Pompadour CDI, The Jog
Our driving directions were, go to Pompadour and turn left at the castle…. So we did. And there it was. The French National Stud is here, and it isn’t unusual to see folks hacking horses through the center of town, just going from place to place. The show grounds are on one side of the castle, and across the street from the castle is the CCI crosscountry course - Photos later on.
This was probably one of the prettiest trot-up areas I’ve seen.
The stabling in the background of the jog
And beautiful landscaping...
Landscaping befitting a castle, of course!
But there must have been some extra excitement in the air, because more than the usual number of horses were being naughty. There are many stallions entered here, and many of them were on their hind legs during the inspection.
He was pretty darned fast for a dressage horse!
More about castles over the weekend: we’re scheduled to have a cocktail party on the Pompadour castle terrace on Saturday. But here is our little “castle away from home,” the bed and breakfast where we and several of the other judges are staying this week:
Our "guest castle"
And besides the picturesque accommodations, we are learning a great deal about French food — and French wine, of course…. so many vineyards, so little time! But here’s one of the best reds we’ve had in a long time, although we are told that the 2003 is even better:
Magnifique!
I am only hoping that my clothes still fit after all this education!
You know you are in Vierzon when…
You know you are in Vierzon when…
Champagne corks pop in the VIP tent at “A” and horses don’t seem to mind.
You can photograph a class from the VIP tent with a glass of champagne in your hand.
You sit down at your table at the competitors’ party, in the catering tent, and your place is set with three forks and four glasses (champagne, white, red, water), and your starter course is a lovely pate.
Dogs come in for dinner in the food tent, and all restaurants, as part of the family.
There are nearly as many children at ringside as adults.
Children run, jump, play and roll down hillsides beside the warm up rings and not a single DQ gives them a dirty look or calls their parents bad names.
Everyone stays for prize giving.
An ensemble of hunting horns calls the competitors in for the Freestyle awards.
People wave huge flags beside the ring during the honor round and no one wrestles them to the ground.
We are off to Pompadour today!
More from Vierzon CDI, Sunday
Okay, you’ll be able to see this one coming, right?
French horse named Twister wins the Prix St George.
Twister, before.....
French fan standing near in gate starts to wave the French flag, a la that scene in “Les Miserables”, during victory lap.
La Tricoleur
French horse, leading victory lap, sees flag and Twister … twists.
Nope...
Not going near that thing...
Unless all my friends come with me!
Vierzon CDI, Saturday
Flags beside Vierzon's international arena
The area that we are in, about 2 hours south of Paris, so quiet during the week, is abuzz on a summer weekend. Yesterday (Saturday) we passed more cars on the little back road to the showgrounds than the total number that we saw since we arrived. The restaurants are full, and so is the hotel.
We Americans are used to staying in a relative lap of luxury when we travel within the US, with hotel rooms that are bigger than most NY apartments, and so we are never surprised by a small hotel room when abroad. This one is no exception, with the addition of a somewhat venerable mattress, pillows and towels. There are only a few tv channels available, most of them geared towards children, and no news channel, not in French, English or any other language. But there is a free XX channel, which appears late at night, theoretically after the petit-fils have gone to sleep. That one gets as repetitive as CNN normally does, so we haven’t had the tv on much…. which is just fine.
The good news is, there’s free and relatively dependable internet connection. The food at the hotel restaurant is quite good, the hotel is only a 10 minute drive down country lanes to the show, and out our window there is a horse pasture. On a corporate level, they’re much more energy conscious that we are in the US, so there are energy saving designs everywhere: the lights in the common areas are turned off after a certain hour, after which either there is a motion sensor or a light switch. Its a little disconcerting to step into a dark hallway, but you get used just looking for the switch. I wish they’d get on the bandwagon about elevators, though. Nothing like dragging heavy camera bags up and down the stairs every day.
Axel judged a French Young Horse class for 4 year olds. It was a little different than our Young Horse classes, or the FEI’s, in that the horse entered the ring proper prior to the judge’s bell, and halted on the rail, rather than the center line before beginning it’s test. That sounds a lot easier for a baby horse than getting all wiggly trying to halt in the “deep water” of the center line in a strange arena. The test is comprised of 20 meter circles left and right at the trot and canter, walk, lengthening the stride at the trot, and the transitions between the gaits, but the rider can do them in any order to best suit her horse.
Noble Dream, winner of the FEI Young Horse 6 Year Old class
He also judged a 28 horse Prix St George with riders from 12 different countries entered. Most of the European “A” list riders are not here, choosing to stay with their Olympic horses who must enter quarantine this week prior to leaving for Hong Kong, but there are still some lovely horses and riders here.
