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Hannah's News |
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| August 8, 2006 News sent from Colin Schmidt on behalf of the Canadian Vaulting Team Members of the CEVT are using two sets of horses at the games. One set of horses, being used by Jessica Townsend of the Sky Vaulters in Surrey, are from the Czech Republic. The second set of horses, being used by Hannah Marland of the Spruce Valley Vaulters in Rocky Mountain House and Alisa Porter and myself of the Cheam Vaulters in Chilliwack, are from Germany. All four team members are now training on these horses at the horses’ home stables getting ready for the games. All of us also had the opportunity to train on our horses when we where all in Europe this past May. Before I go further though, I must introduce (with thanks and praise!) our support team. Our Chef d’Equipe for these games is Susan Barron. Susan has done an amazing job keeping track of all the entry rules and making sure that Canada gets the representation it deserves. She is the team’s link to the Equine Canada Chef de Mission, Mike Gallagher, and is responsible for submitting the team’s accreditation and entries (which is a lot of work!) Susan’s assistant, as well as our team physiotherapist, is Jenny Trampler. Jenny is also helping us out with some practices on her own horse, Fred, whenever our schedules work out. Marita Hoppe has helped organize the horses for those of us training in Germany. Her and her family has also helped us out with both a house and a car to use while we are here training! Beyond that, Marita is also our valued German translator. The “Moms” of this team are Jan Townsend and Becky Marland. Jan is in the Czech Republic with Jessica, while Becky is here in Germany with us. Alisa, Marita, and myself thank Hannah for sharing her mom with us Our meals would not be of the same quality without her! Now, back to the horses and Longeurs. In the Czech Republic, Jessica has been training on Duke, Atom, and Scanie. Her primary horse is Duke and her backup horse is Eskadra. Her longeur is Petra Cinerova. In Germany, Hannah and Alisa are using Caveman as their primary horse, whose longeur is Marion Rautenberg – Cornelissen. I will be using Pikaro for my primary horse, whose longeur is Kurt Isensee. Hannah and Alisa will have Pikaro as their backup horse, and I will have Caveman for my backup horse. As we have just arrived here in Germany, we are just getting reacquainted with the horses. Below are some pictures of Alisa saying hello to Caveman and Hannah telling him what a good boy he is. Our practice time is limited before the German Championships this coming weekend (August 10th to 13th) but during the competition we have been invited to practice on some other very nice horses in order to keep us in shape and on track. We are traveling from the house we are staying at to the barn where Caveman and Pikaro live each day, a 45-minute drive with no traffic, or a two-hour drive during rush hour! We have introduced ourselves to a local vaulting club though who are just around the corner. They were excited to see us and offered us the use of their practice barrel and they are going to organize a horse practice and BBQ for us on Thursday Meanwhile in the Czech Republic Jessica and Jan have settled back into their room in Drasov where they stayed this past May as well. Although the weather had been very hot before they arrived, the rain and thunder welcomed them instead! The South African vaulters are training there as well, so 11 of them plus Jan and Jessica will be sharing one kitchen and bathroom – “it should be fun!” they said in their email They are starting to plan their travels from the Czech Republic to Aachen. It should be a 15 to 20 hour drive in the bus tagging along with the van and horse trailer. General life here in Germany is just getting settled. It took the weekend to get all our groceries, shop for items we couldn’t pack and find the right parts to get the Internet connection. We have shared the Internet between our laptops and the Internet phone. The Internet phone let’s us stay in touch with everyone back home at no cost per call, which is quite a change from years past where phone conversations to family and friends had to be quite short. For those who don’t know already, look for full coverage of the games on CBC Country Canada every day for the whole two weeks of the games. CBC is even brining in discipline specific experts to add commentary to the coverage. The commentary for vaulting will be provided by Debbie Bentzaen of the Mt. Arrowsmith Vaulters on Vancouver Island. The opening ceremonies will be on Sunday, August 20th, and the vaulting competition will be from Thursday, August 24th, to Sunday, August 29th.  |
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| June 14, 2006 We arrived home from Bad Oldesloe on Monday afternoon 3 weeks ago and were met at the airport by two of our children, Marita and Diego! Quite a surprise to learn that Jim was in hospital in Red Deer so couldn't come himself! On the previous Saturday he broke his ribs falling off a horse! He is now home and recovering slowly, it reminded Hannah and I how necessary it is to be balanced and flexible and able to fall off a horse in a relaxed and professional manner! Our last week of vaulting in Germany was not as sunny and warm as the previous two weeks. Caveman, who is the horse that Hannah will use for WEG, had recovered from his bruised foot and was trying out new shoes. Hannah's last few practises on him were very good and we left with a good impression of Caveman's canter and the promise of more good things to come in August. Colin also had some good time on Pikero, who he will use at WEG. Our overall impression of the way vaulting is experienced in Germany is going to influence our future vaulting practises! We will be focussing on body tension a lot and also flexibility and strength in arms and legs. The German Mill (round the world to non-vaulting equestrians) is well worth striving to achieve! Most of all, the quantity and quality of vaulting horses in Europe is awe-inspiring. Hannah and I were tempted, more than once, to pack one in our suitcase and bring him home! Another thing for us Canadian vaulters to strive for, and I am sure we have enough good Warmbloods in Alberta to choose from.
