Wednesday arrived. It was the day for the FEI Jr. Team Test. we had a very strong team. Jamie Pestana and Winzalot, Genay Vaughn and Waranja, Meg Adams and NASH, Stephanie Early and Panash. I didn't realize it until I listened in the barn area, but we were the favored team to win. California is hard to beat and we had a really strong team. David Wightman was our Chef d'Equipe and he determined our order of go after the draw. We drew the 9th position. This means one of our riders goes in the 9th time slot for each rotation. There are 4 rotations as most teams had 4 riders. This was a really good position for us.
Stephanie rode first. She put in a solid test and received a 64%. Next was Meg and Nash. Nash wasn't wanting to hold the left canter in the warm up (we later figured out the bug bites on the left side of his back were tender). I had Meg sit lighter on the left lead and let him lower his neck just a little. We were able to find a comfortable place where he would somewhat hold that lead. I advised Meg to go for it on all the other movements, and "safety up" when on the left canter lead. She rode the heck out of that test! You really know when someone is truly a competitor when they are up against the wall and really hang in there and get it done. she had a mistake free ride. The judges were all FEI judges, 3 were "O" (Olympic)judges. Several were from foreign countries. It was one of the best judging panels I have ever witnessed. There were very few discrepancies in the scores. Meg ended up with a 64.321%. We were thrilled - many of the scores were in the 50's, so anything over 62% was pretty good. Genay Vaughn was next to ride. She rode a nice test, but there were a few bobbles. She ended up with our drop score. Our last rider was Jamie Pestana. Jamie and Winzalot had been scoring really high in our region. We were not surprised when Jamie had the highest score of the class. I think it was a 68 or 69%. This really helped. We had no idea if were had won a medal or not, no one was talking!!! We were told to be down at the awards ceremony right after the class, dressed and horses in white polos and tack. We found out that we were the Silver medal team. Eastern Canada won the Gold. They were really strong and we would have needed one of our riders to score a 67% along with Jamie's ride, to win the gold. The bronze medal team was quite a bit below us in points. We would have been hard for them to catch. Our girls were shocked and soooooo happy. I was so proud of all of them. They really worked together as a team. Off we went to the awards ceremony. First, pictures for all the magazines!!! Then into the huge coliseum with the podiums just like the Olympics. Meg and Stephanie Early were shocked when they saw that they get to stand on the podium. It was a full-blown awards ceremony with all the dignataries, the raising of the flags, country anthems, victory gallops, etc. I hadn't seen the girls smile like that all week. They were BEAMING. It brought tears to my eyes as I know how much time, effort, planning, money, and perserverence it took to stand on that podium. It had all been worth it. I was wearing my ball cap that says "Believe" in sparkly letters. It is my good luck cap and reminds me to dream big. We have all had to keep "believing" throughout this process. Many times, it would have been easier to just give up and walk away, but perserverance and stubborn are my two middle names!!! I have always and will always believe in Meg and Nash. They are a team. They love each other very much - each is there for the other. It was obvious during this ride, when Nash held it together for Meg even though his back was tender. Horses always amaze me with their generosity. Meg was equally there for Nash. She understood what was going on and did her best to help him.
After going back to the barn, we evaluated Nash's back and realized how sore the bites were. We had an attending vet look at him and petition to the FEI vet to allow treatment. We were granted permission for treatment and Nash was given a shot to help reduce the inflamation. He was much better by that evening. The next day was a rest/schooling day.
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