London 2012 Day 8

So we had made it to the final of the Olympic Games and today is the day for the Individual competition. We were pretty chuffed that we had qualified for the final, there were some big name riders that hadn't made it through.

After Vedors morning routine, we had to prepare for the final vet check for all horses and reserve horses in the final competition. Australia was second to trot up behind Argentina. We had Julia and Edwina with James as a reserve. All horses trotted up well and passed the vet check. Final here we come. Vedor had a workout after the vet check and then a small break before getting ready for the competition.

Looking rather relaxed before the trot up (photo: Mathieu Mougeot)

I went for another wander around the venue and found the Olympic souvenir store. There wasn't much to choose from at this stage of the event, but I got some folks back home a few bits n pieces. You'll have to wait until I get home to get them, you know who you are.

Now it was time to get ready and warm up for the class. I should probably mention that the warm ups here are a lot more relaxing to work in than at other shows. We were provided with 3 big warm up areas with a few fences in each and pretty much had a fence to ourselves to warm up over. At any other show, grooms are scrambling to get a fence for their rider. Here it a little less stressful for the horse and rider who had to enter the ring at any minute. We get called out to the holding area at a minute to go and once the previous horse has jumped the last fence in the ring, we have to race over to the holding area and into the main arena.

Entering the main arena, this is actually taken from the second day of competition

Vedor warmed up well, maybe a little on the weary side, but he knew he had a job to do. Julia and Vedor looked amazing in the ring over the very big fences, Vedor is such a pro and so is his rider. The last line became a bit of a challenge. The treble combination of an oxer, vertical, oxer. The pair came in a little late and tired to the first jump and had it down, that was unlucky, then they had the next 2 fences in the treble down too. The last fence on the course also came down. My first thought was Julia is not going to be happy about that, but she took it all in her stride. The pair incurred 17 jumping penalties after a pesky time fault also. This put us out of round 2. Vedor was happy to be done and retired to his stable for lunch and carrots.

The canary army watching Julia's final round

The second round was a nail biter and I think I got to see bits of it throughout the afternoon on the tv screen in the lunch room and some in the arena itself. Unlucky for Edwina and Itot, they had 2 rails down. She was rather disappointed as she had a good chance for medal contention. It was just not their day.

Watching the pro Nick Skelton and Big Star go round was pretty cool, everyone in the stands thought he would go clear and win the class, until he had a rail which put him out of the medals. The whole crowd sighed at that as I think they were all holding their breaths until he finished his round. I know I was. Such as super pair.

There was a jump off between Dutch rider Gerco Schroder and Irishman Cian O'Connor. Swiss rider, Steve Guerdat, had already won the gold. Gerco and London jumped a super clear round and in good time. Cian just had to jump clear and beat his time to get silver. Cian had a rail which put him in third and with a bronze medal. Well done to Gerco for coming in second and silver to Holland.

After a long few days, I met up with Julia's mum and dad, Lesley and Alan, at the local pub for a few drinks and time to wind down. Brigid Willis, Ginny and Nickie also joined us and it was lovely to catch up with them all after so long, finally!

By the end of the show I ended up with 31 pins! I lost one though, the Great Britain pin, I wasn't happy about that. I replaced it with a London 2012 pin, which I bought at the shop. I gave my remaining Aussie pins to the volunteers at the gates. They were over the moon. Once all the pins had been swapped and the competition was coming to a close, some of us grooms swapped shirts (clean shirts) with grooms of other countries. I swapped one for the USA team shirt (thank you Dawn) and one for the Canadian team shirt. Just in time before I go to Canada and USA next month.

All my pins I collected, now hanging in my bedroom

Day 9 - departing

We departed Greenwich Park on Thursday morning, before the Dressage Kur I might add, and travelled in the car back to Valkenswaard, Holland. The horses and gear arrived a couple of hours after we did. Vedor and I were then ready to go back to Stal Becker in Germany for a big break.

It was definitely an amazing experience to be at the Olympic Games in London. Something I will never forget. I met so many lovely people and horses. Julia did an amazing job and I'm very proud of her and Vedor for doing as well as they did. She was one of four women in the final at her first Olympic Games, well done Jules!

