Guden's Corner

Notes From Rio - Unloading 17,000 Pounds of Equipment

From Al - Hi All,

I will be including excerpts from the emails I receive from Rio. I have encouraged Team USA to write often and I expect once they get unpacked and settled in we ought to hear more from them and get a steady stream of photos. Here is the what I have for the last day. The good news is that the horses and riders are in Rio and healthy and maybe ready to ride:

1. Saturday, 7/7/07 at 5:54 AM from Lauren Sammis, Team USA

Sagacious looks fine. We are not in stable yet. We'll call once we are settled.

2. Saturday, 7/7/07 at 7:07 AM (believe it or not!) from Lauren Sammis, Team USA

Sagacious is drinking and ate bran. Grooms are staying with ponies. We are going to rest for a couple hours. Beautiful here. Perfect weather.

3. Saturday, 7/7/07 at 2:26 PM from Lauren Sammis, Team USA

Hi. We got to nap for a few hours and now are on our way back to the barn.
We went to Wal-Mart to pick up supplies. We have to unload 17,000 lbs of equipment. Yeah! Its a long drive to the barn thru a really poor area.
Everyone seems in great spirits.

Our national champion, Chris [Hickey] is a bit sore from the soccer championships in the parking lot of the airport. The ball was a square piece of wood wrapped with garbage cellophane. Great pictures.

4. Saturday, 7/7/07 at 4:19 PM from Lauren Sammis, Team USA

Now we have a problem. They will not release any of our trunks with all of our equipment until Tuesday. If that happens we can not compete because we have nothing now. No brushes, pads, tack. Nothing. Tim Dutta and Dr.
Mitchell are on the phone with everyone. Not looking good.

5. Saturday, 7/7/07 at 9:55 PM from Lauren Sammis, Team USA

It looks like our equipment is being delivered as we speak.

6. Sunday, 7/8/07 at 6:51 AM from Gil Merrick, USEF, Managing Director, Dressage Sport Programs

Hi Al - Thanks very much for the email. I certainly appreciate the words of thanks, to which I can only say, "my pleasure."

I will encourage the rest of the team members to send along information so we can promote all of our efforts here. Right now we're working hard to connect with all of our equipment so we can begin training today. We're told it has all been delivered to the site. We just don't know where!

I'm sure that will be sorted out shortly and then we're off and running.

Mae [Williams, Sagacious' groom] reports that the horses are healthy and happy and I know the riders are eager to put their boots on and to see how the horses feel. So let the Games begin! I'll keep you posted.

7. Sunday, 7/8/07 at 7:24 AM from Gil Merrick, USEF, Managing Director, Dressage Sport Programs

I saw the site [dressagedaily.com] and loved the coverage! I just heard that the equipment has been found and we're ready to unload, unpack and get started. I'll keep you posted!

8. Sunday, 7/8/07 at 9:32 AM from Lauren Sammis, Team USA

All of our equipment was delivered. There is a bit of an issue with the food for the grooms. The kitchen that the food is being prepared does not even have a refrigerator. Not so good for preparing chicken etc. We are going to Wal-Mart to buy a microwave.

We are going to try to ride lightly today. Not sure if the arenas are open.

Everyone is really excited. Ready to get going

Follow Al's growing photo album at this link