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| May 18, 2006 We have had a most interesting time here - finding out all about the kind of training the German vaulters go through. Some of it is worth adding to our own routine and some of it is not. Hannah has done very well - her motto has been 'adapt and overcome'! The two horses we are leasing for the WEG are wonderful. One, Pikero, is over 18 hands and and the other, Caveman, is 18 hands and has a better canter for vaulting. Pikero is currently being used for the A team at this barn in Bad Oldesloe. Caveman is only an individual horse. Hannah and Alisa will use him for the competition and Colin will use Pikero. We have been to a regional competition in Vechta last weekend. One of the girls here was to compete on Caveman, but sadly did not get to vault as Caveman bruised his heel during warm up. He now has new shoes and starts practise again tomorrow. The competition was most interesting as we saw all the Junior Teams from the Western Region of Germany. We have lots of video footage! After the competition Hannah and I went to stay with Kurt Isensee, one of our lungeurs (Pikero) in Bremen. He showed us some lovely potential vaulting horses and also round the town of Bremen - if you have ever read the children's story 'The Musicians of Bremen' you will recognize the name! We have been joined by Jessica Townsend this week. She has also qualified to vault at WEG. She was at the CVI in Brno, Czech Republic, last weekend and did very well there. So, more barrel practise tonight and on to the horses tomorrow. |
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| May 6, 2006 We arrived in Bad Oldersloe, near Hamburg, on Thursday night. We are staying in a tiny apartment in the town and are close enough to the barn to walk there whenever we have practise. Fortunately the weather is beautiful - sunny and warm and all the blossoms are out. We have now tried out both horses that are ours to lease for the WEG. Pikero is a large warmblood with lots of experience in vaulting competitions. Caveman, a Holsteiner, is younger and less experienced but the team really like his canter! We will have the next two weeks to see which one will work out best for which members of the team. Jet lag is now over, although we manage to sleep lots and get lots of exercise walking to and from the stable. Everyone has been very kind to us. Work will start for real tomorrow afternoon and the vaulters will soon get to know these lovely horses and make some real progress on their routines. |
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| April 26, 2006 We will be meeting Colin Schmidt and Alisa Porter in Hamburg. We fly out on different airlines, but will both arrive at the airport on 4th May. Hannah and I, and hopefully Colin and Alisa too, will be met at the airport by Marion, the owner and longeur of Caveman, one of the horses that we are leasing for the WEG. Our training schedule will be confirmed on our arrival, but it is tentatively set to start on 5th May and end on 19th May. We have two horses to vault on: Pikero, who has taken the Canadian team before and is an experienced competitions horse, will be longed by Kurt; and Caveman, a younger and less experienced horse, longed by Marion. Forgive me for not introducing their surnames, but I don't know them at this point in time! We will probably vault for a couple of hours in the morning on one horse and another couple of hours in the afternoon on the second horse. There is another member of the Canadian Team that we are hoping will join us. Jessica Townsend, from Surrey, BC, was too young to qualify last year with the others. She is currently scheduled to compete in Slovakia in early May. If she makes the scores there she will join us in Hamburg to train on the two horses with us. Once we get to Hamburg it will become clearer as to what our plans will be. Marita Hoppe has been of invaluable assistance to us - she has not only met the owners/longeurs and horses that we will be leasing, but she has been the main organizer of this training session. She speaks both German and English and has spent countless hours on the phone making sure that the horses have their passports and the right people have accreditation for the competition. What a great support she is to our team! |
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| 5/13/2008 : 10:55:26 PM | |