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- Jim Wofford
- © Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore
September 29, 2010 -- Greetings from Lexington. I finally walked the cross-country course that all the insiders have been talking about, and it's a doozie. But before I tell you about it, I want to share my point of view with you. I am here to provide the color commentary for the WEG eventing. This is the best seat in the house, especially on cross-country day. I'll be sitting in the production truck this Saturday, with about 20 TV screens working in front of me. Once you get on course, you can run, but you can't hide. I'll be watching.
Some of the lenses these NBC TV cameras have could focus on a tear in the man in the moon's eye. If he has been watching the last couple of days, he is going back and forth between cheers and tears. That's just part of a life with horses. They drop us to the depths of despair, and they lift us to the heights of excitement we never thought we would attain. And there have already been plenty of both here at the WEG.
Our USA reiners are walking around with a goofy gold medal smile on their faces, and I don't blame them. They have really set the standard for their sport, and they should be proud of their achievements. On the other hand, I walked by one of our U.S. dressage riders just after the dressage medals were awarded, and the rider looked as if they had been kicked in the stomach. It is bad enough to miss out on a medal, but to miss out on it in your home country really hurts. Then, to add insult to injury, we missed the bronze medal by two points. Two points, spread over two days of competition. I can tell you from personal experience that our dressage riders are going to be secretly beating themselves up for the rest of their lives. "Two points! Two points? If only I had gotten a better half-halt before my pirouettes, I could have gotten two more points myself."
All you can do is lift your head and keep going. I know some of our dressage team members, and I promise this is going to be a big factor in their training over the next two years. They are already scheming about how to win a medal in the 2012 London Olympics. Lord willing, I'll be in the stands, cheering them on.
And you can bet I was in the stands to watch Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas do their thing in the team dressage competition. It is the first time I have seen them live, and it was worth the wait. This horse is incredibly free and extravagant with his movement. He looks like he goes into piaffe and passage for fun and could keep it up all day. Then he walks out of the arena on a loose rein, looking towards the out gate for a hand-treat.
Horses are a sometime thing, and there are some really good horses here, but for now Moorlands Totilas is the one to beat.
Any horse person who has a TV set is in for a treat, because you are going to be able to see more prime time coverage than ever. NBC has scheduled 8 1/2 hours of coverage over the three weekends of the WEG, and way more than that on channels such as Universal Sports. NBC hired Carr-Hughes Productions (CHP gets Emmys for their Olympic programs; they know what they are doing) to produce the shows, and they really have some wonderful sights for you. The programs are going to be seen in over 100 countries, which is a record for horse sports. By the way, I have had a sneak peak at NBC's opening sequence. All I can say is that if you can watch this without getting goose bumps, you don't love horses. Make sure your TiVo is working, and watch it in HD. There is so much going on, I don't know how they are going to get all that material in, but Carr-Hughes is the best, and I am sure you will enjoy it.
Speaking of too much material, my daughters are hooting at my first blog, where I say I am afraid I might not have enough material for my Lexington blogs. Jennifer said that me hanging around the WEG looking for material and writing a blog about it was like taking candy from a baby. (Sometimes I have the feeling my daughters are laughing at me, not laughing with me. but it's nice to bring a little laughter into someone's life, don't you think?)
