WEG Team SJ

[lil_northener]

Is there anymore on TV???

 

[BBs]

I still cant get the flipping streamer to work on my pc

however, if it doesnt start till 6:30 then I need not worry!

I must admit I am not missing the rain!

 

[SJFAN]

Indeed - could well be worth switching to Ireland. It's happened quite a bit in SJ for many years. I'm sure there will be others, but here are those that spring to mind: Hugo Simon changed to Austria as he couldn't get on the German team, Franke Sloothaak and Jos Lansink from Netherlands to Germany and Belgium, Edgar Cuepper went from Belgium to Luxembourg, Bulgaria acquired Gunter Orschel from Germany and Samantha McIntosh from New Zealand, Andre Sakakini went from Egypt to Italy, and Frenchman Fabrice Lyon is riding for Libya at WEG. The money man behind the Ukraine set-up wanted to add Steve Guerdat to his "empire" but evidently he refused to give-up his Swiss nationality. Over the years GB has lost Peter Charles, Lesley McNaught, Joe Turi, Jamie Wingrave and Helena Weinberg - in her case because of marriage, just as Meredith Michaels Beerbaum eventually switched from USA to Germany.

 

[BBs]

So there is still chance for me yet then

Helena Weinberg has interestingly changed her name to Storrmans (after her recent marriage to Tim). Im surprised shes taken his name, as his reputation isnt fantastic! Whilst I was at their yard last week, all their trailers and lorrys have all be newly sign written with her and Tims name across.

It was the grand opening of their yard last Monday, everyone who is anyone in SJing was there, apparently a real good bash - shame I had to miss it by a day

 

[SJFAN]

12 years younger than her and he started training with Helena and Peter when he was 16! Do you know if her parents are still living out there? I know they did move over when the children were little.

 

[BBs]

The whole shooting match live on site!!! her parents, Tim and Helena, the children and the grooms.

Have you checked out their website, I guess you have, the outdoor arena is fantastic but has NO drainage! so its unridable and ankle deep in water - which didnt look great when you had all these famous SJers coming to eye up your facilities.

Yes 12 years younger! there is hope for me yet to bag a young rider

 

[Lobelia_Overhill]

Maybe we could set up our own HHO nation? LOL

 

[SJFAN]

Amazed about the drainage problem - the area has the same sort of weather as Britain - but I assume they will be working on it pretty quickly.

Good luck - make sure you go for a wealthy toy boy!

 

[SJFAN]

Great idea - if only we had the money!

 

[BBs]

Exactly! same weather - or worse as the last 3 wks have shown!.

It was done on the cheap - and I expect they are now regretting it! as basically its only rideable when its dry - on Sunday night we had one hell of a thrunder storm and the arena was pretty much running away

Its not small either, being near on an acre in size!

[ QUOTE ]
make sure you go for a wealthy toy boy!

[/ QUOTE ]

I shall try, how else am i going to afford to have my nice EVENTERS

 

[SJFAN]

While watching the Team Final I remembered that we lost Anneli Drummond-Hay to South Africa and many years later gained Davd McPherson!

 

[BBs]

Makes a nice change someone wanting to ride for Team GB!

By the time I had got the streamer to work at home, the SJing had finished

apparently the fences looked quite small - I had heard that they were going to lower the fences due to the ground conditions.

So who won? was there any drama or was it all relatively a forgone conclusion who was going to win.

 

[SJFAN]

There were a few changes to the course - the water and the spread before the treble were removed and another vertical put in, and the Liverpool was changed to an oxer over a sand tray but according to course plan details several fences were made wider. The track was 40m shorter and the time adjusted accordingly. Certainly didn't look small to me! Plenty of excitement with Germany snatching Bronze from Ukraine by 0.01 of a fault despite Marcus's retirement (had 4B and mare put down at 6 - a thin wall in the form of a postage stamp - and almost fell through it). If Katharina Offel had not had a time fault the medal would have been theirs. For Germany only Ludger and Meredith through to the 3rd qualifier and only Michael for GB.

Back to nationality changes - Juan Carlos Garcia is a Columbian, now an established member of the Italian team. He was riding Loro Piana Albin III, at 18 the oldest horse in the SJ.

 

[The Voice]

I didn't think our horses performance was bad as a team, and even with Arko or other missing horses i don't know if there would be better jumping results but with every rider incurring time faults over the two rounds we were never going to put pressure on the teams above us. Giving away 6 points seems very strange especially as we have some of the most experienced riders in the world. If they had gone within the time in the second round we would have been 7th (0.82 behind Ireland) and the pressure put on the other teams may have caused errors. I suppose it was a gamble that didn't work with great performances by some of the other teams.

Good luck to Michael who again has been our most consistant rider.

 

[SJFAN]

Absolutely agree - a decent consistent performance, and a considerable improvement on last year's European Champs showing. In fact they were one of the most consistent teams over the 3 days if you count all 4 riders! But speed is a major problem they must do something about. The speed leg has usually been GB's Achilles' Heel over the years, and while the odd time fault is to be preferred to a fence down, they really should be able to step up a quarter of a gear. Watching last night you could tell in each case 3/4 of the way round that they would be over the TA. Neither Portofino nor Peppermill naturally cover the ground particularly fast which is a problem in such a big arena.

 

[The Voice]

The funny thing is that our riders normally do well in the speed classes/smaller GP's abroad when against the clock.

I thought the Dutch were fantastic and held it together very well. Some brilliant perfomances especially Jos Lansinks round again which has really pulled him up the table, and after seeing the Dutch get gold, has an incentive to do well. Shutterfly could be the one to watch as just of the pace so Meridith has not got the real pressure and if Michael can put in another performance, could move up the table. Should be good tomorrow.

 

[SJFAN]

Cumano is super and I've also been very impressed by another grey, Cantus, on the Swiss team, one of only 5 horses yet to have a mistake. I'd like to see someone rescue the grey that the UAE individual sat on (as opposed to rode). Very genuine but he had it moving fast, but long and low - had no chance going into the treble and despite the inevitable demolition of the first part and being entirely wrong for the middle, still urged it to take off. I believe competitors who do this sort of thing, at whatever level, should be given a warning by the judges. Similarly it was sad to see Hugo de Gesmeray which Gregory Wathelet used to ride so well being really badly ridden by a KSA rider in the 1st round - a relief that he didn't start yesterday.
The placings are so close that over the 2 rounds tomorrow all of the riders are in with a chance of making the Final. Should be very exciting.

 

[dieseldog]

Don't forget that Joe Turi wasn't originally British.

 

[SJFAN]

No I didn't forget that. Joe "escaped" from the Cskio display team on a visit to the UK and eventually became a British citizen who was proud to represent his adopted country, particularly on the European Championship winning team in 1989. He went back to his native Hungary as he was able to buy a home and develop facilities he could not have afforded here. Jamie Wingrave is now benefiting from that. I noticed that Mike Bullman was the Chef d'Equipe of the Hungarian team at WEG.