The End

London 2012 Day 7

After a gruelling 4 days of jumping, we finally get a day off. Jumping 4 days in a row is unheard of and is very hard on the horses. The first day was only a training day at 1.30-1.40m, but still it is a day of jumping.

We had a relaxed day, Vedor got his walks in the morning and then a light workout before lunch. I think I had an hour or two in the afternoon to watch the last lot of top riders competing in the dressage Grand Prix Special. It was pretty special too. Team GB won the gold after also winning the team gold in the jumping. You can imagine the atmosphere in the main arena from winning on home soil. Just thrilling to be amongst it all. I was sitting in the riders tribune and I had Anky sitting in front of me and Edward and Hans Peter sitting behind me watching their team mate Adelinde ride her test. It was kinda cool. Germany won the silver with Netherlands winning the bronze. What a fantastic result! It would've been even better with the Aussies in there too, but they didn't qualify for the second round of dressage.

Anky enters the main arena for the Grand Prix Special

Edward entering the arena for the Grand Prix Special

Charlotte after her test, yes she got Gold

I had a wander around Greenwich Park and found the Royal Greenwich Observatory. From here you could see right across the equestrian venue and all areas of London, including the Olympic Park in the distance. Very spectacular and the photos I took don't quite capture how spectacular it is. I was standing not far from the prime meridian, where you could be in the east or the western hemisphere at the same time. Unfortunately the observatory was closed so I didn't get to do that.

The main arena from the top of Greenwich Park, Canary Wharf in the background

The Greenwich Meridian

After Vedor's evening workout I finally made my way in London with Sigrun, Edwina's groom. We took a ferry from Greenwich Pier and got off at London Bridge. We went under the Tower Bridge in the ferry and it was so nice to see it in person and another spectacular sight, especially with the Olympic rings attached to it and the fancy blue lighting. From London Bridge we caught the tube to Charing Cross and walked around Trafalger Square. At this point London was staying very true to form and it was bucketing down. I still managed to get some photos in the rain, however they didn't turn out so well in the dark. Anyway, the Square is pretty special and I didn't care that it was raining, I just took it all in. There was a tall tower with a statue at the top which was wearing a union jack umbrella. How it got up there is anyone's guess. The lion statues were amazing as were the fountains which reminded me of Harry Potter, actually most London reminded me of Harry Potter, can't guess why.

Tower Bridge

We walked around the Square to The Mall, I was hoping to be able to walk down The Mall to Buckingham Palace but it was closed half way down as there was an event just to the left near the Horse Guards Parade. It was the beach volley ball. We considered trying to see if our accreditation would get us in to the venue, but decided not to. We were pleased to actually see another venue other than the Equestrian. Then we headed up to Piccadilly Circus, which reminded me of a much smaller version of Times Square in NYC. There was lots of shopping here including a 5 level sports store, Lillywhites, which sold a lot of Olympic clothing. Yes I did buy something here.

Trafalgar Square in the pouring rain

We then navigated some more of the underground and emerged not far from the London Eye. What a nice surprise. We waited for our ferry home just near the Eye and were marvelling at it for a while. Across the Thames was Big Ben. We didn't even think to get this far up the Thames, but we did. We caught the ferry back to Greenwich Park and then it was time to get a few hours sleep before the final day.

Big Ben

After my evening in London I came to the conclusion that it is an amazing city and I will have to visit it again. I don't know if it was just the hype from the Olympics, but it was very special and the city really shined...even through the rain drops.

London 2012 Day 6

The second round of the Nations Cup started at 2pm today and Julia had drawn 6 in the draw. After Vedor's walks and grazing time, he had a good workout mid morning and had at least 2 hours to relax before he had to get ready for the class.

Morning Veve

Other than tending to Vedor I had a social morning, meeting superstars, such as Dutch dressage horse Salinero and Spanish horse Fuego. I was a little chuffed. 

