Three Trakehners set off to participate at the Olympics in eventing this year, and all three of them finished! That in itself is already a great accomplishment for the small breed. Larissa *Pg* , Peppermint III and Windfall *Pg* left a strong impression during the days, representing three different Nations, truly "Trakehners Worldwide"!

The stage

Greece. A country in Europe's South-Eastern corner, the origin of democracy and rich in flavors, sounds and sights from a history that spans several thousand years. Athens, the capital of the country, is a city of about 2.5 Mio inhabitants, in fact, almost every second Greek lives in Athens. Crowded would be one word to describe it. It initially reminded me of Naples, but then, the architecture is so different. There was only half a day in the tight schedule of your TI reporter to actually go and see that famous Akropolis on top of a hill in the city center, but it was a very memorable visit. Of course, the place was filled with lots of people, I got to meet a few runners on the Ethiopian Track and Field team as well as some East European weight lifters who amazed me at not fainting in that dry heat despite carrying their massive bodies up that hill! True athletes, I guess. Unfortunately, that is all I can report on the ancient stage of the Olympics. The Equestrian Center in the small village of Markopolou was so far out that it was virtually impossible to travel back and forth between the city and the venture. And since horses were the reason we had made the trip, it was that South/East part of the Athens peninsula that we got to see. The fact that a part of "Team Windfall" was staying in the small fishing town of Porto Rafti, less than 20 min from the Equestrian Center, was a great opportunity for those invited for some outstanding parties. The harbour was beautiful, and here, the true feeling of being "on vacation" set in. At this point, I'd like to say a huge thank you to the Holekamp family, all of them, for hosting the team of Germans on the "Valkyrie". But see for yourself!

Squit drying in the sun	A lose ship	Porto Rafti

How it began and the first day of dressage:

The initial jog on Saturday, August 14th, saw all horses passing. A lot of confusion broke out when the officials made it clear that the jog would be closed for the public. Security in Greece was at a maximum anyway, the Equestrian Center was sealed off from public road access and shuttle busses and taxis were trying hard to help the spectators reach the venue. Sunday was the first day of dressage and was also the first appearance for Windfall, ridden by Darren Chiacchia for the USA. It was already late afternoon when he came into the ring, the wind had picked up considerably. The sun was low and the light in the arena almost surreal, in deep orange and with the blue Athens colors in the background. It was an amazing sight. Windfall performed nicely, but missed a bit of the "spark" one is used to from him and he had a major flaw at the second flying change, when he kicked hard for his rider's leg. The rest of the flying changes all didn't look too willing and I for myself automatically held my breath every time one came up. Darren handled him beautifully though and the big plus of this horse/rider combination was the suppleness and the fact they the horse was really "through", as we Germans say. A very correct ride, and the suppleness certainly was something a lot of the other horses missed completely. I would have liked to see more of that reflected in the scoring, either in Windfall's going up, or the others not reaching the same point. But it all came differently. Windfall finished on a score of 44.6 points which made him the 4th horse over night. The days' best dressage came from Germany's Bettina Hoy and her grey TB gelding Ringwood Cockatoo, a mount she had taken over from her husband Andrew Hoy some time ago.

Second day of dressage:

The second day, traditionally, is also the day where the scores go up for no apparent reason. Athens was no exception to that "rule", except that sometimes it really hit a point of being absurd. The day’s absolute highlight was the French grey gelding Galan de Sauvagere, a horse with exceptional gaits from any point of view, with scope and presence and ridden beautifully by his young rider. The high score of the day was just what he deserved and everybody agreed with that. Pippa Funnel and her bay Primor's Pride put in a lovely test as well, even though the judge from GB at some point started to high score her in a way that was less than acceptable. Same happened to Ingrid Klimke and her grey Sleep Late, an English TB gelding, who had a flawless test, but missed suppleness and sparkle, with a few mistakes. Nevertheless, the judge at C (Ch. Hess) must have been dreaming of Greek red wine, we had a hard time explaining the scores on some movements. All in all, the judge at C was the king of high scoring of the day, regardless of nationality of the rider. For the Trakehner enthusiasts, the first horse of the day was the bay gelding Peppermint III by Zauberklang, who performed beautifully and finished with a good score that placed her 26th after the day. Peppermint was easily defined as a Trakehner, he has the most beautiful type, is of medium size and refined and just a very nice horse to look at. The last Trakehner appearance of the day came from Canada's Olympic "veteran" Larissa under the saddle of Bruce Mandeville and owned by the Hollenbach family. She, unfortunately, did not have her best dressage day. She was pretty distracted all the way through the test (the wind from the nearby shore had picked up considerably that day) and was tense and not really listening to her rider. Larissa is the most TB looking Trakehner I have ever seen, she is slim and very well conditioned and really has the outline of a greyhound. The fact that there is virtually no TB blood in her first 4 generations is really amazing and also speaks a lot for that mare's will and athletic ability. It was great to finally see her in the flesh after reading so much about her for many years.

Peppermint III	Larissa *Pg*

The heart of it all: Cross Country

Cross country day had come. The course was really quite something. To appreciate the work done with it, you have to imagine the scenery in which it was nestled. Picture Southern California, with the dust from Death Valley thrown in, rocky paths and mountains as far as you can see. And wind, a lot of wind. In this complete "lifeless" set up, the officials had planted a highway of green, lush grass that had been watered 4 times a day for the past year. It was so soft, it felt like carpet and many people were walking it barefoot. The course was designed as a two-lane highway with a sharp, 180° turn at one end. The gallop would go up one way, and come down the other. A total of app. 47 jumps were sitting in this unreal green and we were all agreeing that as soon as the horses were gone, this would be Athen's best golf course. The jumps were beautiful to look at, designed with a great eye for the detail and just a lot of creativity. There was a small farm that even hosted several rabbits in a cage, windmills that were perfectly build, a water complex with boats, a lighthouse and a small waterfall, flowers wherever your eye turned. Walking the course on the second day of dressage was really one of the most memorable things of the whole trip (and thanks to our tour guide Darren, we also got some first hand info on how to "ride" it). Here are a few images for you to see what I mean:

The first horse of the day to run the new course was Austria's Rämmi Dämmi, whose trip was cut short by a fall at the bounce back into the water on the second half of the course. His rider suffered a broken nose, but the horse was fine and soon back in the barn area. The first Trakehner of the day was Peppermint III, who put in a very good looking round (video clip to follow) until he and his Swiss rider Marisa Cortesi had a communication problem at one of the last combinations which ended with Marisa falling off the bay gelding. She collected a ton of penalty points for that, but remounted and came home in one piece. Her little gelding had left a very strong impression on the course and it was really most unfortunate that their first Olympic appearance ended like this. Windfall's appearance on the track was one of the most fluid rides of the day. He had an anxious moment on the bank before the water, but the water itself was one of the best of the day. Darren did an excellent job of really getting him focused in front of the jumps, which occasionally resulted in Windfall's famous "disagreement", voiced as head shaking. He cantered with good scope and his speed was more than sufficient. They came home one second short of the best time, putting in a wonderful double clear round for the US Team. It was great to see Darren jump off the stallion, hugging him tightly and kissing his sweaty nose. Their "scary" moment came at the turn of the course, where Windfall briefly lost his balance and slipped with his haunches, touching the ground. He continued without problems after that, but that turn certainly was as spot of drama that day.

