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.