- Ready for take off! © GHPC Nicole
London Olympic GHPC News
Goose pimples again! Thank you Eddy and Frits.
We were not the only ones wondering today. Everyone wanted to hear Edward and Undercover's new freestyle music. What would the atmosphere be like? The sound check in the gigantic stadium is strange somehow. Although the huge stands are all empty, you get an even better impression of how many admiring people come here to watch the sport.
- Champing at the bit! © GHPC Nicole
"Will we get goose pimples again?" That is the question I have secretly been asking myself today. If not within the first few seconds, it will not happen at all. Judging from trainer Nicole's face, it should be brilliant. Vanessa has groomed Frits so well that he looks as if he has been freshly painted. He endures all the fuss as always without batting an eyelid and you really have to laugh when he looks cheekily out of the stall with his long ears, as if wondering what the general excitement is about. Then again, he is ahead of us in the arena with his high spirits.
- Edward and a highly concentrated Frits © www.arnd.nl
The last day, the last event and then the Olympic Games are history again for the dressage riders. Ooh, I get butterflies in my stomach as usual and then the music starts. Goose pimples! They started just before Edward rode into the arena and are here to stay. Frits is attentive, he does not know the freestyle very well yet. Edward and he are presenting it for the first time today and Undercover is concentrating to understand. The two execute the piaffes and passages beautifully as always, pull off the flying changes so effortlessly that it is a pleasure to watch and you feel that Edward can dare to do more today because Undercover is not quite so tense as over the past few days. Cheers from the crowd at the end and you can tell from Edward's beaming face: he is pleased!
- Well done! Ninth place in the individual for Edward Gal and Undercover © www.arnd.nl
"Phew, I'm so happy," he then laughs just after dismounting, "the horse is simply sensational. It's amazing how fast he learns. After all, we showed the Freestyle for the first time. The music is also impressive for me and everything felt so good. He was a bit calmer today because he didn't know when he had to do what. Only during one of the changes he thought about going forward again and then we had a little slip but we can go home with our heads held high. Team bronze and ninth in the individual at our first Olympic Games!"
I think it is a pity everything is over now but Edward has the next top engagement lined up at his sponsor's: "Frits is getting a break for now and then we will be at the CDI4* in Treffen (Austria) from 6 to 9 September – which we are really looking forward to."
That was our last London Olympic GHPC News. We hope you all had fun reading it and sharing in the thrills, delight and excitement with us. The next GHPC News featuring Edward, Frits, Hans Peter and Nicole will be reporting on the CDI4* at the Glock Horse Performance Center starting on 6 September 2012.