Day 4 Part 1 Individual Competition and Gala Evening

Day 4 and the pressure begins to build again. Riders are now drawn in ranked order from the teams results so today we see a few riders who are desperate to make up for not so good scores in the teams in the hope that they can make it into the freestyle. We saw quite a few mistakes with movements not on the marker but a few nervous horses from the earlier competition did improve. One of the German combinations scores 69.85% which would have put them in the top 8 in the teams test so perhaps she has a chance for Sunday.The Austrian rider pictured Jacqueline Toniutti and Willibrands Riverdanced also improved thier placing with 65.65%
The Gala evening was a big highlight today; the theme of Circus under the starlight began with buskers , fire jugglers and acrobats around the entrance to the grounds. All the local clubs participated with every activity on offer from Scottish Pipe band to an enthusiastic if not exactly polished performance by the local belly dance group.
2 presentations were a big hit with everyone: The working dogs that could herd goats over a fence and separate black from white ducks & put them back into their cages. The other was a presentation by the police horses that were subjected to fire crackers, walking over balloons, jumping over fire and rolling a huge ball, a young rider quadrille, harness display and many other acts followed.
The finale was to be a big surprise - although most people suspected that the top German riders would make an appearance; sadly, we didn't get to see as it was already 12.00 and we had a taxi to catch.