CDI**** Munich

A Groom’s Experience at the CDI***** Munich
By: Meaghan Byrne

As the groom my preparation for Munich started several days before the actual competition. Starting on Sunday I packed everything we could possibly need while on the road. There was tack to be cleaned, saddle pads and bandages to be laundered, and grain to be measured. I could not forget Catherine’s shadbelly, boots, top hat, and microphone equipment. I also brought a bike with us. This proved to be the most important item because although Munich is a gorgeous show facility, all the arenas and show offices are at least a 20 minute walk from the stabling…uphill! There was so much to pack that once I was ready to pull out of the driveway I thought I had packed everything but the kitchen sink.

On Tuesday morning I woke up at 4:15am and fed Maximus and Cadillac and prepared them for the long lorry drive. With fresh bandages, shipping boots and braided tails we were on the road at 5:15am. There was a quick stop at Catherine’s to pick up Gizmo. Gizmo is a 10 year old tri-colored corgi who was to serve as my trusty co-pilot. Catherine told me, “If your tom-tom-fails, ask the dog.” Our stable is located in northern Germany and Munich is in southern Germany. So I drove across the whole country--720 kilometers (450 miles) one way. It took me about 9 hours with two stops to offer the horses water, replenish their hay, and give them electrolytes.

After finding the stabling which would have been a serious challenge had Catherine (who had flown to Munich) not met me out on the street and directed me to the right place; I settled the horses in, unpacked and made both horses ready for Catherine to ride. It was good for the horses to do some light trotting after the long trip and have a chance to see the competition arena before the show began.

The vendors and food stands were not open yet so Catherine and I ate at the Jockey Club restaurant. There is a huge race track that borders the show facility. It was a real ‘dive’ but they made great bratwurst and served cold beer so I couldn’t complain.

All of the grooms usually stay in their trucks with living quarters or in the stables with the horses. The small blue truck that I took has an electricity hook-up and sleeping quarters. There were bathrooms and showers available throughout the show grounds. It was very convenient in Munchen because the trucks were parked right next to the stables making night check and early mornings much easier.

Wednesday was a schooling day for the horses and it gave them another chance to see the show grounds before the masses of people arrived. In the morning I fed the horses and cleaned their boxes. I polished Catherine’s boots and spurs, made sure the numbers were sewn onto the saddle pads, and that the tack was clean. I spent some time exploring the show grounds and locating the show office. In the afternoon I hand walked the horses and grazed them. They both got an extra good grooming and their legs wrapped for the evenings.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were competition days. It started with the CDI*** tour in which Catherine rode Maximus followed by the CDI***** World Dressage Masters tour in which she rode Cadillac. Competition days are always the most exciting but the most hectic for me as a groom. The few minutes’ right before she goes into the arena is like a raceway pit stop. Bandages need to come off, the horses need to be sweat scrapped and toweled, microphone equipment needs to be put away, and top hat and shadbelly need to be put on! After all the hard work, it is a great feeling to watch as horse and rider enter the ring and perform at their best.

After a great weekend of competition, which Maximus finishing 4th in the CDI*** and Cadillac finishing 2nd in the CDI*****, the horses had Saturday afternoon to rest. Then it was back on the road early Sunday morning. Gizmo was a bit impatient with the trip home, but both Cadillac and Maximus are extremely well travelled so they were rock stars on the truck. The just nibbled on their hay and enjoyed the ride. I got home early afternoon on Sunday and unpacked. But I couldn’t unpack too much because this coming Thursday we are off to the CDI**** in Wiesbaden, Germany!

As a groom I get to experience all the behind the scenes action. I get to travel all around Europe and surround myself with the best riders in the world. It is an experience of a lifetime!

Pictures:

Make-shift paddocks for the ponies!

Really neat premium seating for the Dressage Arena

Coffee Shop next to the Dressage Arena

Children playing by the warm-up

Our private stables

Judges booth for jumping

Building where grooms and riders ate

Indoor riding hall and where the show office was

I thought this was a statement!

Map of the show facility, which was also home of the 1972 Olympic Games

Other large stadium on the property

Pony Rides!

Kid's Land!! This looked like so much fun!!

This was the view from my trailer! You really can't beat it! There were race horses being breezed at 5:30am. It was so cool!

Thanks for reading...

-Meaghan

Pictures I Promised...

Here are a few more pictures from the National Show in Haftenkamp. It was pooring remember...


Dressage Arena


Dressage Arena complete with flood lights and spectators tent at "A"


This little truck is the best! It is really easy to work out of especially for a day show.