Me meeting Salinero before his warm up

Meeting Fuego and Juan at the stables

I had a quick wander around the course and the jumps were huge. Most of them were level with my eye line and the oxers were so very wide. It was a tricky, twisting course with a few spooky fences and combinations. As I walked the course, I was also fascinated by the cameramen setting up their Canon DSLR's below the jumps to get 'the shot'. These cameras were housed in special casing to keep them silent when they fired so to not distract the horses (sorry for the non-camera people). The cameras were controlled remotely by the operator. I didn't get a look at the lenses, damn they would have to be fast lenses and wide angle. I wonder how they get their focus point when controlling it remotely? It must have remote focus too. Maybe I'll ask them that when/if I walk the course again. I was also fascinated by the overhead camera that runs along a wire high above the stadium. The wire looks like it is about 600m to 1km long, not sure why it's so long. Maybe I need to stalk the media people and ask them.

Photographers setting up the cameras at the water jump

Can you see the wires I'm talking about?

Okay, back to horses. I got Vedor ready and his rider jumped on and off to the warm up. He had a good warm up, after an unusual stop at a big oxer, mostly due to a deep distance and that he was going to the toilet an the same time, he just couldn't multi-task at that time and decided it would be wise to wait until we put it down. He's very clever. After that he jumped a small oxer with no trouble at all and the rest of the warm up was very good.

Walking the course, the massive treble and the looming rain clouds

Into the ring where the pair were the first combination to jump clear at the water. The crowd cheered and all I was thinking was 'be quiet, let him concentrate'. They had the last obstacle of the treble down, a tall vertical, he jumped the scary bush fence no troubles at all and finished with a pesky time fault making an appearance for the first time here. So that's a total of 5 penalties. Super super effort from both horse and rider. World class and Julia finished at #35 in the world! Way to go! We are qualified for the final on Wednesday!

Julia and Rod Brown discuss tactics for the big track

Edwina and Itot had a rail to incur 4 penalties, still jumping super and through to the final round. James and Lanosso had 3 rails down including a foot in the water. This put him out of the competition after incurring 12 penalties from today. So now it's girl power in the final for Team Aus.

Once the individuals were done, the teams were in to battle for the gold, silver and bronze. I didn't see much of the class until the jump off. At this stage Saudi Arabia has won the bronze and the jump off was between Great Britain and Holland. Julia, Georgie and I sat and watched the jump off on the tv near the warm up. Surrounded by top riders such as, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Rodrigo Pessoa and Laura Kraut. 

The jump off was intense, first for Great Britain was Nick Skelton and Big Star, they jumped a very fast and clear round, a time which no one else could better. Holland in next and it was Jur Vrieling who went clear with a slightly slower time. Ben Maher clear for GB, Maikel van der Vleuten had two rails to pick up 8 penalties for Holland. Scott Brash had the only rail for Great Britain in the jump off and Dutch rider, Marc Houtzager, also had a rail. No pressure for the last British rider, Peter Charles, who jumped clear to win the gold for Great Britain. The last Dutch rider, Gerco Schroder, didn't need to jump, which was lucky so he can save his horse for the final. The roar from the crowd was enormous after Charles cleared the last rail, I'm sure it could be heard at the Olympic village. What a great win for Britain in their home town. The first jumping gold for GB in 60 years. Silver to The Netherlands. 

What a day and we were stoked to hear we had qualified for the final. So happy. After 4 days of jumping! we have tomorrow off jumping and the final on Wednesday. 

Oh and on this day, the Mars rover 'Curiosity' landed on Mars. I wonder what they will find. Night all.

London 2012 Day 5

Our second day of competition, the first round of the Nations Cup/Teams event. Vedor was his happy self in the morning and enjoyed his walk and a pick of grass. He had a bit of a workout before the class and was reported to be a little fresh. At least he is still in good spirits.

After his workout, he had some time to relax in his box until it was time to get him ready for the class at 10.30. He had a slightly hurried warm up, but was jumping well. Into the ring and the course was big and tough and spooky. It was a whole new ball game today. The wall had been included as well as a massive water jump and a treble combination. The wall was pretty cool, designed as the double decker London bus. Vedor doesn't really spook at the jumps and is super at water, so they shouldn't hinder him. Julia and Vedor had 2 rails, one at the post office jump, a tall open vertical, and the other at...gosh I don't remember...was it at an oxer? (I'm writing this blog a day late) No it was a tall vertical coming out of a oxer-vertical double. Other than that, the rest of the round was superb and they finished on 8 faults.

