Olympic Happy Hour: July 28

Throughout the Olympics, Horse Nation will be capping off each day with a pint-sized synopsis of the most recent Olympic equestrian sporting festivities. Here’s your Happy Hour report for Saturday, July 28.

Can you imagine trotting into the Olympic dressage arena, knowing that a lifetime of hard work and training are about to be boiled down to a few short moments on the world stage?

And, perhaps even more importantly, can you imagine what your is horse thinking? Best case scenario, he’s 100% focused on making your every wish his command. Worst case scenario, he’s looking around at the Olympic chaos surrounding him,  thinking WTF.

The electric Olympic atmosphere took its toll on Day 1 of eventing dressage.

I’ll let John be the bearer of lukewarm news. “The US had a bit of a disappointing day. I feel like each one of our riders is out there with a serious chance to blow away the competition, but today was a bit of a learning curve. I was ridiculous dedicated enough to get up this morning at 5am to watch the rides live, and we saw tense ride after tense ride. The atmosphere in that arena must have been off the charts, because almost every horse had at least one freak-out. I thought Boyd’s test was scored a little roughly (the curse of the first), Karen used all her experience to turn a bolt down the centerline into a halt at the end, and Tiana rode conservatively to a decent, but not brilliant test. All three of our riders have potential for much more, but unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards today. I expect that Will and Phillip tomorrow will add a touch more warmup to their schedule to take the edge off Twizzle and Mystery Whisper.”

At the end of the day, the Australians find themselves at the front of the pack with all of its team’s riders in the top 8, Germany’s lock on the No. 1 and 2 positions puts them in second, and home team Great Britain rounds out the top 3. Keep in mind that it’s not quite fair to calculate team totals at this point–John explains why here.

Olympic dressage scores after day 1:
1. Ingrid Klimke and Butts Abraxxas (GER)  39.3
2. Dirk Schrade and King Artus (GER)  39.8
3. Mary King and Imperial Cavalier (GBR)  40.9
4. Andrew Hoy and Rutherglen (AUS)  41.7
5. Ludvig Svennerstal and Shamwari (SWE)  43.7
6. Jonathan Paget and Clifton Promise (NZL)  44.1
7. Sam Griffiths and Happy Times (AUS)  45.4
8. Chris Burton and HP Leilani (AUS)  46.1
9. Karen O’Connor and Mr. Medicott (USA)  48.2
10. Virginie Caulier and Nepal Du Sudre (BEL)  48.3
11. Hawley Bennett-Awad and Gin & Juice (CAN)  48.7
12. Aoife Clark and Master Crusoe (IRL)  48.9
13T. Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere (USA)  50.7
13T. Marc Rigouts and Dunkas (BEL)  50.7
…

16T. Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz (GBR)  51.7
18. Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister (USA)  52.0
25. Michelle Mueller and Amistad (CAN)  57.0
32. Peter Barry and Kilrodan Abbott (CAN)  61.7
[Olympics Final Day 1 Scores]

Team average scores:
1. Australia 44.4 average (3 rides)
2. Germany 45.9 average (3 rides)
3. Great Britain 46.3 average (2 rides)
4. USA 50.3 average (3 rides)
5. New Zealand 50.4 average (2 rides)
6. Belgium 50.6 average (3 rides)
[Team Results]

Watch a full replay of Saturday’s dressage here.

Ingrid and Butts Abraxxas, photo by Erin Gilmore

Tomorrow’s another day, and you better believe we’ll be up early (5 a.m.!) to cheer on our peeps via Eventing Nation’s Olympic Live Blog. [Full Olympic Dressage Times] Consult our Equestrian Guide to the Olympics for viewing info, schedules and more.

Go Olympics!