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.