that_show_jumping_girl: CHIO Aachen!

It’s the beginning of summer again and that only means 1 thing in my mind: CHIO Aachen time!!!! CHIO Aachen, Weltfest des Pferdesports (World Equestrian Festival, the Germans’ own little WEF party) is this giant horse show that lasts more than a week and features right about every equine discipline, even vaulting! The show jumping starts after the first weekend, on tuesday, and lasts till the Big Famous Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen. The biggest and most prestigious grand prix in the world. No kidding.

For me, the CHIO is like my personal New Years Eve. It means another year is over and in general, whatever I do the rest of the year, I always end up in Aachen in july. So every CHIO GP sunday, I wonder what the coming year will bring me. Where will I spend most of my time? Will I be at the next CHIO as a spectator or as an official horse owner or groom? Will I be there at all? This year has been great and very international, I was only home from the USA for 24 hours when I when to my first CHIO day.. But the coming ‘year’ I’m starting college in Holland, quite the adjustment after a year in the States! Thank god it’s a riding college with big ass internships that I can do my (probably American) way! ;-) Anyways, here’s a few lines for you about my days in Aachen 2013 so far!

Thursday June 27
Nations Cup day! Or: Preis der Nationen tag! Thursday is the second biggest day in Aachen after Grand Prix Sunday so luckily I still got in cause there were NO more tickets! Completely sold out! It was packed, wow! Aachen is so nice tho, the atmosphere is amazing and so far, no other show managed that. Yes, Wellington is amazing too, but hey, we’re talking about the holy green grounds of Aachen here! I didn’t do much on thursday, I arrived just an hour before the nations cup started and only met up with a friend for a bit. The NC itself was obviously cool to see, but I felt like a part of it was missing. It’s just not the same without an American team. (Or the Swedish team for that sake!) And I miss Rolf-Göran Bengtsson here. Just sayin! Anyways, NC was fine, the Dutch won, good job Holland, it’s never easy at the CHIO. I only took 1 picture, which I also put on instagram, and which then ended up on the fabulous website www.horseandstylemag.com, yay! They have a special section each month with their favorite instagram pictures! Check it out, their website in general is really fun.

my photo on the Horse & Style Magazine website! whoop whoop!

Friday June 28
An easy day, but I’ve been quite active! This morning I felt like practicing my course walking skills after a lesson with Sloane in Kentucky so I stepped foot on the hole green pastures! I think that was the first time even.. It was pretty cool. They had 3 different courses set up for pretty much the whole day so there were plenty of lines to walk! Apart from the normal jumps, it was also quite cool to see the (water) ditches and the water jump from up close. That last one has got to be the most hated jump ever together with the plank btw, those two cause like 70% of all faults. Not very surprising, both are huge! (Pictures at the end!) After I spend like an hour walking around in there, I went up to the Champions Circle VIP area which is like crazy high above the competitors stand. You almost need binoculars to see a horse! I met up with a Swedish friend I met in Florida, she works with Alvaro Demiranda & Athina Onassis and it was so nice to see her again! Plus, the heat lamps and the hot green tea were very welcoming too since temperatures are not quite summer-y here..!! In the afternoon I met up with a Norwegian friend whom I also met in Florida (yay for WEF, best new friends ever) and we watched the Jump & Drive together. This is such a fun class!! 8 show jumping riders are paired up with a 4-in-hand driver and first they jump a 1.25m course as fast as possible, then they gallop to their grooms in the corner of the field, jump off, throw their horse at their grooms (sometimes successfully, sometimes not quite, lol) and then they run as fast as possible to the driver’s carriage, jump on and ride on the back of it while the driver completes a driving course set in the main stadium too. It’s all about the speed and time and all the spectators are encouraged to cheer them on along with the music so it’s a pretty fun class to watch. Heads off for Boyd Excell, AUS, and Shane Breen, IRL, for being the fastest!
We then watched some of the eventers go in their show jumping phase and I was AMAZED at how many Americans I saw!!! There were team jackets literally everywhere I looked! Way to go USA!!! #USAreppin’ :-)

So that was another great day at the CHIO Aachen, I’m trying to go tomorrow and sunday as well and if i succeed, I’ll make a CHIO pt. 2 with all the new pics! For now, thanks for reading and enjoy the photos!