The Slower Road

Since it’s cool and rainy and generally kind of yucky here in Lexington today, I thought it would be a perfect time to head back to Germany for our penultimate look at the Celle CIAT. It was just as gray and wet on that Sunday afternoon as it is here today.

Following the cones competition, there was a bit of a break, and then we were all (during a brief dry spell) entertained by some of the Landgestüt’s stallions:

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And then it was time for the CIAT awards ceremony.

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After everyone had processed into the arena and lined up — during the actual awards ceremony, in other words — the skies opened up, and we all got soaked …

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wet dog … good dog, but wet dog

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I saw some horse-show photos yesterday … I think they were probably from the very early twentieth century. In one, as a test of the driver’s skill, a turnout was driving between two chairs. Percursors to our modern cones competitions, perhaps?

Speaking of cones courses, let’s head back to Germany to take a look at some of the Celle CIAT competitors on their cones course.

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the Polish five-in-hand was the last to go on the cones course and, unfortunately, it poured rain throughout their drive … Can you see the rain?!

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As promised, here’s a sequence of photos showing  Krzysztof Szuster’s and his five-in-hand during the final driver’s test at the Celle CIAT:

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It’s a good thing that A.J. and I both took a lot of photos while we were in Germany, as it’s allowing me to keep throwing photos up here while I work frantically continuously on the October issue of the magazine (it’s due to the printer in a few days). I hope you’re continuing to enjoy Germany as much as I am!

What we were able to see of the Celle CIAT country drive on Sunday morning was lovely, but we didn’t really end up with very many photographs in the end … what with the on-and-off rain, some limited sightlines through the various shrubbery, too much shade under the French Garden’s avenue of trees, and people wandering in front of us as we tried to photograph the turnouts.

Here are just two photos from the French Garden portion of the drive:

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… And here’s one from behind the new city hall building:

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The final portion of the drive was back at the Landgestüt:

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First, each turnout entered the arena and drove once around the track:

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Then, in the center of the arena was the final “test of the drivers’ skill” for the morning’s drive. The drivers had to come to a complete stop next to a stand that consisted of two platforms (at two different heights) on a pole. On one of these platforms (at the appropriate height for each driver) was a glass of champagne. They had to take the glass, drink the champagne, drive (holding the glass, so one-handed) to the next stand, stop there, and set the empty glass on that platform. Here, you can see one of the four-in-hand drivers reaching for his glass of champagne:

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I’ll have more on this driver’s test in tomorrow’s post …