Wow. WEG. What a ride.
Canada completed 3 out of our 4 team riders - Bob on Galaxy, Gail on Sassy and Ruth on Sport. So we officially get 7th place in the team standings. Italy got the turtle team award, finishing 8th. I believe that a total of 22 countries entered teams.
Elroy and Apache were pulled after the 2nd vet gate and Yvette and Teese at the 5th gate, both for lameness. Tough trail. 100 starters and 55 finished.
Maria Mercedes Alvarez Ponton of Spain won the individual gold medal on her Arabian gelding, Nobby. She and Nobby also won the World Endurance Championship in Malaysia in 2008. The difference this time is that she gave birth to a baby girl 7 weeks ago. I wonder if she is nursing and needed to express milk during the vet holds?
I was amazed at how many spectators there were, considering there was no access to the course other than at the Kentucky Horse Park where the horses came for vetting. There were cameras everywhere. Jumbo trons showed video from out on course and the announcer kept explaining what was happening as horses came in to be cooled and vetted after each loop. After the frontrunners completed the race, there was a huge stream of vehicles leaving the parking lot.
I had the chance to help crew the Canadian horses, both as they came in to the vet gates and also at the designated crewing spots on trail. Here is a video of crewing out on trail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da7A6VHyHDE&feature=email
We cleaned up the private land owned by billionaires. The UAE team likes to cool their horses with bottled water. They just cut the top off and leave the lids and the sharp plastic behind.
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| cut the tops off the water bottles to cool horses at out crew spots! |
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| then leave the sharp plastic on the ground near the water troughs! |
A nice fellow from New Zealand who was crewing for the Japanese helped Sport get his gut sounds back at away crew spot on loop 4 with some gentle belly massage. He then demonstrated the same technique on me (!) and offered his services as a mounting block to Ruth!
Getting the horses pulse down quickly is a key part of the race. The sooner the horse's heart rate reaches 64 or lower, the sooner the mandatory hold starts and the sooner you get back out on trail. Nobby was reaching parameter in a minute or two at each vet gate. Some countries used a "bucket brigade" - move the horse slowly towards the vetting area, continually pouring cold water on the horse. We mainly used the pour water on, scrape water off method. Our recoveries started off in the 2 minute range, but got progressively longer with each loop. There were some interesting crew box set ups - our neighbours from Bahrain had an assembly line - tripods that held three small buckets and a saddle rack for each horse. All their gear was along one wall of the crew tent, leaving most of the tent clear for the horses.
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| efficient crew tent with tripod and three buckets |
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| all other gear stored on the wall |
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| I decided to get crazy with personalized graffiti |
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| The Canadian buckets in cooling area |
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| teach your horse to stand still in a garbage can or bucket full of ice water to cool his feet and legs |
