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Qualifying on Sunday August 22, 2004 narrowed the field from 75
to 25.
There were 10 clear rounds.
And there were several rounds of one-two time penalties...even tho the time
allowed was changed by course designer O. Pererson during the first few horses, as allowed by FEI rules.
The NBC commentators said that the course designer had tried to design the course
for 15 clear rounds of the 75 competitors.
Not bad!
FLIES BOTHERING YOU?--most of the horses had ear nets on...it has been up to 95 degrees and
humid in Athens this week.
BREEDS SHOWING
Of those televised and the breed noted by
commentators, the majority were Holsteiners, followed closely by Selle-Francaise and some Belgian Warmbloods, some DW and
Oldenburgs.
The Irish Sporthorse, Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arabian were additionally noted in those televised.
PESSOA'S VENGENCE--
R. Pessoa of Brazil was highly favored and
touted at the Sydney 2000 Olympics for a gold medal--where his horse refused out on the second round.
He is back this year with the
same horse to try to accomplish what he was supposed to do in 2000. And started today by reaching the next round.
LUCK OF THE DRAW
The sun reflected off of several of the jumps
for the first hour or two, and probably affected the scores. Bad luck for the
early goers.
TACK NOTES
Almost all the horses had ear
nets on, and front and hind boots of some kind (splint, fetlock).
Several horses in mechanical
hackmores with running martingales.
Almost all of the horses, no
matter the kind of bit they were using, had running martingales in use.
GROOMING NOTES--
Undoubtedly, turnout for this
level show does matter...however a couple of the horses televised were not braided.
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