So, after months of preparation, various lists, hours of packing and labelling we are finally here at WEG 2018! It’s a huge honour to have been selected for the team, it’s always incredibly competitive in Team GBR as we have so many strong combinations. For me personally it’s a really special achievement having just missed out on the last WEG in 2014, where I was the non-travelling reserve after breaking my back earlier that year. I am hugely grateful to all of my team for doing their part to get me here - I hope that Pimms and I can deliver some strong performances to reward their efforts!
Our journey to Tryon started on Friday 7th September in Dartford where we met up with the other team horses and reserves to check that all the horses were fit to travel. Everything went smoothly and the following day they got the ferry to Liege airport for the flight to Charlotte on the Sunday. It was strange driving home with an empty lorry after leaving Pimms for her journey but we’re so lucky to have such a great support team looking after them so we knew she was in safe hands! On Sunday morning we were picked up to meet the rest of the team at Heathrow and by the time we landed in Charlotte all the horses had arrived and were safely in quarantine. The quarantine rules were very strict so we weren’t allowed to see them, let alone ride them, and it was over to our super grooms, Liz (who’s grooming for me) and Lewis, Sophie Wells’ groom, to look after and walk the horses in hand.
It was quite nice to have a couple of days to get our bearings as we all suffered from jet lag. Being wide awake at 4am when you don’t need to be isn’t ideal so there have been quite a few morning swimming sessions to give me something to do! All of the GB teams are staying in the same hotel so there’s a really nice atmosphere walking around and the hotel staff are really friendly and accommodating. On Tuesday afternoon the horses were released out of quarantine so on our way to the venue we visited Lake Lure where they filmed the famous scene from Dirty Dancing. Soph and Richard (performance support for Lee) successfully did the lift - luckily no one fell in the lake in the process!
So, things I’ve learnt so far…
It’s hot
Even if it’s raining, it’s still hot
You can buy guns in Walmart
Sweat patches are acceptable if everyone else has them too!
But seriously, the venue is lovely, they’ve built a new main arena for the dressage and showjumping so we’re in the big Tryon arena, which is right in the centre of the shopping village. It’s great to be competing in such close proximity to the other disciplines as you can just walk across to the different arenas to watch them train and compete. The horses all looked fit and well coming round to the stables after quarantine and were very happy to be in the fresh air again! They had a little leg stretch in hand in one of the training arenas and then settled down with lots of carrots and apples in their home for the next couple of weeks. The following day we had our first sit on them and they were all very well behaved. As the arenas are all so close you can hear cheering and clapping from the nearby competitionss so they’re able to pick up on a bit of the atmosphere.
I’ve had some good training sessions with Pimms with my trainer Stephen Moore, it’s easy to get carried away and work them quite hard when you’re at a competition and have all the time in the world, so we’ve stuck to our plan and picked her up gradually so that she stays fresh for the competition which isn’t until the second week. She’s coping quite well with the heat and humidity and has accepted that being covered in ice cold water is actually a positive thing in this climate! I have also developed my own cooling methods - getting in my own bucket of ice cold water, which is topped up with fresh ice cubes when extra cooling is required!
In the meantime, we’ve been trying to soak up the event and make the most of our time here by learning from the best! Yesterday we watched Team GBR take Team Bronze in the Dressage after great rides from all four combinations as well as seeing the best in the world take the stage. Today was the Grand Prix Special where riders went for the individual titles and wow what a competition it was! Isabell Werth, Laura Graves and Sonke Rothenburger produced great rides for plus 80% scores and GB’s Charlotte DuJardin produced an outstanding personal best on Freestyle for a score of over 81% to take the bronze medal! Absolutely amazing riding and a great time for British Dressage with three young horses on the team.
The eventers rode in the same arena for their dressage phase that we will be competing in next week so we could see the layout and how it runs, which was really useful. The arena looks fantastic, there’s a real Championship atmosphere and it’s definitely the biggest I’ve competed in so I hope that works in our favour!
Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who makes this possible, both out here and my team back at home - I hope that we can put in some strong performances, both individually and for the team. Fingers crossed.