This was the huge crane type thing that provided lights for the warm-up arena.

Where Did I leave you..

I was about to leave for Meppen (spelling correction from the last post). It was a great weekend. Not only did I make it there with the big lkw, but Catherine won both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special breaking 70%. Cadillac was super! The weather was excellent, and the show facility was beautiful. Of course we have a celebration upon return on Sunday night!!

Making it to the show facility with the big lkw was not as easy as it sounded. First the navigation system took me into every small village, complete with cobblestone streets, between Vechta and Meppen. I never got out of 2nd gear. Then I almost turned down a TINY street that had a bridge that was both under construction and had a weight limit of 3.5 tons. Mind you the big lkw, complete with 3 horses and equipment, is over 7 tons! So, I had to turn around, without falling into the major ditch on this tiny street and find my way to the autobahn with Catherine's help of course. Thank goodness she is patient.

When we finally got to the show grounds we were on the main road coming into the facility and it was lined with trailers. People were tacking up in the middle of the road!!! Insanity. Luckily were had a big enough truck that we got to park in the big grassy field!

The warm-up was in the indoor riding hall, which was beautiful! There were so many windows and it had a cathedral ceiling. You couldn't find a cobweb in the place. The competition arena was just outside the indoor bordered with a white picket fence. At the "A" end of the arena there was a big tent with food and drinks available. Germans do not mess around with food! There is always food everywhere and everyone enjoys cake and coffee between 3pm and 4pm.

I almost forgot the best part! The bathrooms!! The Germans do not use porta johns (we could learn from this). There were beautifully decorated and super clean! The picture really explains it all. Yes, I did take a picture of the bathrooms. I often look like a ridiculous tourist at this competitions but it hard not to take pictures!

Here are some pictures:

Indoor Riding Hall

Spectator Tent

Coffee Bar and Vendors

The immaculate bathroom!

Catherine and Cadillac in the Victory Circle

The View from "C"

"Meldestelle" or Show Office (Its adorable)

Casey and I Celebrating Sunday Night

Then came Monday....

Monday was the most honest day's work I think I have ever put in!! After a late night celebrating on Sunday, we all cleaned the barn from top to bottom. We did ausmist, which is where we take a month's worth of straw and manure out of 20 stalls, and we power washed every inch of the barn. At first we started with one power washer and realized we would all still be there if we didn't get another one. So we rented another one and pressed on!! There was water everywhere! All the horses were either in the trailers or in another barn for the entire day. We were exhausted come 8pm when we left the stable, but it was well worth it. The barn looks close to brand new and there are ZERO cobwebs!!

The rest of the week was quite busy. Morthen came for a 2 day clinic and the farrier came. Thursday is was off to another show for Casey and Christoffer. Then Friday night Catherine and I went to another day show in Haftenkamp, Germany. She showed the short Grand Prix with Winymaro. It was a really nice facility with top quality horses. The short Grand Prix was held as a night class and was held under flood lights, it was pretty cool. They also had this huge crane that hung lights over the warm-up. Creative I thought. However, I got my first taste of typical German weather. It poured like no tomorrow! Everything was drenched!! It was strange no one, not even the riders and horses seemed to know it was raining. They carried on like nothing was different. The showed up with proper show attire and their horses turned out to a tee! There was never a mention of a rain delay or anything! It was an experience and a soggy ride home!!

Pictures from Haftenkamp:

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES....MORE PICTURES TO COME SOON

It was really neat to go to some National shows the past few weekends. The quality of horses and riders is out of this world. I saw so many adult amateurs and 12 year old kids that could kick my butt! Talk about starting them young over here! Everyone has a super position, for the most part, and there horses are forward and eager!!

Thanks for reading...

-Meaghan

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while! Things are still going great on this side of the pond. This past weekend we were meant to go to Mannhiem, a National Show in Germany, but Catherine decided we should stay home and prepare for the upcoming shows. So we had a relaxing weekend. The weather has been beautiful. Lots of sunshine and the gardens are in full bloom. The Germans are very serious gardeners. I see several people out in their gardens everyday weeding and planting new seeds.

