August 26, 2006

De Rosa Daily
FEI World Equestrian Games 2006 - Aachen Germany
Exclusive coverage for HorsesDaily text and photos by Diana DeRosa

Talking to the Riders

After the Cross Country and even with only one rider (Amy Tryon on Poggio) coming home with no faults our team stood third before the stadium jumping. The riders spoke about the course and its difficulties.

Kim Severson who along with team member Karen O’Connor between them have a host of credentials both met with problems on the course. For Severson it was at fence #4-5 where she explained that she saw the distance from very far away so she had a plan but didn’t pass that along to her horse. Severson further explained that it’s never a good idea to find a distance from too far away but better to wait until you are closer. “He didn’t know what to look at,” she explained.

Tryon commented, “the course rode how it walked,” noting that her horse is “a very honest horse and I got lucky in a few places.”

Chef d’Equipe Mark Phillips commented, “We could have been closer but everyone did their best and you can’t ask for more. We knew it was going to be a huge test of concentration and being in the right place at the right time.”

Phillips also went on to talk about compact courses like what was created in Aachen and how that might very well be the wave of the future and as a result if we want to win we are going to have to learn how to ride these condensed, technical, looping courses.

If this team is any indication, they plan to do whatever it takes to rise to the top!

Only one more day to go for me as I leave the World Equestrian Games to head home to the Hampton Classic Horse Show. Sunday is Vaulting and the stadium jumping phase of the Eventing.