Tuesday, 20 August 2013 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Vet check, the first team training, and lots of blue and orange

However many championships one attends, the vet check is always a special event. Everybody is dressed in their team colours, the horses’ coats shine, the hooves are freshly oiled and even the horses’ fly sheets bear the colours of their respective countries. Both GLOCK’s Undercover and GLOCK’s Romanov look particularly good in the Netherland’s orange. Fritsie is totally relaxed as he is led out on a gentle walk in the sunshine by GLOCK groom Vanessa, and snorts in Edward’s face when he pauses to greet him. Ed has also dressed up. Like his team-mates he is dressed in blue and orange, and Hans Peter Minderhoud has also swapped the GLOCK team colours for those of his own country.

Hans Peter has his hands full as GLOCK’s Romanov is frisky; he likes the excitement and he is really showing off to the crowd. “He is convinced that he is at the stallion show,” laughs Hans Peter, letting the powerful stallion trot a little. GLOCK’s Romanov makes a great showing at the vet check; it is almost unbelievable how this stallion can present himself. There’s no doubt about his fitness.

Meanwhile Fritsie is finding it all exciting – apparently quiet, he is however ready to explode. Edward knows this from his performances in the world’s largest riding arenas, which GLOCK’s Undercover always finds rather exciting too. But Ed exudes such an air of serenity and calm that this serves to quieten Fritsie. He trots up and down quite calmly and contentedly before going ‘back home’. Here Tigger is waiting, having kept guard over the box, and Sugar, who is offended because she has not been allowed to go with them, and GLOCK’s Voice, who is here ‘only’ as a reserve horse and will take part in the prize giving ceremony. “Then he learns how to deal with all the noise and activity,” says GLOCK trainer Nicole Werner who is pleased with the way the day has begun.

First training for the team in the European Championship stadium
The huge stadium is still empty; the spectators have not yet arrived. It is sold out at the weekend when it will offer a magnificent backdrop for an equally grand sporting event. Each country was assigned its training times; starting with A as in Austria, the first on the list started at the ‘ungodly’ hour of 6.30am, while S for Sweden, at the end of the list, finished at 1.40pm. At precisely 11.25am the Dutch have the stadium to themselves, and at precisely 11.50am they will have to leave it again. The riders’ stand fills up; everybody wants to watch how the favourite teams, riders and horses are looking. 

GLOCK rider Hans Peter Minderhoud is the first to have the large stadium all to himself. The team leader, the trainer and GLOCK trainer Nicole Werner are all standing right next to the arena. As always, Nicole gives quiet instructions, exuding great calm and expertise. GLOCK’s Romanov is excited. There is so much here for him to look at, and he is fascinated by it all. So much is new. Only slowly does he start to concentrate on the job in hand and ignore his surroundings, showing what he can do, before being given a rewarding pat by Hans Peter afterwards. 

The dressage arena is free for Adelinde Cornelissen and Danielle Heijkoop. But where is Edward? For a while the riders practise trot extensions, cantering, passes and piaffes, then the watching crowd at the entrance stands back: Edward Gal and GLOCK’s Undercover are entering.

It is fascinating to see the calm he always radiates. GLOCK’s Undercover is coiled like a spring. Everything new, everything unfamiliar, everything different. Edward gives him a loose rein, appears relaxed and similarly the horse’s body relaxes. Their performance in the riding arena is unspectacular. Ed lets Frits trot, but doesn’t let him show all he can do. He lets him briefly piaffe and pass, practises coming to a square halt, saluting and riding out of the arena; then he pats him and it is all over. Long reins. Fritsie is happy; he senses that he has performed properly and Edward smiles again as he relaxes his concentration. “Well?” he says as he rides past, and answers himself: “Good!”

Tomorrow (21 August 2013) the Blue Hors FEI Dressage Championships start: GLOCK rider Hans Peter Minderhoud and GLOCK’s Undercover take their turn at 5.57pm as the 19th pair. GLOCK rider Edward Gal will have his first performance on Thursday (22 August 2013) with the starting number 36 on GLOCK’s Undercover. He begins at 8.27am and immediately before him it’s Carl Hester on Uthopia. That will be exciting!

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