Of course there was more about cross country day. Not all of it great. The definitely worst moment of the day was the coffin run of the Belgium Team horse Over and Over. He came up the bank to the first obstacle and was either too fast or too disorganized, resulting in a hard crash into the first obstacle with his haunches. The impact almost flipped him over, he barely made it down the other side and had one front leg in the ditch when he went down, sending his rider to the ground. He stumbled out of the ditch, but then was unable to move, so ended up blocking the middle of the coffin, with the next horse approaching quickly (happened to be Windfall). It took the crew for ever to get him out of there, even after Windfall had boldly cleared the coffin with the horse standing in his way. He was dead lame. In the evening hours the word was passed that he had been taken to the "Equine Field Hospital" and a complicated fracture of his tibia, which was operated on, finally lead to the decision to put him down. A black hour for the sport. Another moment of drama was Ingrid Klimke's ride with her grey Sleep Late. Call it destiny, but it was the same sharp turn on that track where Windfall almost came down that her gelding fell, sending her to the ground as well. She was quickly back in the saddle and basically ran for her life after that incident. Ingrid Klimke came home with the best time of the day, despite her fall and separation from her horse. There were voices loud after that, calling it horse abuse and risky riding, but she commented that she never looked at her watch again after she fell and just "listened" to the horse and his abilities. Sleep Late looked good when he came over the finish line and a very surprised look came over Ingrid's face when she saw her time. Another astonishing issue was the downfall of some of the event's biggest favorites. The two veterans Andrew Nicholson and Andrew Hoy both fell off their horses after the skinny element of a drop-bank combination, which was very odd to see. Germany's Andreas Osthold also had a scary moment at that very jump. The comments on the design of the course varied greatly after it was all over. Sure, it was not a fully blown ****, probably not even a full ***, but it asked interesting questions and to the relief of many, all teams came home, even the more "exotic" ones like Brazil. The mood among the spectators was great, there was plenty of room for all to move around and a huge TV screen at the center of the course helped to follow all riders as they moved along the stretch. The TV crews really were excellent and the motorcyclists that taped the full canter of the horses at one stage of the tour really reminded me a lot of the Tour de France guys. Complaining was going on after the finish, especially from the group of riders that originally fought the hardest to keep the old format for the Olympics. My favorite example is Pippa Funnell, who, without a doubt, has shown us some incredible rounds in eventing over the past years. Athens was not her turf. She collected a bunch of time penalties and neither she nor her horse really looked happy running XC. She was later quoted saying that the test was too easy for her gelding and that she had to struggle to keep him from fighting for his speed throughout most parts of the cross, resulting in these time faults. The argument is that this is not a "real" cross country test. But let me ask this question: so the course was too easy for one of the greatest riders of our time, with one of the best horses of our time, which resulted in them picking up time penalties?? But isn't the "perfect" eventer, especially at the **** level, also a horse of outstanding rideability, and not only of speed and endurance?? For me, one can't come without the other. If her horse is that hard to handle, because he is not challenged enough, then he simply can't be all that great. Rideability is a great part of eventing, and calling that course "too easy", when we all watched a horse die out there, does sound a bit off. Sorry. That a horse with an amazingly big canter can still steer through that cross on the line, listening to his rider, obedient in all phases and still looking like nothing could possibly stop him was stunningly shown by Galan de Sauvagere. You automatically had tears in your eyes watching that horse go. What a thrill!

The coffin	Fans on course

Show Jumping and the beginning of the end

The cross country day had left a few horses unable to compete any further, among them the most unfortunate Over and Over, but also Tamarillo, of the British Team, and another horse from Austria. Because the stress had not been enough yet for the Holekamp-Windfall Team, the black stallion had suffered a strained ankle from XC day and was rather sore over night. His condition was still frightening by the time the next jog was due. This time in full public, he was one of the very few to be asked to the holding box. We can only imagine what must have gone through Tim Holekamp's mind....all these efforts, the hopes, dreams and also money...wasted? There must have been a few Trakehner Horse Gods out that day, since Windfall passed on his second jog. However, it was apparent to the team that he was sore and he would have to show his full heart and guts if he was to jump that afternoon. We'll make the long, nerve-racking story short: he jumped, he did a good job and had two rails down that were not even audible. Darren did a great job with the stallion and really left it up to him to make most decisions during the stadium round. Video will follow shortly online. Peppermint, our Swiss hero, had one rail and a few time penalties and finished his first Olympics in the last third of the field. I hope his rider will continue to grow with him and show him across Europe. He did a marvelous job and the outcome could easily have been very different for them, placing higher in the field. TI will try to stay tuned to this sympathetic gelding. And Larissa, second best horse of the Canadian Team in Athens, finished with a few rails down as well. She is usually a "clear" show jumper, but her distraction that had begun with dressage apparently persisted through her show jumping.

