WEG is in full swing and a number of interesting things have happened…most of it not in the dressage arena…and I mean that in a good way! By interesting…I mean not gone to plan. Tryon 2018 has already seen an number of problems.
- A botched start and then fully canceled Endurance competition.
- Brutal weather. Rain, sun, rain yesterday. 90+ degrees today, full sun and high humidity and we expect Hurricane Florence to impact here starting Saturday or Sunday. Mud EVERYWHERE.
- Tons of construction and lack of organization across the board. As nice as parts of this facility is, they were not ready for this event. I hope that the experiences for the riders and horses are more organized than the rest of the event!
- Some quite unhappy vendors.
- Issues with shuttle buses with excessively long waits to reach parking
HOWEVER. Dressage has been amazing (and Reining is going well too). There’s been plenty to watch, eat and shop around.
Dressage did not fail to wow with some really special performances. Isabell Werth and Bella Rose took your breath away – and are easily the favorites to win the individual and there were many exciting new pairs. The German team did exactly what they should have done and dominated with 4 WOW rides. Team USA had great rides as well and finished in silver. Team Great Britain without their champion Valegro pulled together beautiful rides for a Bronze finish! It was a fabulous end to a great two days of competition.
I’m excited to see the action the rest of WEG holds for us!