Catherine took Natalie, the Australian rider, and I to the Sage Cemetery on Friday afternoon. I know it sounds grim, but it was actually really neat and quite moving. Sage is a nearby village. It is very small and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The cemetery is dedicated to the soldiers that lost there lives fighting in World War II. The soldiers died specifically in Sage fighting for Germany's freedom from Hitler's reign. Most of them were pilots that were shot down. It was small cemetery with a little over 900 graves. It was a more intimate setting because it was smaller. We spent some time reading the names and epitaphs. The most terrifying thing for me was reading the ages of the men and women that died. It was so sad, most of them were 19, 20, 21 years old. Thats younger than me!! There were soldiers that came from all over including Australia, New Zealand, Poland, and England.

On a more positive note, there was another German holiday this past Friday. Guess what the Germans do?? Drink, Drink, and Drink. It was a holiday to celebrate the new crops of "spargel" or asparagus. There is both white and green asparagus over here. The white asparagus is usually prepared by boiling it in milk, butter, and sugar. As you can imagine it is very sweet and creamy!! Not to mention delicious!! To celebrate, Germans have Friday off from work and take little red wagons filled with beer and snacks and walk around town and eventually make it to the forest where the spend the night drinking. It was quite the sight to see people of all ages walking around with little red wagons and drinking out in the streets!!

German Television is quite comedic. I have to admit when I first got here it was hard to watch an entire show. Of course, I couldn't understand everything that they were saying but it was more frustrating because everything is dubbed. There are several American TV shows that are dubbed in German and it is horrible to watch. But, I have found one show that I am addicted to, its called "DSDS" or German Idol. Everyone from the stable is addicted to it. It is hilarious, there are several German singers that sing all American songs, except for one girl who sang only German shlogger (its a very scary type of folk music). Thank goodness she was voted off early. It is on ever Saturday night. This past Saturday we all went over to Catherine's and grilled out. Catherine is a super cook!

Other exciting happenings this week... I have been learning to drive the big lkw (pronounced "lkv") It has been an adventure. It is over 20 years old and the steering wheel is twice the size of a tire. Its a standard and you have to jump on the clutch to shift gears. It has a fog horn, which is lots of fun to use, but is illegal! This coming weekend we are going to Mebbane to a National Show. It is only a 2 hours away so we are going to be driving back and forth each day. It will be my first big outing with the big truck. Wish me luck...

Thanks for reading....

Meaghan

Hagen Show

Hi Everyone,

Here is another article I wrote for DressageDaily about the show in Hagen, Germany this past weekend. What a show. It was wild! There were so many people!

Hagen, Germany
By: Meaghan Byrne

The only way to describe the show this past weekend in Hagen, Germany is ‘standing room only.’ With over 2000 thousand horses and 50,000 spectators there was barely room to browse the enormous trade fair. This was an international event for both Dressage riders and Show Jumpers. The show was held at the Kasselman’s property. The Kasselmans are the owners of Professional Sales International (PSI).

Their property spans over several 100 acres in the rolling hills of Northern Germany. The grounds were immaculate, complete with two Dressage arenas and two showing jumping arenas. Every inch of the property was decorated with beautiful flowers and surrounded by stadium seating. The path to the Dressage arenas weaved its way through the private stables of the Kasselmans. There were several stables and various indoor riding halls that mimicked old European style cottages with white siding lined with natural wood trim.

Every year there is a different nationality that is deemed the theme for the show. Last year it was an American theme where the Beach Boys were the main entertainment, and this year it was an Italian theme. There was a huge tent set atop one of the hills that provided the space for this year’s entertainment. Each night, starting Wednesday and spanning through to Saturday there was a different Italian inspired event. There were opera singers, pianists, an Italian pop trio, and a DJ that provided all types of music for an enormous dance party. Riders, grooms, and spectators danced the night away.

As usual, I found myself draw to the warm-up arena rather than the competition arena. After the initial shock of seeing several top riders all in one place, I started to watch several riders over the 5 day period as the schooled and prepared their horses for the competition arena. As I saw in Den Bosch every rider has their own style of riding and in one way or another it is working, as they are competing at the top level. However, in Hagen I realized how concentrated some of riders were. Some riders came into the arena and put their game face on. They have such a look of concentration so as to feel every movement their horses make. Some riders rode around the arena as if no one else was there. Such concentration was both intimidating and magnificent. Other riders were not so concentrated, some were preoccupied with their surroundings such as other riders, spectators, photographers, dogs, and anything else you could possibly imagine. The level of concentration really set the competitors apart from the riders.

