Brigita's Blog: August 2008

Even though the Germans were a favorite, the U.S. Show Jumpers put in a great qualifying round.  In the first Individual Qualifier, the United States was the only nation to have three double clear rounds. 

The Olympics changed the format for the Show Jumping.  The competition starts out with a qualifying round, with a technical, but not a difficult course, which does not count towards points.  Since there are more countries competing in Show Jumping, and some are small countries, this allows their horses get used to the arena and the footing. 

Since this round did not count towards points, the Germans weren't concerned about a rail or two down or time faults.  On the other hand, U.S. Show Jumping Team's coach, George Morris, had a different strategy.  His riders were to go clear over the jumps and not worry about time faults.

McLain Ward, riding Sapphire, owned by Blue Chip Bloodstock and Tom Grossman, jumped 15th and was the first American in the ring.  He gave the U.S. a great start, jumping clear with no time penalties.  

Laura Kraut, on Happy Hill Farm & Peter Wetherill's Cedric, was the next American in the ring.  With one rail and one time penalty for a total of five faults, she is currently ranked 39th.  

Next up Will Simpson, riding El Campeon Farm's Carlsson Vom Dach, produced our second double clear round. 

Rounding out the U.S. team and giving them their third double clear was Beezie Madden and Abigail Wexner's Authentic.   

McLain, Will and Beezie are included in a 13-way tie for first.   The show jumpers return to the ring on Sunday at 7:15 am (ET) for the first leg of the team competition.  They will jump in reverse order, by team, based on the standings of the top three riders from each nation in today's competition.  

Dressage resumes tomorrow at 7:15 am (ET) with the first round of the individual competition, the Grand Prix Special.  Steffen Peters and Ravel and Courtney King-Dye with Mythilus will return to represent the U.S.  They will ride at 10:35 am (ET) and 10:45 am (ET) respectively.  The individual medals will be decided on Tuesday, August 19th, upon the conclusion of the Grand Prix Freestyle.  

The Germans are a tough team to beat, but it looks like the U.S. will give them a run for their money (or I should say medal) in Show Jumping.

GO USA!!

Our U.S. Dressage team finished 4th with a 67.819%.  Courtney King-Dye and Mythilus finished in 7th place with a score of 70.458%.  Steffen Peters, riding Ravel, finished in 10th place with a score of 70.00% and, with an entirely uncharacteristic test, Debbie McDonald and Brentina finished 34th with a 63.00%.  Apparently, after warming up beautifully, Brentina began spooking coming into the main arena.  There were significant mistakes in the canter pirouettes and McDonald could never ask her to really go for it in the ring. 

Germany, on the other hand, won their 3rd Equestrian medal in Dressage.  Germany has won every Olympic Team Gold medal in Dressage since hosting the Munich Games in 1972.   

 The top 25 riders from the Grand Prix will return on Saturday to compete for the individual medal in the Grand Prix Special.  Individual competition will wrap up on Tuesday, August 19th with the Grand Prix Freestyle.  (The Freestyle is ridden to music and is beautiful to watch.)  

The complete team results are as follows:  

1.  Germany - 72.917
2.  Netherlands - 71.750
3.  Denmark - 68.875
4.  United States - 67.819
5.  Sweden - 67.347
6.  Great Britain - 66.806
7.  France - 65.403
8.  Australia - 64.625
9.  Canada - 63.514
10.Japan - 60.653
11.Portugal - eliminated

The Show Jumping competition will begin today.

GO USA!!

Now that the Olympic 3 Day Eventing is complete, it is now time for the Olympic Grand Prix Dressage competition to begin. 

The Grand Prix Dressage started out well for the U.S.  Courtney King-Dye, aboard Mythilus, was the first American to enter the ring in the Grand Prix and the pair got the U.S. off to a good start with a score of 70.458.  German rider Heike Kemmer is in the lead with 72.250 and Imke Schellekens-Bartels of the Netherlands is in second.  

Although the Grand Prix is the team competition, with only one ride yesterday, the U.S. is not currently ranked.   Grand Prix competition will continue today with live streaming video available at www.nbcolympics.com from 7:15 am - 12:20 pm.  Debbie McDonald, on Brentina, will ride at 8:18 am with Steffen Peters and Ravel completing the Grand Prix competition at 11:03 am.  Team medals will be awarded at the conclusion of today's competition.  

Please note, all times listed are ET and should be adjusted for your individual area.  

GO USA!

Last night I had the opportunity to watch the last phase of the Olympic 3 Day Eventing, which is the show jumping.  Not only was it the medal round for the team competition, it was also for the individual.  Even though the U.S. team did not win a medal, it was still exciting!

