I rode Cookie for the second time this morning. Yesterday when I took him out we mostly walked and did some long and low work at the trot and canter. This morning we added some more collected work and tomorrow he will be back to doing his full workouts. He feels great! Both days that I rode him he was fairly fresh and at times couldn't resist giving me a little bit of trouble but for right now I'm happy to have him feeling so exuberant because come competition day I will need as much energy from him as I can get! Granted I'll be asking him to channel that energy in a more productive way during competition days, but as I said, right now I want to keep his work load easy so he can build up his "reserve tank." The weather has been hot and humid, but inside the barn aisles it's not too bad. The horses and riders are staying cool in between rides thanks to all of the fans. I'm in the hotel room right now and off the top of my head I can count 10 fans that are being used just for the Region 5 team.
Since we arrived here Thursday night the barns have been mostly empty except for the show jumpers from Mexico and a few other dressage regions but a lot of horses have been arriving this afternoon and by tomorrow all the competing horses will have arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park. From that point on, all of the FEI horses will be contained to a fenced area surrounding all of the barns.
From left to right: Devon Wycoff (JR), Talia Hershaft (JR), Catherine Chamberlain (YR), Maddi Birch (YR), Taylor Lindsten (JR), Brook Santangelo (JR).
Not pictured- Brandi Roenick (YR) & Aylin Corapcioglu (YR)
Everyone's horses on the team are looking fit and ready and we are all so excited for the week ahead! I will try to make a posting every evening and when I make a new posting I will also copy the link to my facebook wall.
You sure are a fantastic writer and rider! Keep cool.
ReplyDeleteWe're loving your reports. Please keep them up. Pops
ReplyDelete