Photo Competition 5 funny photo

Ad your favourite funny photo here. Here is mine, Susan apparently de-bugging Julian's hair ( I won't tell you what she was really looking for) while we waited for the bus at the 3DE. Jen

Photo Competition 4 Pony Champs

Ad your best pics form the pony champs.
Jen

Comp 3 best pic form our week in Munster

Ad any pics you think are worthwhile from our week in Munster, they could be from any of our visits or from around Munster. Don't forget to ad some text so we know who's pics we are looking at
Jen

Photo comp 2 best pic from the European Junior and YR champs

Ad your pics and some text here if you have an entry in this competition.
There could be a prize so have a go.
jen

Competition time - comp for the best pic from Heidleberg

OK, now we can start our compeitions.
Pleas ad your best photo of Heidleberg ( notfrom the compeition but from the schloss or around town. Don't forget to ad some test here so we know who's pic is whose.
Jen

What a time!

Well by now I have recovered from my jet lag and am back at school, but still I am dreaming of Germany. Thankyou to all our sponsors and Jenny for giving our group the oppurtunity to do all the wonderful things we did. It was a great learning experience for us and I know i'll never forget it... I'm already putting some of the exercises we learnt into practice in my training.

The standards of both horse and rider combinations in Germany were so great and I now no what level of quality I should be striving for both at home and at competition. I cannot write all my notes and thoughts of the trip on one blogspot, and all of them I consider to be of value.

Thankyou again to all the people involved in the planning of this trip, it was GREAT!

Let's start at the very beginning...

...A very good place to start!

Now that I have (nearly) recovered from jet lag by sleeping 18 hours a day, I have sorted through the hundreds of photos I took to go with my recollections of an awe-inspiring tour of Deutschland, for which I gratefully thank Jenny Carroll for all the time spent coordinating the numerous attendances at the championships and studs that resulted in a once in a lifetime experience. Also a thank you to everyone who helped us by providing contacts who were willing to give their time freely so that we could learn what has enabled the Germans the world recognised leaders of dressage.

Anyway, we started the tour at Heidelberg, a beautiful town in the province of Baden-Württemberg. Attached is a photo showing the view from the top of one of the mountains. On the day of arrival, we took a "leisurely stroll" up to the ruins of the Schloss (castle) - photo attached - before having dinner on the Fussgängerzone (pedestrian zone) near the cathedral not far from the kornmarkt ('corn market') - photo attachted.

Next day, after some skillful bus driving through tiny streets, we arrived at the Brookhouse Stud, home of Emma Hindle, a British Olympic rider. Emma kindly demostrated riding one of her FEI stallions - photo attached. Afterwards her stud manager willingly spoke to us about the steps undertaken to select and purchase horses suitable for Emma to ride and for breeding. Emma has a strong and focused personality and clearly knows what she wants in an Olympic horse. She willingly and openly shared her views and opinions on training and preparing horses and what criteria she thought was important in determining if the horse will make it to Grand Prix. Suprisingly she was perhaps more forthright than the German trainers who we met later. Lastly, some of her mannerisms and looks (including long ponytail) reminded a few of us of our own Rachael Sanna!

As I sort through my photos, I will post more on our trip.

Bis Später!
Emz