so that anyone that went off the path had to go even further to make the next gate, a very successful way of keeping drivers on the intended route.

Section E was loops with exits to hazards, similar to the Laurels. Think super highway with entrance/exit ramps and you'll have the idea. While driving on the loops, other drivers would be out there, too. You had to pay attention so you took the correct lane into/out of each hazard. It was well marked but you had to know what you were doing. Fran spend some time out there with the other navigators, making sure there would be no issues on Saturday.


Christian praised the organizers at Lipica, saying how cooperative and helpful they had been. He was very pleased with the competition and was looking forward to watching the marathon on Saturday. It was fun to hear his thoughts on the course and hazard design.


I have no idea how many times we walked the hazards but I felt comfortable with the routes for my pony and we were looking forward to doing our best on Saturday. The only hazard that didn't seem up to the rest of the course was the Water Obstacle. It was a shallow concrete pond with big upright pillars fairly close together. During the week the water had been very shallow but on Friday they started to fill it and it was much deeper - not overly deep but with the tight turns it didn't look like it was going to be fun to drive.


Each day more and more decorations were added to the hazards so they looked quite nice by Friday. The course itself between hazards was roped off and mostly the spectators were on two sides and the competitors were out of the traffic areas. The obligatory beer tents were up (we need these in the US!).


It's not an easy job to mark hazards that are fair but challenging for singles, pairs and fours but I think Christian did a great job of it!


All our US drivers did a great job on Friday and Michael and Chester were happy. We were in third place as a team at the end of the day. In dressage Suzy was in fifth place, Randy in ninth, Jennifer in third, Wendy in twentieth, Laurie in twelfth and Lisa in seventh. I ended up in third place.


On Friday evening, guess what? Another party! The nightly parties didn't start until 8 PM, unlike our 6:30 PM parties in the states. We were treated to an enthusiastic Awards Ceremony, where we were awarded our ribbons by Miss Slovenia, a slender blonde in an evening gown, then, wearing our ribbons, we took a victory lap around the large tent with lots of clapping, yelling and cheering.


Suzy, Jennifer, Chester and Shelly

Once again the party went on into the night but we headed off to bed - we had an early morning and a big day coming!