Watching Julia's round, with Rod Brown, James Patterson-Robinson and Stephan Lamb

Team member, Matt Williams, had a better round on his horse Watch Me. Watchi jumped all the jumps but had 3 rails down to incur 12 penalties. Edwina and Itot were up and did a super round to jump clear. Itot is an absolute superstar and he must have springs in his feet to jump those fences that are much bigger than he is. He has a great stride and it seems very adjustable between the jumps, even those short lines that some of the bigger horses struggle with. James Paterson-Robinson and Lanosso were out last for the Aussies. They had 2 rails to incur 8 penalties. The three best scores of the team were considered for team contention, and only the best 8 countries with the lowest amount of penalties went through to the second round of the Nations Cup. Unfortunately, Australia finished in =10 place with 16 penalties, equal to Germany. Teams such as Belgium and France were also out of contention for a teams medal.

Julia, Edwina and James qualified for the individual competition and were able to compete the next day in the second round of the Nations Cup on Sunday, as individuals.

Julia was kicking herself about her round, saying if only she didn't have one less rail, we could've qualified the team for the second round. I'm sure James was thinking the same thing about his round. They all jumped super, no matter the outcome. Just getting to the Olympics is its own achievement.

I spent the afternoon tending to Vedor and keeping him happy, with walks, grass and carrots, watched the rest of the jumping and before I knew it, the day was over.

A lovely setting of the main arena, taken on the warm up day

I collected another pin to add to my lanyard, a pin from Columbia that I have been wanting. The whole pin swapping has slowed down a bit now. Most of the grooms have all the pins they need. Now I just have volunteers asking for Aussie pins and if you give out one pin, you get swamped by the rest of them wanting one too. There is this one volunteer that asks me everyday if I have a pin and others asking if I can swap one off my lanyard...No I collected these ones myself, you're not getting those.

That's about all from day 5

London 2012 Day 4

Wow what a day! The nerves started early for me. At breakfast I only ate a bowl of cereal, that's not normal for me, I just couldn't stomach anything else being competition day. Vedor was happy when I greeted him at the stables, after his breakfast he went out for a morning stroll and then we wait for his rider to arrive. Course walk was at 9am, my rider arrived just in time to walk the course. After course walk, Vedor had a light workout and then I got him ready for the class. He warmed up very relaxed and jumped his socks off in the warm up.

Julia and Vedor warming up

On the way to the main arena, the butterflies started. I would always get nervous when Julia was riding Haymen in the big classes back home, but not like this. She went into the ring and I thought 'this is actually happening'. Four of us stood on the 'Kiss and Cry' stand to watch Julia jump her round. That was me, Chef d'Equipe Stephan Lamb, team vet David Johnson and trainer Rod Brown.

At the Kiss and cry (Photo: Hymne Rydant)

Julia went to the first fence and so far so good, it was only 1.40m fence. The fences that had me worried was the tall red plank vertical, pretty flimsy fence, which Vedor eased over with style, the triple bar into the double, both handled it well and then the last double, a massive oxer to a tall vertical. I was jumping every fence with them. I didn't know it was the last jump until the crowd erupted and Julia was CLEAR! My eyes welled up and I couldn't get the grin off my face. I felt so proud at that moment. It felt like the moment we found out we were going to the Games after her round in Broug En Bresse for Olympic selection. This was even sweeter.

After her clear round, with team vet David Johnson

Julia and Vedor came out of the ring on a high and could not believe what just happened. Yes you just jumped clear Julia! and the whole team was very happy for her and there were no time faults! She has qualified for the next round along with 31 other riders.

Unfortunately team rider Matt Williams and Watch Me, our first rider into the ring, had 2 uncharacteristic stops at the liverpool/water tray and was eliminated. He has another chance tomorrow to ride for the team, but he is out of the individual competition. Poor Matt, he didn't need that.

Third team rider in the ring was Edwina Tops-Alexander, her and Itot did a super round with no penalties to qualify for the next round. James Paterson-Robinson was last for the Aussies and the horse was jumping fantastic until he knocked a rail and ended with 4 penalties. Also qualified for the next round.

