The Slower Road

we saw these enthusiastic Dutch fans on our way to the marathon course

first to go on the marathon: Germany’s Georg von Stein

driving as an individual for the U.S., Mike McLennan now stands in 21st place overall

although he finished the dressage phase tied for second place, Chester Weber (USA) has now unfortunately dropped to 13th overall after the marathon

Australia’s Gavin Robson (who lives in Ohio)

Koos de Ronde (NED) in the Squirrel Grove obstacle

Australia’s Boyd Exell (who lives in England) is currently in the lead … he was met at this obstacle with chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie … Oi, Oi, Oi”

an unusual view: Germany’s Ludwig Weinmayr heads straight up the steep incline at the Walnut Hill obstacle

U.S. driver Bill Long

Canada’s Darryl Billing taking his team around Isaac Bingham’s widemouth bass

Tucker Johnson (USA) entering the final obstacle; he is currently in third place overall

Tucker’s horses in obs. #8; the crowd here cheered mightily for Tucker, and after exiting the obs., he stood up and waved to everyone, which made them all cheer even more

before the final driver (Chardon) came to the final obstacle, a flotilla of golf carts came streaming down the hill toward us

Ysbrand Chardon (NED) looked very pleased with his run after he’d exited this final obstacle; he won the marathon phase

first: a view of the contraption that got us all the way up there

obstacle #1 – Kentucky Horses …

… and a view all the way to the horizon

obstacle #2 – Head of the Lake …

and a close-up of the bridge and the island

obstacle #3 – Spook Hollow … this one is difficult to photograph from above because half of it is hidden by trees …

and a close-up of one of the Jack-o-Lanterns on the posts in this obstacle (he has hair!)

obstacle #4 – Walnut Hill

obstacle #5 – The Stone Garden …

and a close-up of the wall

obstacle #6 – Squirrel Grove …

and a close-up of one of two squirrels at the entrance to the obstacle (you can’t see them in the previous photo) … it’s holding flowers in its paws

obstacle #7 – The Wagon Yard …

and a close-up of some of the Western-themed decorations

obstacle #8 – The Spring …

and me! … well, my shadow, at any rate

and, finally, while we were up there: a view of the Main Stadium with people arriving for this evening’s Jumping competition

the leaders in the team of Koos de Ronde (NED), who scored 52.22 on his dressage test

I’m assuming this is the daughter of Fredrik Persson (SWE)

Josh Rector (USA) consulting with the U.S. team coach, Michael Freund, before driving his test (he scored 57.09)

Tucker Johnson was the first to drive in the afternoon, and he was the final U.S. Team driver to go; here, he and a train of helpers head up the hill from the schooling area to the warmup arena (he scored 40.19 to tie with Timmerman)

Tucker warms up under the watchful eye of coach Michael Freund

knowing that Tucker plans to retire from competition after this event, the crowd (here, fellow U.S. team members and supporters) gave him a huge send-off

Australia’s Boyd Exell warming his horses up for what turned out to be a phenomenal dressage test; he said later that he almost had to stop himself from smiling during his test because his horses were so good they “were doing it on their own”

Boyd being interviewed by members of the press after finding out that his score (30.08) was a new record in World Championship competition

Mike McLennan (driving as an individual for the USA) was the second driver to go this morning; here, he’s warming up his team

… and chatting with his coach, Peter Tischer, before going in the arena

after finishing his test (he scored 67.46), Mike chatted with members of the media

I saw a lot of these this morning: U.S. flags duct-taped to golf carts

U.S. team driver Chester Weber during his dressage test, for which earned a penalty-point score of 35.97 — exactly the same as Ysbrand Chardon’s dressage score

while executing a one-handed circle, Chester’s leaders are in perfect step with each other

Theo Timmerman currently stands in second place (or is it third?) behind the two drivers tied for first …

… and Christoph Sandmann is currently in third (fourth?) place

currently standing right behind the top three/four: Sweden’s Tomas Eriksson (50.30)

Bill Long (here, executing a one-handed circle) is driving as an individual for the U.S. …

… as is Casey Zubek, shown here saluting the judges before beginning his test