28 Prix St George horses ... and 2 dogs
Myself, I wandered the grounds shooting a bit of the classes and enjoying the astonishing rainbow of dogs on the premises. More on them later! When it got to be too much, I retired to the VIP tent with my big lens and finished shooting the class with a glass of champagne. Sometimes my job is difficult. This is not one of those times!
The prettiest dressage letters I've seen in a long time!
Last night’s fare: dinner with all the judges and spouses, who hale from a multitude of countries themselves, at a charming country restaurant tucked into the woods, with wonderful, uncomplicated food (I had coq au vin and a salad with warm goat cheese) and excellent Loire Valley wine of the Cheverny appellation.
We arrive in Vierzon
Nous sommes arrivee dans Vierzon.
San Diego/Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City/Paris. Paris/Limoge, then 2 hours of highway driving in a rental car with the inscription “Louez-Mois (Rent Me). 20+ hours of travel that went relatively smoothly despite it being July and that even on the Limoge flight there were more Americans than locals.
In the seat behind us on the Paris flight was a young girl, maybe 11-12 years old, traveling by herself. The flight attendant came over to make sure she had everything she needed, and the girl said, “Where are the games?” I realized that this girl must have done this trip multiple times before in order to recognize that this was an older plane without personal video screens.
Typically, we didn’t sleep much on the plane trip (well, okay, Axel did, I didn’t). When we arrived at the hotel, after a somewhat circuitous route through Vierzon, at rush hour, with no local map, that had me thinking, what if this was an episode of the Amazing Race and there was a camera man in the car recording this?, we had dinner and then slept for 12 hours.
The jog wasn’t until 4:30, so we drove off to do some sightseeing. The countryside here is rural: wheat and hay fields, carefully managed woods, everyone has a kitchen garden. We drove to Nancay, about 15 minutes away, hoping to see a gallery there, but everything was closed until the weekend…. They take their summer holiday very seriously here: even the towns that rely on tourists pretty much close during the week. There are beautiful roads and trails through the woods between Nancay and the Equestrian Center, and they look very inviting for both horses and bikes.
All French horses are microchipped
The jogs here are casual. No one makes a big deal of their own turn out, but the horses are mostly braided. And there are dogs everywhere, even sometimes trotting down the inspection track, completely nonplussed by what is going on around them.
French horse show dogs
After the jog we had champagne at the VIP tent, then went off to dinner at an amazing restaurant called La Maison de Celestin. First, a welcome dish of olives and flat cheese bread. Then an amuse-bouche or two before the starter even arrived. A starter of a foie gras ravioli. More amuse-bouches, and a main course with amazing sauces. Then other intermediary courses, and the cheese cart, full of brilliant local cheeses… and that was before the desert. It was all spectacular. It went on for hours. As a matter of fact, it went on for about 12 hours after the meal was finished. My dear friend Bettina Drummond, who is no stranger to the area, told me via email that what I experienced was a “crise de foie”, and apparently is the mark of any successful trip to France.
Today my diet consisted of one Orangina and a salad.
Olympic Trials, Week 2: The dressage team is chosen
The Team for Hong Kong: Steffen Peters and Ravel, Debbie McDonald and Brentina, Courtney King-Dye and Mythilus.
The weekend’s good news:
~ The weather was way better.
~ The horses and riders were more energized, the tests were cleaner overall.
~ The show was a sell-out, the tents were full, the bleachers were full, and the crowd was vocal and enthusiastic.
From the photographers’ point of view, the bad news: an ever-expanding press corps was expected to cover the event from ever-shrinking vantage points. There were several good shooting positions that started out as “legal”, but one by one they were roped off to keep us pesky photographers from accessing them. One of our prime locations, beside the judge’s box at “H”, with the afternoon sun behind us, was turned into a standing-room-only area for the overflow crowd on Sunday morning… so just at the time when the most photographers would be present, we had the least operating room. It sure did leave me scratching my head, and with the impression that management felt like the press was a burden, rather than an asset.
We did, however, have water, power, and internet access in the press tent, and no one was suffering from heatstroke this week.
I’ve posted a Highlights gallery of photos from Week 2. Enjoy!
But the weekend was about dressage and good horses, and we definitely had that!
Brentina looked fabulous. Debbie mentioned during the press conference that they’ve worked hard on Brentina’s nutritional program so the mare could lose her belly fat. When she said that, I think every reporter in the press tent nodded in empathy and thought, right there with you, girlfriend. Debbie and Brentina turned in a stellar freestyle on Sunday that brought down the house.