Once I had Vedor back at the stables, it was lots of carrots for him! I still couldn't keep the grin on my face :)

Julia had quite a bit of fan mail from back home in Oz

I caught the last 10 riders online, streaming it from the stables. It was so nice to see Vivant go round for Ukraine rider, Katharina Offel. He was jumping the wings just about, though he had an unlucky rail. The biggest drama came from American rider, Beezie Madden, who was eliminated after stopping twice in the double. This was such a shame, the horse had so much scope and style, a real jumper.

Vedor spent the afternoon out on the grass and getting a massage. Aaaah the life of a superstar! We caught up with American dressage horse Ravel and his groom out in the grazing area. Another highlight for me, seeing one of my favourite dressage horses and hearing about all the lovely Aussies that rock up at Steffan Peters' barn in San Diego and all the travel stories of the horses that come from the USA. There were a few more squirrels getting around today, sorry no photos of the squirrels.

Once Vedor had his dinner it was time for my dinner and I had a nice chat to the horse physio of Team USA, Janice. We spoke of the dramas and highlights of the day, as both our teams had a mishap in the jumping and there was also some greatness from both teams.

The Cutty Sark in Greenwich

After dinner I went off to explore the town of Greenwich. It is a lovely riverside town and home to the Old Royal Navy College. I walked the streets of Greenwich and it reminded me a little of Paddington in Sydney, only it was by the water. I walked passed the old very tall ship, the Cutty Sark and down to the River Thames. It was a lovely evening with the sun setting. Here I could get a good bearing of where I was, I could see the city of London, the London eye and the Olympic village from the Greenwich pier. All a lot closer than first thought. I will have to plan an evening to hop on the ferry to head up the Thames to see a little more of London. I need to put my transport card to some good use.

Greenwich University

After such a great day, I'm not sure how I am going to sleep tonight. Tomorrow is the first round of the Nations Cup, starting at 11am. G'night all.

London 2012 Day 3

The jumpers had a chance to ride the horses to the main arena this morning, only on the flat, not jumping. Our team had an allocated 15 minutes in the arena at 6.45am. The Aussies were in there with Team USA. Our horses all looked very relaxed and Vedor looked like he belonged in the main arena. Julia reported that he felt very good and chilled out. A good sign. Later this evening, we get to have a jump in the main arena, once the dressage is done for the day.

Julia and Vedor in the main arena

Julia in the main arena with Team AUS and USA

Julia and McLain Ward of the USA go for a wander

There wasn't much else to do until the afternoon so I spent most of the day watching my favourite dressage riders do their warm up before their test. I didn't have a pass to get in to the main arena to watch the dressage, so this had to do. I saw Dutch rider Edward Gal and Undercover warming up and he definitely had the horse with him all the way and had a great hind leg. That was nice to see and scoring 75.3%. I caught some of Australian rider, Mary Hanna, warming up on Sancette. Quite a flash horse, and scored 67.9%

Mary Hanna heading off to the main arena for the Grand Prix

Edward Gal and Undercover warming up for the Grand Prix

The highlight was seeing Fuego warming up with his Spanish rider Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz. A very flash Andalusian stallion that wowed the crowd at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. He has amazing paces and a piaffing machine. You can't beat a Spanish horse in piaffe, in my opinion. My dream horse. They did a fantastic test and scored 75.6%. I got a couple of snaps of British rider Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro in the warm up. Another horse that caught my eye the moment I saw him. Charlotte holds the record of the highest dressage score in the world 90.6%, which she gained a couple of months back in Florida. After her amazing test today, she again broke an Olympic record by scoring the highest Olympic score, 83.6%. Oh and she rides all her tests wearing a helmet.

Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz and Fuego warming up for the Grand Prix

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro warming up for the Grand Prix

As I was going to head back to the stables, Steffen Peters from the USA entered the warm up on Ravel, another one of my favs. So I had to stay and get photos of them too.They did a lovely test to score 77.7%. Next in the warm up was Swedish rider Patrik Kittel and Scandic. He had Anky as a coach on the side lines, what a team. Apparently Patrik has trained 40 Grand Prix horses! Most people would be lucky to train 5 Grand Prix horses. Patrik did a nice test to score 74%. German rider, Kristina Sprehe and Desperados were another combination I like to watch. I missed out on seeing them in the main arena, but caught some snaps in the warm up and they scored 79.1%. Another favourite was German combination Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill. I didn't get to see them at all, but they scored 81.1% just behind Dutch rider Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival on 81.6%.

Steffen Peters and Ravel warming up

Patrik Kittel and Scandic with Anky and Lyndal

Around all the dressage watching, I had to squeeze in a hand walks and grazing time for Vedor. Gosh he is demanding! Did I mention the squirrels? No, well they are everywhere and are quite tame. Vedor had a bit of chat to a little squirrel while we were out grazing.

Lots of grass for Vedor

From 5pm the jumpers were allowed time to jump in the main arena. Mostly to get the horses accustomed to the atmosphere and the footing. The arena is raised up on a stage so it would feel a little weird for the horses to jump on. The Aussie team were on at about 6pm and Julia was first to go. Each rider had 90 seconds in the arena and could jump the course of 10 jumps that had been set up or make up their own combinations. Vedor jumped great, though Julia said she was a little nervous. The rest of our team jumped great, though I didn't get to see them.

Julia and Vedor practice round in the main arena

Not much else to report from today, pretty much just reporting on the dressage. The jumping starts tomorrow at 10.30 am. No draw yet. I believe Julia will be second out for the Aussies.

Photos from today will be up soon.

London 2012 Day 2

Day 2 started just like any other day at a show, feed my horse, muck out the box and take him for a walk and pick of grass. Once that was done we, the grooms, got stuck into pin swapping. Every country was given a bag of Olympic pins unique to their country. To collect pins from other countries you need to ask them to swap a pin with you. You give them an Aussie pin in exchange for their country's pin. This became very addictive for everyone in the stable block, grooms, vets, volunteers and eventually the riders got on board after realising just how cool the pins are. By lunch time on day 2 I had 16 pins including the most prized pin of the Equestrian, one of four of the USA team pins. We pin them to the lanyard on our accreditation and they become our trophy and you can see how many pins every one has. My fellow Aussie groom had already visited most of the countries so made it hard for me to swap pins as they already had my Aussie pin...thanks Mat! I thought this was a great way to get us mingling with other countries and keeps it all rather relaxed and fun.

Taking Vedor for a morning walk to check out the grounds.
How cool are the rugs?

Julia came to ride at 10.30am and worked her horse for quite some time, I continued pin swapping...as I walked the stables I found my favourite dressage horse. Spanish horse Fuego. A gorgeous Andalusian stallion and he is big! Bigger than he looks on TV. I need my photo with him soon. I also had Salinero, Dutch dressage horse, walk passed me on his way to his test. I don't know the exact figures but I think he has been to 2 Olympic Games and 2 World Championships. He is a bit of a star in the equestrian world.

The dressage started at 10.30am and our first rider in was Kristy Oatley. I didn't see her test, but I heard she did a super test and scored 68%. She returned to the stables very happy with her ride. The Aussie dressage grooms were live streaming the dressage online, so I had a bit of a sticky beak when I had a chance. I caught Anky's test with Salinero, the horse was showing his age in the extended trot, but was listening much better to his rider, not getting too hot and did some lovely work. We had our viewing of Anky's test commentated by Lyndal Oatley who was chilling out, preparing for her test.

Our Aussie jumpers had a private trot up with our vet, just to see how the horses were looking. My rider is not the most organised, she only just got back in time for the un-official trot up at 12pm and we stripped the tack off the horse, took him outside and trotted him up. I don't know when Julia last trotted up her horse as a show, not since I have been here. The riders have to trot up their horse at the Olympics. At other shows, all the grooms trot up the horses.

