In the driving stadium for dressage, horses had to cope with heavy going. The rains had deepened the Aachen mud. The mud could suck off people's shoes, so what would it do to horses' shoes?

Organizers dumped sand—truckloads of it—on top of the grass in the stadium. “They put in sand so it wasn't so slippery,” said driver James Fairclough. “But it also made it a little heavier.” Carriage wheels dug deep into the sand in some areas of the arena.

“For the leaders to show off, the wheelers have to do the majority of the work. You're asking them to stay round and help create your impulsion and the forward part of the test. With them struggling with the ground, it's difficult. With the leaders starting to pull, then you lose the movement.”

On his team his horse Kavango V is the least experienced in this level. “He's 7 years old, and on his first season on the team. Charlie Brown is young, maybe a season and a half also.” Fairclough finished 20th overall; he was 10th in the obstacles phase Saturday.

All three U.S. drivers completed the challenge of the marathon. “The course asks all the right questions,” said Tucker Johnson. Johnson was 18th after the marathon, and ended the highest of the U.S. drivers overall (14th place).

About his obstacles phase, he said, “I knew I would be behind the time, before I looked at the split time.” Time penalties and a cone knocked down added to his points. Of his horses, he described Eminenz 22 as “rowdy. I said to my trainer Tom Hendricks that Eminenz has learned a lot this weekend, but maybe not enough.”

Chester Weber, leading driver after the dressage phase, expressed how in the marathon, “I wasn't able to use one of my good horses. Senate was not quite right today.” Rather than push the 6-year-old, he used the team of Grumus, Jamaica, Rolex W, and Snoopy W.

He encountered problems in Hazard 1, an obstacle that challenged other drivers, with a trace coming loose. He admitted to making a mistake in Hazard 3, and “in number 5 I had a knockdown. But I was also very proud of how my horses did.”

“Clearly the Americans concentrate on the dressage day,” said Weber. The U.S. team was in first place for that phase. He added, “Some of the European focus more on the marathon.” He noted that in general, the marathon speed has increased noticeably in the past few years. Unfortunately, Weber went off course in obstacles and was eliminated.