Ravel… Lovely. Among other things, I’m always impressed by Steffen’s ability to get beautiful, flowing half-passes from his horses, and Ravel’s are no exception. And that’s on top of everything else that they do well!
Idocus and Mythilus: Courtney has two great equine partners, one a seasoned campaigner, the other an ascending star. Both of them had super trips this weekend, guided and enhanced by Courtney’s elegance as a rider.
Kingston: It warms my heart to see this stallion back at the top of his game. He’s such a boy, such a character, never one to keep his opinion to himself, but he and Leslie Morse had a clean and slammin’ freestyle on Sunday.
Leslie’s reaction to Kingston’s freestyle
And competitors, be sure to check out your official photos from the Selection Trials by Amy McCool!
Olympic Trials, Week 2: USET Benefit Gala
So let’s see…. great parties, good weather, great parties, fabulous horses….
Did I mention great parties?
I’m still working feverishly on photos from the Trials themselves, and I’ll have a highlights gallery from the Olympic Trials Week 2 as soon as I’ve delivered all the photos that my editors need. In the meantime, I’ve posted a gallery of photos from the USET benefit, “One Team, One Dream,” held in the gala tent at The Oaks. The food was great, the cosmos divine, the setting was dramatic, and most importantly, we raised nearly $250,000 for our Olympic equestrian team!
Here’s a taste of what’s in the Party Gallery. These should tide you over until the competition photos are finished!
The Vodka Bar. It all starts here….
Hong Kong dancers
Party Tent
The irrepressible Elma Garcia with Guenter Seidel and Debbie McDonald
Jessica Ransehausen enjoys a moment with Guenter
Hubba Hubba! Guenter and Robert Dover show off their Olympic Rings.
Olympic Trials, Week 2: The Jog
What a difference a week makes! The weather was California-normal: a little marine layer cloudiness in the morning, a hint of high haze in the afternoon…. And about 70 degrees. Just the way we like it, in other words. Everyone, horses and humans, looked so much perkier than they had last Friday at the first jog. There were a couple of high-spirited “jogs” by horses who were feeling fine. Some big horses get even taller as they trot past the judges and vets who are inspecting them for soundness, and it’s easy for a small handler to feel like a tail on the end of a kite when running along side them. Good thing that tall Michael Barisone jogged a few very energetic horses for some of the short people!
Unlike last week, when we were so hot that the only matching accessory that anyone was thinking about was a water bottle (clear was the new black), many really did themselves fashion-proud:
The Sandia Creek Pony Club was there for a presentation by Charlotte Bredahl, and they collected lots of autographs after the jog.
And finally there was the Welcome party, hosted by Joan Cvengros at her beautiful home high on a hill. There were many, many cosmos, and a candlelight dinner on the lawn by the pool. The most popular feature was the “candy bar”, which would have done Willy Wonka proud: huge glass jars full of delectable candies and chocolates, to be “taken away” in golden Chinese-food containers. Sorry, no party pictures! There were cosmos, and I was drinking them! I have a hard and fast rule to not drink and photograph. Thank you, Joan, for a wonderful time: it was the kind of evening that you linger over your dinner, look around at the great people you are surrounded with, and the fine setting that you are in, and think, this is good.
Dressage Uniform: Time for a change?
The heat this weekend at the Olympic Selection Trials really got me thinking: Is it time to modify what we wear in the show ring?
I mean, it was 98 degrees on Saturday, and just before going into the ring, the riders, athletes who have trained for their sport at the highest level, were required to put on a black wool jacket. The mere thought of it makes me thirsty. Is this the best attire for optimal performance?
Now, in my self-appointed role as Aesthetic Police, I happen to like the look of a shadbelly and top hat. There is nothing more elegant in the world. But when the temperature reaches a certain level, there ought to be an option. Right now, the only choice — and it’s not a very beautiful one — it to simply take off the jacket and stock tie. But that leaves a rider all in white from knees to neck. I don’t know about you, but all-white, form-fitting clothing just doesn’t do a lot for my body type. And at international shows, there is no option. It’s a tailcoat. Period.
So here’s my recommendation: Start with what we’ve already got: those white breeches and white shirt. Take the black coat off if it’s too hot. Replace it with a vest of a conservative color or canary. That vest would complete the summer look and keep things taylored. It would also give riders the option to wear a cooling vest if they so choose.
Fortunately it’s supposed to be cooler this weekend for Week 2 of the Selection Trials - I’ll be posting as I get the chance.
What are your thoughts on dressage attire?
