Day 12 Team jumping

Day 12 Show jumping team –round 1

Team USA is tied for the lead after night one….finally our USET is jumping out in front early! Our riders have a team total of 12….three scores count for the results. Mclain Ward got the single clear for us on Sapphire with a tremendously strong performance. This mare was extraordinary with her jumping - really leaping cleanly over the 13 jumps. The course was very big and very beautiful. Lots of wide oxers and as you can see, many different Chinese themes..Steve and Leopardi, the designers , have truly put on one hell of a showcase for these riders. Check out closely, the panels on the vertical…..it is an artistic design that has a picture of the Great Wall on it…it is truly wonderful.

Laura Kraut with Cedric almost went clear but had one rail down (4 faults)…this horse is lovely and Laura did a very professional job…it is great to see her back on the US team. Will Simpson was next and his horse was very much “in the bridle” and very strong. Two fences down for 8 faults. Then our anchor , and veteran gold medalist, Beezie Madden with Authentic came on board. She was flying over the jumps, I mean way over these 5’ + fences (1.5 meters) and seemed headed for our second clear, when coming into the final triple complex, Authentic started shaking his head very roughly, and they refused, or had a disobedience..very, very unusual for this pair. She turned away, and came back for the second try, got into the combination, had another rail down, and then went on to finish..8 jumping and 3 time faults. Very unusual and so “not” Authentic…they turned out to be the drop score, and the US is now in the lead with 12.

Canada is tied with 16 along with Great Britain. The superstars of England Nick Skelton had 8, Tim Stockdale had 4, Ben Maher had 4, and John Whitaker, unfortunately had to withdraw…bad break for the British team, as it make look like he will not go tomorrow either. The Canadians are in the hunt too: Mac Cone, with Ole had an uncharacteristic 12, then Jill Henselwood had a tough time coming home with 16 plus 2 time, then Eric Lamaze on Hickstead proved why he should be here for Canada, by putting in one of the only 5 clear rounds of the night. The anchor ,Mr Olympic (8 times!!) Ian Millar was putting in a lovely round, and then had the second to last down…just at the end. He rode so well and he may be in the hunt for an individual medal..he was so good, but just unlucky.

The Germans came out and dropped a lot of rails, including Meredith , who had one down on the powerhouse Shutterfly. Amazed us…..the Germans squeaked into the final round, but we cannot count them out…we all know that. The Swiss, the Dutch, the Norwegians, the British and the Aussies will all go forward. There is another county too, but I am missing one of my result sheets…sorry! Check out the results on the other websites…

The barns are busy all day and night, as many of the event horses have been leaving over the last two days. The Olympic organizers have thing really organized as vans take the horses directly to the planes where they are processed, loaded up, and shipped back home for a well deserved rest. I am sure they don’t look forward to the long plane rides either.

A bunch of us are headed out to Panda park in the morning for a look at the national heros of China. Should be a fun morning…we all (about 20 of us) are renting our own bus for the 45 minute trip, are having lunch over there and will return in the afternoon, to get ready for our 5pm call back at the arena. I’ll send you some more photos tomorrow.

Brian