The Aussie team have a house where some of our officials are staying. It's just outside the perimeter of the venue, about 150m metres down the road. We can go here to collect our team uniforms, pins, talk to officials, or just to hang out for a little bit. I rocked up there at around 1.50pm, to collect more pins, and I was just in time to watch Lyndal Oatley do her test on the tv. I was welcomed by my former employer and dressage rider, Brett Parbery. He was commenting during Lyndal's test and she did a lovely test with a few tense moments, but overall a nice test for her first Olympics and scored 69% on the first day. He will be a super horse with more experience, this was only his 7th Grand Prix test. It was great to catch up with Brett before he flew home to Sydney that evening.

To get back into the venue, we have to put our bits and pieces into the xray machines, our accreditation is scanned and we have to walk through metal detectors. Just like at the airport. The British Army man the gates, they are pretty laid back, no stress at all but thorough. This venue really is amazing and blows my mind just seeing how much work and effort that has gone into the facilities, the security, the planning and overall rather relaxed atmosphere. All for equestrian. I am yet to find the merchandise shop though.

Vedor was ridden again at 2.30 and we had the official vet check/trot up at 5pm. Australia was second out after Argentina and Julia was first to trot up for our team. The trot up didn't start until 5.15pm, so all the riders were held in the warm up arena walking their horses until they were allowed to enter the main arena, country by country. Then we were on our way to the main arena behind Argentina, all very official. The trot up was down the far end right alongside of the Maritime Museum. Vedor trotted out great and the rest of our team passed the vet check. We were all very relieved. The vet check was like an event of its own. We had a team photo after the trot up, 3 of our riders weren't present tho, mine was one of them.

Julia and Vedor preparing for the trot up (photo Mathieu Mougeot)

Group shot, but where is my rider?

On the way back to the stable we bumped into the German team and our friend Otto Becker. Edwina and I admired their trot up outfit and I was wondering where I could get one of their jackets. The men were wearing nice bright blue jackets and matching shoes, the ladies were wearing bright pink jackets and matching shoes. They were super nice, the Germans are always so well dressed. The Dutch were covered in orange, their national colour. Edward Gal was walking around in his orange jacket, orange shoes, orange iPhone cover and even had an orange cup. Can't miss them.

If you see orange, that's the Dutch

By the afternoon I had collected 20 pins from all different countries. I am still missing some though. The most impressive aisle to walk down is the Canada/USA aisle. Of course the Americans make everything so over the top with their flags hanging off every stable and banners across the aisle. They have a massive flag at the end of the aisle, about 10 metres high. Only in America right!

Okay maybe it's not 10m high, but it's a pretty big flag

Later after the horses were put to bed and I'm back in the hotel, an American groom told me that they love our uniforms and they have been admiring them all day. Australia really stepped up with the clothing at these games. We're all decked out in our green and gold and you wouldn't lose us in a snow storm. You can spot an Aussie through a large crowd of people and horses.

After dinner there was a jumping grooms meeting at the bar of our hotel. The FEI just wanted to tell us a few rules and inform us of the media and how this is going to be the most memorable games and lets not do anything to tarnish that. We were informed about, doping, media and logos, any logos we have on our gear cannot be visible to any media as 1.6 billion people are estimated to watch the Jumping alone. We have to cover up any logos on the horse's tack and grooms gear using black tape. More horses than ever before will be drug tested and the horse's legs will have thermographic testing done at some stage, this tests for any heat in their legs. The officials also congratulated us on our achievement for making the Olympic team and our athletes, both the two legged and four legged ones, could not have gotten to this level without our help after a long arduous journey. This is the top of the top of Equestrian sport. The organisers look after us very well, which really helps for our preparation each day. Once the meeting was over, free drinks were on.

Day 2 done, early morning for day 3.

London 2012 Day 1

So the day started at 2.30am in Valkenswaard, Holland. This was the training camp for the show jumping team. We loaded our gear (trunks, grooming boxes, freezers, feed, luggage) onto a freight truck which departed at 3am. We could only take limited amount of gear and fit as much in our trunks as we could. That was a challenge as they're not as big as we're accustomed to. The horses loaded onto a horse transport truck and departed at 4am.

This is Stal Tops, but it's not 4am. I took this photo in January 2012

Two grooms, Edwina's groom Sigrun, James' groom Ute, and our team vet, David Johnson, travelled with the horses in the truck, whilst me, and two other grooms, Matt's groom Mat and Amy's groom Marion, travelled in a car to London. The riders and Chef, Stephen Lamb, flew out of Amsterdam.

