Everybody's Canadian today

   So, in case you haven't already heard, Great Britain won the team gold, Canada the team silver, and New Zealand the team bronze, with Michael Jung from Germany winning individual gold, William Fox-Pitt individual silver, and Andrew Nicholson individual bronze.
   The Brits were unbelievable- Tina Cook had a technical refusal with Miner's Frolic, which was really a shame, because she jumped everything brilliantly. Opposition Buzz is probably my favorite event horse in the world- I kicked everybody out of bed REALLY early Saturday morning so we could get to the horse park in plenty of time to watch Nicola Wilson, who was the first rider out on course. We staked out a spot at the sunken road (ironically called the Red River Gorge- that will be as close as I get to rock climbing this trip), and aside from being a bit scared by some of the early rides, things went very well.  Pippa Funnel came to the WEG on a 9yr old doing his first 4-star, gave away absolutely NOTHING in dressage, and rode her horse around cross country double clear- that horse knows a whole lot more now than he did yesterday, and may well be unbeatable by the London Olympics.
  The team from South Africa got several riders around (their first ever riders in an international championship), Brazil had some major attrition, with only two riders completing the course, Italy and France both had some good goes (and some not so good goes).
  The Americans were a bit of a mixed bag... Boyd Martin is an unbelievable cross country rider, and led the team off with a double clear. Buck Davidson had a stop at the sunken road, after nearly having a stop at the coffin- probably not how he was imagining his weekend. Karen O'Connor rode the hair right off Mandiba and had a super round. Becky Holder looked very poised with Courageous Comet, who threw a shoe at the 7th fence and was just outside the time. Phillip Dutton looked, well, as only Philip can look on cross country.
  The Kiwis had better strategy than anyone else and really rode for the team, although having Mark Todd as your pathfinder and Andrew Nicholson as your anchor must be nice. They have some nice horses and a very good group of riders.
  Australia batted just about zero- bummer.
  The Germans went into cross country in first place, and their lead off rider managed to flip his horse over the second to last fence- bet he wants just one more chance at that one. THEN, their first individual rider fell at the last! So, the Germans did what Germans do- they started to drink. Then they started to all gather in one place. Then they started to cheer. Then they started to sing. They made the American's look really boring...
  The famed "Luck of the Irish" seemed to have fled to hang out with the drunk, singing Germans, and the Irish had a hell of a day. One horse ran away- full out- toward the crowd- kicking. Luckily his rider steered him to an open spot where she could try to circle and got him back under control. Ireland's anchor rider, Geoff Curan  got held on course for over 20 minutes while the vets attended to an Italian horse that cut its shoulder. The weather got colder and windier, the beer line got longer, the Germans got louder, and the hold went on and on. Finally the course was restarted, and Geoff Curan did an amazing job getting things going again.
  And then there was Canada. All 6 riders in clear. All 6! The Canadians had the best jumping horses in the field, and have a plan for their team that forms a cohesive group who all work well with each other, with their support crew, and with the coaches. GO CANADA, and if anyone knows of any single Canadian men, I'm looking to change my citizenship.
   Which brings us to show jumping day. WOW! Great Britain deserved their win, and the US deserved their fourth place. Michael Jung's horse looked so supple and so through and forward in the show jumping- instant riding lesson. And, GO CANADA!! They have worked harder and looked farther into the future than the US, and they deserved that silver medal. Hopefully we can learn something from them, but I'm not holding my breath.
   Otherwise, things have been crazy at the horse park. I keep running into friends in random places, and making new friend from random places, like Possum Trot, KY. They are still making us park "where God left his overshoes," although the shuttle service is very efficient. There was a tent pegging demo today that included an unscheduled ambulance- more on that when I find out that story. I'm just about shopped out, and I've only bought a Christmas present for my brother. Tomorrow we go back to the horse park in the morning with Alli and Allison before taking them to Louisville and putting them on a plane back home, and then mom and I are hoping to do some sight seeing and maybe a bourbon tour. I'm sure it will be an adventure...