 The U.S. finished seventh in the team competition.  The complete team results are as follows:  

1.  Germany - 166.10
2.  Australia - 171.20
3.  Great Britain - 185.70
4.  Sweden - 230.50
5.  New Zealand - 240.90
6.  Italy - 246.40
7.  United States - 250.00
8.  Ireland - 276.10
9.  Canada - 321.00
10.Brazil - 334.10
France did not compete for the team medal after Nicolas Touzaint withdrew prior to the start of the competition.

A new format for the Olympic Games required an additional round of stadium jumping to decide the individual medals and the scores of the top 25 horse and rider combinations qualified.  The show jumping round fences were 4'1" and the team round was 3'9".  Two U.S. riders qualified for the indvidual: Phillip Dutton and Gina Miles.

Gina Miles moved up from 5th place to 4th after putting in a clean round in the team stadium jumping phase.   Gina went into the final round with 56.10 penalties and less than one rail separating the top 7 riders.  Jumping in reverse order, Gina was 22nd out of 25 to ride.  She put in another clear round and then had to wait to see what the top 3 would do.  Australian rider, Megan Jones, had one rail, which put her out of the medals and guaranteed Gina the bronze.  German rider, Ingrid Klimke, had one rail and one time penalty, which also put her out of the medals.  This assured Gina the silver.  The final rider to go was German rider, Hinrich Romeike, who put in a clear round and clinched the gold.  Kristina Cook of Great Britain took the bronze.

GO U.S.A.!!

Thought you might be interested in the progress of the U.S. Olympic 3 Day Eventing Team.  Here is an update according to the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation:

U. S. eventers stood in third place after the dressage phase, however, they dropped to seventh after cross country. 

Amy Tryon, riding Mark Hart's Poggio, was the first American on the course but after a fall at fence 10, the pair were eliminated.  Neither horse nor rider were injured.   

Gina Miles, aboard Thom Schulz and Laura Coats' McKinlaigh, was the next American on course.  Prior to the Games, Miles has never had a cross-country jumping penalty on McKinlaigh and the record still holds.  They are currently fifth, tied with Great Britain's Mary King on Call Again Cavalier.  

Becky Holder and Courageous Comet started out strong but misjudged their line at 21a, the first element of the dragon fence, and Courageous Comet ran out to the right.  When Holder tried to correct the mistake, she inadvertently crossed her tracks and incurred 60 penalties.  

Karen O'Connor was next on Joan Goswell's relatively inexperienced Mandiba.  They ran into trouble at fence 9, a downhill brush with four strides to a narrow.  Mandiba ran out on the second element.  The rest of the course was going well until the second to last fence where they had another refusal.   

Phillip Dutton, aboard Bruce Duchossois' Connaught, was the final American to go.  They produced the United States second clear round and are currently in 14th place.  

The teams stand as follows after cross country:  

Germany - 158.10 
Australia - 162.00
Great Britain - 173.70
Italy - 198.40
Sweden - 200.50
New Zealand - 210.90
United States - 234.00
Ireland - 265.10
Canada - 287.00
Brazil - 295.10
France - 1135.80

You can visit www.nbcOlympics.com for TV and online schedules and videos.

GO TEAM USA!!

This past Saturday, August 2nd, Nazareth held an event called "Martin on Main" .  This event was part of the year's celebration of C.F. Martin & Co. 175th Anniversary.  So, after a brief summer shower, it turned out to be a beautiful summer evening and my husband and I decided to check it out.

During this event, downtown Main St. was closed off for this celebration.  Martin Guitar had a tent set up with some of their guitars on display and for visitors to try.  An artist was set up in a tent sketching comical portraits of anyone who dared to sit still while the music was playing. 

All along Main St. there were little areas for musicians to jam playing their Martin guitars.  In addition to the jammers, a small food stand was set up selling hot dogs, fries and drinks for those that were hungry.

On the corner of Main and Belvidere Sts. sits a bank in an older building with a large clock.  Inside the bank a vendor was selling home-made fudge, another vendor was selling her artwork and, get this, a model train was set up and running to entertain the young and the old.  You probably think I am kidding you, but I am not.  You could walk into the bank, purchase some fudge and artwork, and watch the model trains.  This was a first for me.

Heading up Main St., there was a band playing in the circle.  You were also able to buy some ice cream and soft pretzels at the circle while enjoying the music.  Prefer wine to sweets?  No problem.  A local winery had a tent set up for tasting their locally made wine.

It was totally an enjoyable evening for my husband and me.  Only in small town's like Nazareth, PA can they close down Main St. for a celebration like this.