The Slower Road

A few tidbits for this Thursday (Day 6 at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games):

I had previously mentioned having heard that about 40,000 school kids were expected to visit the World Equestrian Games this week. Wrong. According to this morning’s edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader (our local newspaper), the actual total is closer to a whopping 52,000! It looks (and sounds) like a great number of them are here at the Games today.

I’m sorry I didn’t have my camera with me a few moments ago, as two Dutch fans (you can always recognize that particular shade of orange in a shirt) walked by the CAA’s front door, toward the Indoor Stadium, which is featuring the individual finals in Reining right now … they were wearing the world’s most enormous, orange (of course) foam cowboy hats!

Some scenes from yesterday evening:

the completed decorative “wrap” on the Main Stadium, glowing a bit in the evening light and reflecting in the lake … remember the Land Rover on the floating platform? it’s been floated closer to this end of the stadium and had its platform decorated

another Jon Carloftis-designed garden in the trade fair / exhibition area; this one is in the center of the Kentucky Experience

a horse sculpture in a corner of the KY Experience garden

this photo is a bit dark, but see all the people?? this was at about 7 p.m.: the official closing time for the trade fair, but many vendors still seemed to be doing brisk business

And, finally, we interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this news:

(Those of you who are regular followers of this blog will know by now that I do occasionally throw in a few posts, during the appropriate season, regarding our University of Kentucky basketball team. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it … we Lexingtonians are really excited about our Wildcats these days.)

Tickets go on sale Saturday for Big Blue Madness, which is the end-of-October first “official” practice for the basketball teams, and when the new additions to the team for that year are introduced to the Wildcat fans. The event is held in Rupp Arena (where the UK men’s basketball team plays its home games), which holds more than 20,000 people. As I understand it, the tickets for Big Blue Madness are quite inexpensive, but they go verrry quickly and mostly to UK students. The new BBM tradition on UK’s campus is to wait in line to buy tickets. Some people wait in line so long that a tent village springs up, and people camp out for days. I think it was yesterday morning that UK officials permitted the “line” to start forming (tickets don’t go on sale until Saturday, remember), and there were several hundred tents set up by yesterday afternoon. If this year is anything like last year, the “line” will grow to impressive dimensions by the weekend. Last year, the basketball coach and players came out on several occasions to meet the campers, hand out pizza, and generally thank everyone for being there. And, as my husband is fond of saying … all this for a *practice*!  Go Cats!!

And we’ll now return to our regularly scheduled program … the next post will be either WEG- or horse-related. I promise.

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

.

… 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 …

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas in the second of three consecutive warmup arenas …

… and being attended to by his Dutch crew (boots and wraps off, hat on, etc.) before entering …

… the third and final warmup arena

.

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 …

Spain’s Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz on Fuego XII

.

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 …

some serious trick riding

about to enter the Clinicians’ Corral for a demo … I think he’s going to have to duck!

When you come through the main spectator entrance at WEG, one of the first things you see (after the program sales and the official-WEG-merchandise tent) is the entrance to the Alltech Experience. Here, you can turn to the right (instead of to the left) and venture into the beautiful trade fair. OR … you can turn to the left and head inside.

a group of school children gathered at the entrance to the Alltech Experience (the man on the right in the orange hat is welcoming them); I hear this is one very small part of the nearly 40,000 school children expected to attend the WEG this week

.

after going through a building with several display rooms, you exit onto this promenade, surrounded by gardens, display areas, and beer gardens

.

including this beautiful garden shed built with local reclaimed wood …

.

… and a vegetable garden by famed garden designer (and local resident) Jon Carloftis

.

… who also designed the more formal garden surrounding the stage and the promenade

.

Borrowing from Lexington’s Horse Mania theme, this area of the Alltech Experience is also filled with horses:

“Shellshocked”

“Fairytales”

a Kentucky-themed horse

a horse covered in a pink quilt, of sorts

a horse wearing … um … something, on its head

Where the Wild Things Are

… and finally … not your average stick horses

one of downtown’s “countdown” clocks, which have been up for more than a year … this should probably be “0” and not “1” … but: “THE GAMES HAVE ARRIVED” … that’s new!

 .

Lexington’s Civic Center … the trees on the right are at Triangle Park, one of three downtown festival venues during the Games

 .

mmmm … coffee …

 .

… and breakfast, which I shared with my husband …

 .

… in exchange for some of this, which was delicious and full of nuts

 .

Saturday morning wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the farmers’ market

. 

one of the beautiful market sights this time of year

 .

getting on the local “Horse Park Express” bus … we’re finally on our way!

 .

just past the main spectator entrance for the WEG is the Alltech Experience, which (I hear) is full of displays, information, food, beer, and a beautiful garden

 .

an early look at the trade fair; when I took this photo, the first session of the Reining competition was underway in the Indoor Stadium

 .

the mechanical cutting horse in front of the CAA building is already attracting riders

 .

our CAA building: Home Sweet Home-Away-from-Home for the next two weeks!

 .

after a full day of WEG-related activites or “regular” Saturday activities, it was time to come to the Main Stadium for the long-awaited WEG opening ceremony

 .

the University of Kentucky cheerleaders (18-time national champions) played a part in the opening ceremony … here, they’re warming up; nearby, the members of Team USA were gathered, awaiting their chance to line up for the Parade of Nations

 .

the stage … which, over the course of about three hours, featured an orchestra, a choir, bluegrass musicians, Wynonna Judd, the American Spiritual Ensemble, stars of the Metropolitan Opera, Sara Lee Guthrie (daughter of Arlo), and more

 .

representatives of several Native American tribes offered a “prayer for all nations”

 .

the drill team from Culver Academy performed, and then several members (who were on foot) raised the U.S. flag while the national anthem was sung

 .

another beautiful sunset, over the stadium during a recreation of a 1940s-era “horse show,” which featured a number of champion Saddlebreds, both ridden and in harness, and a harness horse driven by Kentucky resident William Shatner

 .

at the end of the Parade of Nations, the loudest applause came for the host country … the USA … here, Karen O’Connor waves the U.S. flag, just before handing it to four-in-hand driver Tucker Johnson, who waved it for the second half of their lap around the arena