I think it’s time to see some competition horses here on the blog, don’t you? I ventured out of the office yesterday afternoon, in search of horsey photo opportunities … and boy did I find a good one!

rider Lillann Jebsen (Norway) being attended to by her grooms and receiving a few last words of instruction from her coach before heading into the final warmup arena
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… and all those people along the fence, facing the other way? They (and hundreds more) were awaiting the arrival of the Dutch superstar horse Moorlands Totilas …
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When they left this arena and entered the Main Stadium for their Grand Prix test, the crowd erupted. While Totilas performed his test, this lovely Andalusian stallion was warming up …
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This pair waited a few minutes past what should’ve been their usual time to enter the Main Stadium to avoid the noise and the huge entourage (crew, teammates, TV camera crew …) following behind Totilas.
Gal and Totilas earned a phenomenal 84.043% and helped secure the team gold medal for the Dutch. The British won their first-ever team medal in a Dressage World Championship: a well-deserved team silver. And the Germans won the team bronze. The U.S. team finished in fourth place.
Just for the record, Fuego XII (above) finished his Grand Prix test in fifth place with a 73.957%. The top four individual placings in the Grand Prix: Gal and Totilas in first (no surprise there), Laura Bechtolsheimer (GBR) in second, Steffen Peters (USA) and Ravel in third, and Isabell Werth (GER) in fourth.
After leaving the Dressage warmup area, I walked back down Nina Bonnie Blvd — past all the golf carts decked out in the flags of various countries — and into the Equine Village area. Where I saw this …
September 29, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Jennifer, What a treat to see the goings on behind the scenes. Thank you for taking the time to post these. Anne
September 29, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Great pictures, you were really very lucky.
Edward Gal has his stable less then 20 miles from me, but I have never seen him ride…
September 29, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I am really enjoying your postings. Keep up the great work. I should have given a different answer more than a year ago when my husband said, “Do you want to go to this thing?”