Reynolds Racing - Heather's BlogWednesday, 29 August 2012
On Thursday evening we had the opening ceremonies. They were awesome as expected. All of the athletes were invited into a big party. There were appetizers and drinks and socializing and then we were all put behind the scenes and organized by countries.
The ceremonies were after dark. It was a small disappointment that not all of the people could be in the seats to watch as there was not enough room. Most of our crew were outside on the grass watching large screens instead of live performances.
All the countries were announced as we marched in with our flag. Then we all sat down and watched the show. It was a variety of dancers, light shows, mounted performances and fireworks, lots of fireworks! Very fun. We had an after party at the barn. It was pretty fun, then headed off to bed.
When we got back to the house my whole family had arrived! My Mom, Dad, Hannah, Jonathan and Dustin. Super awesome.
Friday, Jeremy and I went to the barn very early to get a ride in before the day got busy. At 10:30 our truck arrived to haul the horses over to the venue. It was decided that we would take 6 horses over, due to how the rules were written this time as far as alternates were concerned. Nicki, John, Val, Jeremy, Meg and I loaded up our ponies and made the 15 min drive to the venue. Uneventful.
We hand grazed the horses for a long while and then put them in and took care of things. 4:22 was our countries vet in time and we marched over in uniform and vetted. All but Nicki's horse, Not Tonight, vetted in. It was very disappointing for everyone.
After that we weighed in and things were officially started. Later that day Emmett told us that John, Val, Jeremy and I would make up the team.
When all was done at the barn we headed home and my sister and mom cooked pizza and we ate and went to sleep.
Sat we woke up and left the house at 5 am. Wendy had fed for us early that morning and we didn't start until 7 am. The horses were eating and relaxed when we got to the barn. The whole crew team met at the old barn, not at the race, at 6 am to set out to their points before the traffic started.
Marvel and Kutt were saddled at 6:15 and we started warming up. Both seemed relaxed. We headed over towards the start after a while and joined the masses in warm ups.
At 7 am the announcer announced the start and we were off!! The start was a long shoot with hundreds of cheering fans lining both sides. The horses shot down the stretch through the cheers. Marvel lost Kutt immediately as Kutt was going to be riding faster. Marvel was terrified...
Read more here:
http://reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/410/wec_friday_and_beyond
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