The Boekelo CCI*** is a very special event – at least Julia and Sandra knew that already since their pony-squad times: Every year when they were competing at the annual Province Team Championships which are held in mid October in Ströhen Wildlife Park, they wondered about the “preliminary results from Boekelo” being published on the board next to their own competitions’– something that never happened anywhere else! Ben had watched the show around the xc course last year and marked it down as a potential season’s highlight for the future. Thus they became really excited when after their very good performances in Schenefeld CNC***, they were not only qualified for “long three star”with their respective top horses, but all three received permission to enter Boekelo! Since their growing out of the Young Rider Squad, the international Championships, now on 3-4 star level, had been out of their reach, thus competing in Boekelo not only promised to become a great season’s final, but also offered the opportunity to qualify for Championship level…

Meticulous Preparations...

Meticulous preparations were set into operation in order to keep the horses on top performance level for another two months. That can be quite a long time, especially as their brilliant results in Schenefeld had proved that there wasn’t much need to practice anything, but they put it to good use by making appointments for vet checks and physio screening, and trying to get the farrier out at the targeted date. As night frosts had to be reckoned with, Julia and Sandra compared notes on how to outwit the anti-freeze protection of a lorry heating. Last but not least, Boekelo has a reputation for ample party opportunities, thus everybody made sure to engage their most experienced grooms (just as a precaution, to be sure ;-): Sandra and Ben were accompanied by their mums who welcomed the opportunity to use the free onsite groom accommodation provided by the organizers, and Julia’s sister Greta, who since their UK trip this spring can be looked upon as a professional, travelled more than 400 km from Flensburg, where she is at University now.

Day One: 1st Trot Up and Course Inspection

Already on Wednesday morning, the convoy left Warendorf for Boekelo, as though the “long formats” of former times with their roads and tracks and steeplechase phases no longer exist, that doesn’t keep certain event organizers from indulging in a 3-Day Event for 5 whole days…The first trot up was scheduled Wednesday at noon, everything went smoothly as expected. Then everybody was curious to inspect the crosscountry course: While Ben decided that the task was well matched to the strong points and the stamina of “Wildling”, who has been his trusting partner for many years, Julia thought that the heavily decorated fences and some tricky routes might well prove to be a challenge. Sandra with her usual deadpan preferred to wait and see…

Thursday + Friday: Acceptable Dressage Results and Nasty Weather

When the dressage starting order was published later, Ben was happy to have been elected for the German team. He and Sandra had to do their dressage tests on Friday, while Julia was due in the arena as the last team on Thursday afternoon, no bad starting positions. It proved that Julia had drawn the best lot, Thursday the weather was still dry, After the Battle did a nice test with just a little tension in the second canter and got 50,4 pp which meant 12th place before cross country. On Friday, the ground started to get muddy, but Sandra and Opgun Louvo (Wolfgang) put up a polished performance in spite of it and got awarded a score of 45,9 pp, 5th place! When Ben was due the rain had been pouring for hours, and though Wildling nevertheless did a proper job, Ben was not quite satisfied with his score of 53,6 pp. But there still was the responsibility for the team, and though the organizers offered opportunities for “drinking and merrymaking” nearly every evening, the PGV members were wise enough to refrain from too much partying and celebrated the settled dressage at a cosy restaurant. Another thing they were a little suspicious about was the “sponsor care” request, which meant attendance of the guests at the VIP tents on cross country day, initially no bad idea, but connected with the severe risk of having to deny (politely in Netherlands) numerous offers to clink glasses even before the all-important xc test…

Saturday: Great Fun in the XC course...

As the names of all three appeared far down the cross country starting order, they took advantage of it by going on another course walk Saturday morning, estimating the effects the rain had had on the ground, and how well (or not) the other competitors coped with the course. Especially the first water (fence 9a), a skinny V which had to be approached in a tight left turn and could only be recognized by the horses in the last moment, and fence 22c, skinny on a hilltop after a right turn and equally belatedly to discern, caused problems. The optimum time of 10:45 min was challenging enough and proved difficult to ride into. The most impressive sight were the masses of spectators lining the course in spite of the nasty weather:”Truly unbelievable how many people can be accommodated along a track of 6200m” observed Ben. After half of the field it was Julia’s and Buddy’s turn, they did a confident clear round. Julia was immensely pleased with her partner: “100% focused from start to finish, never pulling but always moving forward, confident and trusting at every new task, it’s been pure fun! And as he always fancies a good gallop anyway, he didn’t have the slightest problem to meet the time, I am convinced he would have gone another round just for the joy of it, he is a true Thoroughbred…”Sandra didn’t want to take any risks with Wolfgang, who is only 8 years, they did a confident, style-perfect round in 23 seconds over the optimum time. She was very satisfied with the performance of her coming star. Wild Thing Z had the most difficult part, the ground had become really muddy, he actually got a time penalty of 0,8 (very unusual for him), but nevertheless rocketed up the scoreboard by 19 ranks! “Wildling and I enjoyed this tremendously” assured Ben, who was especially happy that the German team had collected only some time penalties and was still in the lead.

... and Feasting during the Night.

The next hours were spent by the riders and their teams caring for their four-legged partners, and only after they could be certain nothing serious had happened and all this applying- ice packs and leg-cooling business was just a precaution and could be entrusted to the grooms, they got ready for some serious partying! In 3-Day Eventing, it is accepted custom to celebrate after cross country in any case (even more if it didn’t work out as it should ;-) Sandra, Julia und Ben are old hands at it, and as it is a point of honour for every eventer to check his horse personally at least two hours before the early Sunday morning-trot up, many a time you walk directly from the party back into the stable (now you know why some of the participants at the trot up appear somewhat conspiciously dressed up) …Luckily the vet check only concerns the fitness of the horse, whether the rider is walking straight is not to be judged. Furthermore long-time observations on high level showjumping competitions have confirmed, that a certain BAC (of the rider) does not impair the performance…

Sunday: Good Finish in Showjumping...

In spite of the party having been fully up to the occasion (and broken up rather early), the 2. Vet check didn’t pose any problems, what made especially Julia happy, as Buddy is already 15. But also Wildling was reported to have been truly relieved that he had been admitted to the trot up: When some months ago in Luhmühlen he could not be presented due to a minor injury in the stable during the night, he was seriously offended, according to his groom Sibylle Winter ;-) May be he was still poring over that, when later in the showjumping he kicked down his two only poles in this season’s competitions, rushing the pair down to the 13th place. But nevertheless Ben was quite satisfied with the performance of his “wild one”, especially as the German team had secured gold! Sandra and Julia managed to achieve some of the rare clear rounds in the quite technical course sporting some awkward distances. They finished on 9th resp. 4th place! Julia was over the moon with that final of the season, especially when she realized that she had be the only one to finish on her dressage score. Sandra is thrilled with her “baby” Wolfgang now being a grown-up top-level horse.

...Promising Perspectives for Next Year!

The dream has become true for all three of them: Each achieved a qualifying CCI***-result which makes him (or her) eligible for the EUCH 2011, and national coach Hans Melzer confirmed that they are ”in a good starting position in the combat for the places in Luhmühlen”. They are truly proud of the strong performance of the PGV team, and speculated about having won the team cup with a wide margin if they would have been entered as their own team, preferably together with the former PGV member Anna Siemer(Junkmann), who had finished on 10th place. But maybe the chance for that is still to come, though Sandra will be the next one to conclude her membership with PGV as she intends to take over responsibilities on her parents’ yard after her exam next spring.