The Championships has started today in the heart of Gothenburg. Yesterday with light showers, and from the morning today nice sunny kind of autumn weather.
British horse out and Portuguese is ready to compete
As from yesterday one British horse Don Carissimo and one Portuguese horse were in holding box after the vet. check. Unfortunately Don Carissimo substains an injury and has been withdrawn from the competition, and the portuguese horse Bariloche is cleared and fit to compete. The schedule has not changed as Don Carissimo was the first after a break.
Familiarization
The official schedule said familiarization at 8.30, but at 8.30 the German team was in the arena and the Swedish team has already finished.
Yesterday evening the arena was ready for the riders, so many of them have already been in there doing a bit of familiarization.
German team
The German team looked very sharp, and especially Helen Langehanenberg with Damsey and Sönke Rothenberger with Cosmo showed super suppleness and nice relaxation. And as Sönke told after the familiarization: "I had a really good feeling about Cosmo, as he was very fresh and still very concentrated about the job today. The final preparations for our Grand Prix Wednesday will be with same kind of relaxed training as today, added with a couple of exercises from the test," tell Sönke Rothenberger.
Danish team
Danish team was without Agnete Kirk Thinggaard and Jojo AZ, as they have already been training yesterday evening in the arena, and will be out training later this afternoon, to fit it into their start Tuesday.
The other Danes, Anna, Anna and Cathrine, looked all very good. Anna Kasprzak and Pepe did a good training session with her trainer Andreas Helgstrand. Pepe looks motivated and supple. At the side of the arena Danish national coach Nathalie zu-Sayn Wittgenstein was of course also 100% focused about her riders. Cathrine Dufour and Atterupgaards Cassidy was also supported by her long time trainer at the side Rune Willum. Dufour and Cassidy show great training doing a bit of everything without any issues. Anna Zibrandtsen and Arlando were mostly trotting around the arena in a nice relaxed form, with Jan Brink keeping his eye on them. All Danish riders and the team coach are confident - "bring on the championships".
Dutch team
The Dutch team also looked good, especially Glock´s Voice and Edward Gal were shining.
The three remaining British combinations looked good. For Emile Faurie it looked as if was about making Lollipop sharp for the piaffes. Spencer Wilton and Super Nova looked relaxed and confident about the atmosphere. Watching Carl Hester it looked as if he was "talking" to Barney (Nip Tuck) about the concentration, and NOT looking at the few (about 20 spectators) far away behind the fence. Nip Tuck looked very fresh and as Carl subsequent stated "this was supposed to be my easy day"!
Spanish team
Spanish team, with chestnut Alcaide just walked by hand around the arena, and Severo with Deep Impact was also just using his time in the arena for a controlled walk. For Jordi Domingo with Mango Statesman it was also just a light stroll workout. The spanish successor Cristobal Belmonte with Diavolo used his time for a proper training session.