So, now you want to know what happened next? Well.....as far as I remember it, Germany, standing second after the XC day and leading after the first show jumpers for the Team had finished their day, should have send in Ingrid Klimke now, the second to last team rider. But there was no Ingrid. Shortly after I noticed she was missing, the board in the stadium announced that she had withdrawn. What had happened? According to those that were there, her Sleep Late (who passed the jog in perfect health) had come down dead lame after his first warm up jump. He was withdrawn right there, ending Ingrid's realistic dreams of an individual medal. His fall from the day before probably took more of its tall than expected. So Bettina Hoy would be the last rider for Germany and a clear round would secure the Team Gold medal, the first after the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Bettina entered the arena and circled pretty close to the start line. The position I had as an "eye-witness" did not allow for me to see what was going on, but independently of what came out of it in the end, the first thing I heard after the team rounds were over was "did you see THAT? She rode over the line twice?? And nobody cared to ring the bell???". I didn't see the clocks and I honestly didn't pay a lot of attention to it, as I thought she knew what she was doing. And the last thing I will do it get back into that heated discussion. The thing I want to say though, is this: the initial mistake came from Bettina Hoy, and not a judge who forced her to circle the line twice. She should have gone on with her course. As the rules state it. Clearly. Always have, always will. As we "small" riders all know it from every local show in the world. It was her (fully excusable) mistake in the first place, and a big, inexcusable mistake of the people in charge to not penalize her right there, that instant. Everybody would have felt with her. We're all only humans, and yes, we make mistakes. She should have gotten her technical refusal or whatever else points can be addressed for that. Period. The show that unfolded after this was unfair to all involved, and hurt the sport more than anything else I can remember. It was highly unfortunate for the German Team, that went from "we won" to "we lost everything" back to "we won" in less than 2 hours. It was equally unfair especially to the US riders who went from "no medal" to "bronze medal" to "no medal" in 2 hours. And it was gravely unfair to post the "news" while the individual show jumping round was already underway. How many times can officials lose during one night?? In Athens, they sure met a new standard in that respect. We now have the strange situation that France won the Team Gold, but also didn't really, when you count penalty points alone. The US could just as well have made fewer mistakes to win bronze. And for Team Windfall, these Olympics could have been over by the noon jog. Could have, would have.....I really wonder if the FEI will learn any lesson from this, or if the FEI is just another political organization that does whatever she pleases to do. If they don't change some important things soon, their credibility will be gone forever. And that at times where the Equestrian Sports, and Eventing in particular, have a hard time in the public eye anyway. It will be interesting to see what people will make out of this "affair" in the long run. In the meantime, we can all work on eliminating generalizations and hopefully working on improving our sport.

Just so you don't miss the end of the story, the Trakehner hero Windfall, still sore on his left front, but qualified for the round of the best 25, appeared again during the late hours of that Wednesday night, again jumping a round, giving it all, but pulling two rails. Windfall left Athens with a Team Bronze medal and a 12th place individually, the best placing of a Trakehner in Olympic Eventing since.....oh well.....1936? I don't really know. But it sure was awesome to see him there! Go Windfall, and to all our readers, I'd like to invite you to our 2008 report from Bejing....hopefully the internet will work over there!

This report would be nothing without the incredible pictures my many friends took for me: Kerstin Aronis, Sabine Brandt, Shannon Brinkmann, Ralph Kuhlemann and Mark Leiss. If our readers would like to obtain copies or rights for these pictures, please do get in touch with me as I'll gladly forward any requests.