- The U.S. Olympic show jumping team chips in to help set jumps for one another.
- Photo courtesy Reed Kessler
July 25, 2012--It was a very warm day here in Holland! Again, we all started at 9:00 a.m. I rode Mika while George rode Onisha. I stayed on Mika for a good 45 minutes to work on his adjustability a bit. He got strong during Chantilly so I did a lot of galloping and setting him on his tail because his natural head carriage is low and heavy. By the end he was much better but very sweaty because it took a while! Next, I rode Goose without stirrups in the grass ring with Katie. After that we had a team practice jog to watch all the horses. Everyone looked great!
Afterward, I hopped on Cylana to give her a jumping school. Everybody pitched in to set jumps. It was very cool to see the whole team helping each other and working together. George and Katie set a line down the side that was an oxer, long five or tight six to a vertical-oxer short one stride to a long three or very short four to a vertical. On one side of the ring there was a vertical to reverse over and the other side a skinny oxer. I did it both ways doing different numbers. We built it up pretty big and her rideability was phenomenal. I could ride the big oxer out of the turn and come right back for the six or the other way do the flat three into the double and have her back herself up at b. She was super and everyone was thrilled with the school.
- Beezie Madden gets competitive playing ping pong.
- Photo courtesy Reed Kessler
After we finished riding, Katie headed to the airport. She and Wilton start showing in Dinard tomorrow and she comes back Sunday night. During some down time, Rich was showing me how to play ping pong. I was really bad at first but started to get the hang of it and naturally got really competitive! Beezie came to play and she's really, really good! After our tournament, I headed back to the hotel to shower and change before going to see Dark Knight!
Rich, my mom, and I drove to Zwolle to have dinner and see the new Batman movie. Dinner was really good and so was the movie, although it was really long! Seeing as my mom and I miss Papa Kessler, Rich was the stand-in dad for the evening. My mom even made him drive!
