I am so sorry this piece is a little dated! I wrote it and then got sidetracked--but I felt it was worth posting anyway. The WEG was fantastic, and I very much enjoyed what I watched of it. Wish I could have seen it in person though! The picture I've attached shows Edward Gal of the Netherlands riding Totilas. This pair took the gold medals in Dressage, for each of the competitions. I echo many other sentiments, I am sure, when I say I would "consider cutting off a limb for a ride" on this horse!
For the first time since the World Equestrian Games (WEG) began in Sweden in 1990, they were held in the United States this year at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Competitors from over 60 countries around the world sent 1,700 athletes (800 human and 900 equine) to compete for 16 days in what essentially amounts to the “other” Olympic Games for equestrian sports only. Always before it has been held in Europe, but this year was different—it was finally our turn, and nobody does horses like Kentucky.
Three of the disciplines would already be familiar to people who watch the Olympics: Dressage, Three-Day Eventing, and Show (or Stadium) Jumping. The WEG also included competition in Reining, Vaulting, Endurance, Combined Driving, and Para-Olympics. Over a period of 16 days, all eyes in the world equestrian community were focused on Kentucky, and NBC Sports carried taped coverage of highlights three week-ends in a row for a total of six hours, which is almost unheard of. The Olympic Games equestrian events never fared so well! And if you were a real fan, you could watch live, streamed action (or video on demand) through Universal Sports or FEI.TV. You could read blogs from a number of different writers and read breaking news as it happened. You could watch different video packages, too, depending on your interest, and now you can purchase DVDs of the events through the Kentucky Horse Park Web site. I can tell you, I plan on watching all of this several times again! Well, I won’t be watching ALL of it, but I will be watching the Dressage and Three-Day Eventing pretty closely. Just for the record, my all-time favorite equestrian sport is Three-Day Eventing, with Dressage a close second. I’ve never competed as an eventer, because I fell off too much when jumping, and considering my age felt it was not a wise choice for me, but that didn’t affect my love of the sport!
Few people outside the equestrian community have any concept of what it takes to bring all these horses and their riders together to compete. For many of the smaller countries, it can be likened to putting a man on the moon. All of the competitors must be flown to their destination, not to mention the feed, equipment, and support personnel that go along with them, and that trip is not without peril. Several years ago the entire Mexican equestrian team and their horses went down in a crash on the way to a Pan American Games competition, the speculation being that one of the horses got loose on board and unbalanced the plane. Few people are aware too, that up until just a few years ago Australians were forced to sell any of the horses taken to outside International competitions, because they were barred from re-entering the country for health reasons.
The costs of equipment are staggering too. If you watch any WEG footage, take note of the helmets many of the eventers and stadium jumpers are wearing. Those GPS brand helmets retail for over $500, and that’s just a start (No, I don’t have one of those!—I’ve got a well-worn Troxel Legacy that I bought several years ago and need to replace!) . Saddle pads can run $150+ each, those ear nets go for about $80+, and saddles are around $2000+. Then there is what the riders wear: Breeches $200+, body armor $300+, custom boots $1000+, dressage frock or hunt coats $600+. Horses and riders need loads of miscellaneous gear, too: Anti-sweat sheets, stable sheets, water buckets, salt blocks, clippers, tack trunks, grooming brushes, etc., etc., etc. No way around it, competing at any level is very pricey, especially if you wear the latest in fashion and technology. Yikes, I get depressed just thinking about all that!
In the end there were many surprises and upsets, as there are in any sports competition. There were moments of shining glory that were so moving and beautiful they brought tears to my eyes. If you can watch nothing else, please see the brilliantly performed Dressage Freestyle ridden by the Gold medalist Edward Gal of the Netherlands on Moorlands Totilas, and you will never forget it. Several different videos are available on YouTube. One unhappy piece of news that I've heard since the end of the Games is that Moorlands, the owner of Totilas, has already sold him to Paul Schockemuhle of Germany. Mr. Schockemuhle, once a world-class show jumping competitor, is now a horse breeder, so Totilas won't be with Mr. Gal anymore (a crying shame), and he may not even be used in competition any longer, which is a real crime for a horse so brilliantly talented. Money talks, however, and we lesser humans must always remember that "It's the MONEY, stupid!" Never mind ART! Pul-leaze!
Another real disappointment was that the number two-rated pair in the dressage world was eliminated from competition, because the horse somehow managed to get a small cut on his tongue which bled for a few minutes. It had to happen though, because everyone is now supremely conscious of the welfare of the horses, and that is as it should be. Other disappointments came as Team USA saw its hopes of a medal in the Three-Day competition go up in smoke when Karen O’Connor’s young horse Mandiba had a refusal and then knocked down the gate jump in their Stadium round. Then Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil, whom many believed would win the gold medal in show jumping, saw his hopes dashed when riding the Final Four competition for best horse and best rider. At the same time, others rose to prominence that had never been heard of before, surprising everyone—perhaps not least themselves. For instance, Abdullah Al Sharbatly of Saudi Arabia had the good fortune to take home the silver medal for Saudi Arabia at his first world-class competition--quite a break for a very talented young man.
In the end, 11 countries out of the 60 or so represented took home at least one medal, with the United States winning a total of four (two golds, one silver, and one bronze), just besting the medal count of Germany (two golds, two bronzes), and Great Britain (one gold, three silvers). It was less than any of them had hoped for, but each one was well-deserved and hard won. In any case, the equestrian community and equestrian sports are the real winners, not to mention International cooperation and good will! Now let us look forward with anticipation to the 2012 Olympics.