Next stop Calais, France, where we made the crossing of the channel to Dover in England. We boarded the very long train in our car at 8.50am. This train was pretty cool and we were kind of amazed at it, at first. The train travels under the English channel and took a total of 40 minutes. Wow so quick! We stayed in the car for the trip and I had my laptop so we kept ourselves occupied by watching a movie, well only half of it.

Getting on the train in Calais, France

In the train from Calais to Dover

After arriving in Dover, we had to go to the Equine Staging Facility (ESF) in Eltham, not far from Greenwich. On the way to the ESF we got a little lost on the outskirts of London as we got separated from our truck. We finally got to the ESF not long after our truck arrived. It was quite a procedure for everyone involved and mayhem at times to get all horses and gear checked truck after truck after truck! The officials at the site were very organised and had a good system going. So it all ran quite smoothly. At the ESF our horses were unloaded and checked over by the vets. Every nook and cranny of our truck was inspected by customs officers, much like going through customs at the airport. All our horse water was removed and emptied, coz it could be full of drugs or something dangerous...The driver's cab and bed was searched with a fine tooth comb. They were very thorough.

The undercover area of the Equine Staging Facility, Eltham

As we were loading to leave our freight truck arrived, much later than expected. Apparently the UK customs in Calais, France, unloaded all the gear and luggage and went through everything, they even tested something for drugs. All was good there, just a pain in the butt for the driver! All the gear was unloaded again at the ESF and put through big xray machines and the sniffer dog went over everything, sniffing for explosives. He was a black cocker spaniel called Brent and specialsed in explosives. Once our truck was loaded, all the doors were sealed and we could not open the doors until we were cleared at the Equestrian facility in Greenwich. If our door seals were broken, we would be sent back to the ESF and repeat the process all over again. We were all good though and I didn't hear of any other truck having to return to the ESF.

Our Olympic escort from the ESF to Greenwich Park

Finally we arrived at Greenwich Park and were able to unload our horses and settle them into the stables. We were stabled next to our Aussie dressage team.

Vedor arriving at Greenwich Park, with the Australian Jumping Team

So, the stables...all the stable blocks have been raised off the ground from about 1-2 metres. This is to protect the grass of Greenwich Park and to make the aisles level. The site on which the stables are located is on the side of a hill, so we have to walk up the rubber ramps to get to our aisle. The horses cope well with this. The main arena and warm up arenas are also raised off the ground to protect the ground and make it level. We had a wander to the main arena and it has a great atmosphere to it, even when it is empty. Such a fantastic location, with the National Maritime Museum (which looks like a castle) just in front and the city of London and the Thames just beyond.

The outside of the stables, elevated off the grass

We had a set back with some of our gear at the stables. We were told not to bring mucking out gear and feed/water buckets, as it was all provided at the games. Well there are big green tubs and that's all! So we were pretty much bucketless. This did not go down well with us grooms. The tubs we used for water, and there are wheely bins available for horse waste. The Aussie dressage team are kind enough to let us use their rakes and brooms and we had feed bins that were removed from our transport truck accidentally. We are very grateful for those feed bins.

Our freight truck, which was carrying our gear, didn't arrive until about 6pm, again later than expected. We got all the horses ridden and put to bed by 8pm, then it was time for the grooms to check into the hotel. The riders left Greenwich to head back to the athletes village at Olympic Park, about 25-40 minutes away, depending on traffic. The grooms accom is located within the grounds of the equestrian facility and rumour has it, it is better than the athletes village. We are staying in the Davonport House, right next to the Maritime Museum. All meals included, and the food is so good here. Major diet next week when I get back to Deutschland.

The Australian Team and Swedish Team aisle

You can imagine the company we're keeping. Riders such as Rodrigo Pessoa, Edward Gal, Anky van Grusven, Hans Peter Minderhoud, were the ones I was a little star struck by. Equestrian royalty.

That about wraps up the loooong day 1 at Greenwick Park in London. More to come on Day 2. Photos coming soon to Facebook. Thanks for reading folks :)