As the weekend came to a close with the Grand Prix Kur and the Show Jumping Finals several thousand people packed the stands for the final competition. Trying to maneuver through the crowds of people with a horse in hand was quite the adventure. As I continue my European experience, I am continually reminded how popular equestrian sports are here in Europe. A family outing on a Sunday afternoon would entail a trip the horse show to enjoy the competition along with great food and shopping. Families in Europe enjoy the weekend horse shows as American families enjoy basketball or baseball games. Hopefully, one day equestrian sports will be as widespread in America as they are here in Europe.

Trade Fair complete with Hot Tubs!!

Entertainment Tent

From the Warm Up looking out to the entrance of the trade fair

Warm-Up

Competition Arena

A pond in the middle of the trade fair

Italian Pop Trio

Mountains

Show Jumping warm-up and show office

Me and the horse statue made completely of horseshoes!

Shiny New Bike...

I am the proud owner of a new red Speedbike. I know by the name you think that my bike has several gears and goes extremely fast, but no! It is a city bike with one gear, a cute little bell, and a basket. Least to say I feel like a grandma riding around on my fancy new bike. Everyone here uses their bikes to go everyone, work, dinner, shopping, over a friend's house. Nearly everyplace we go we ride our bikes instead of driving. Europeans are very environmentally conscious and also strive to save a Euro or two. Gas prices are through the roof over here. It is 1.40 Euro a liter!

Needless to say, I felt like such a little kid going to the bike shop and trying out several bikes! It was fun though and now I have taken another step towards European living.

My New Bike:

Along with getting my new bike, this week has been filled with mixed emotions. First thing Tuesday morning the farm lost a dear friend. Kodie, a 12 year old chocolate lab owned by Casey (my roommate). It was a complete accident but the owner of the hof (stable) hit him with the tractor. He died instantly. So that put quite the damper on the rest of the week. Kodie had been with Casey here in Germany since he was 2 and gone everywhere with her. For Casey it was like losing a child. Here are a few pictures to remember our dear friend:

Kodie swimming with Mia, his younger sister (She misses him terribly)

Kodie was a great swimmer!

To cute for words!

The other crazy happening this week, the World Cup in Las Vegas! As I'm sure most of you know, everyone here at the hof was hoping Catherine would be granted a wildcard from the United States. Clearly that didn't happen for whatever reason, things happen. The US chose Jan Eibling and Leslie Morse as the wildcards. Of course we all watched the livestream of the Grand Prix on Thursday night and woke up at 4am this morning to watch the Kur. It was awful to see the Americans' performance. Of course, no one can dispute that Stephan and Ravel stole the show and were incredible! But Leslie brought a horse that had had several lameness issues leading up to Vegas and then was rung out within the first minute of her test. So awful!! Then Jan! Everyone has a bad day and I felt terrible for him, but at the World Cup Final you would think the horse and rider would be prepared for the electric atmosphere. It was hard to watch everything unfold knowing that a seasoned US competitor (Catherine) that has proven herself with a sound horse and was dying to compete was sitting at home.

Then again what do I know and who am I to judge others but it was just frustrating to watch. Of course I'm partial to Catherine! I work for her and I really wanted to do to Vegas myself.

But more exciting things are on the horizon for "Stall Haddad." Next weekend Catherine and I will be travelling to Haagen, Germany with three Grand Prix horses, two to compete and one to school. After Haagen there are 8 more weeks of intense shows. I will be on the road to everyone of them, Rotterdam and Aachen included where Catherine will represent the US as a team competitor and probably ride along side Stephan and Ravel. Most of the shows are in Germany, but there is also one in France and Hungry. It should be quite the adventure!

Thanks for reading!!

-Meaghan

Trip to Bremen

Bremen is a beautiful city just north of Vechta. I flew into Bremen when I first arrived here. Casey, Christoffer, and I took a day trip! The weather was perfect, and the city was incredible. It was just like all the pictures I had seen of the old European city with ancient churches, buildings, and streets. We went into St. Peitri's Church. It was huge! There were little rooms off of little rooms, the woodworking on the ceiling, walls and staircases was so intricate. There was grave stones inside the church. There were also several organs. Some where high on the walls behind the different alters and some where free standings. Everything was so old but beautifully preserved!

We also saw the Statue of Rolland. He is a the protector of the people of Bremen. If ever there is war again he will come to their rescue. We also saw the famous statue of the four animals from the fairtale, "The Musicians of Bremen." These four animals were a donkey, a cat, a dog and a rooster. They sought a better life for themselves and ended up singing their way through on into Bremen. It is said that it is lucky to rub the feet of the donkey on the statue. There have been so many people that have rubbed the statue that the dark coating of the metal has been rubbed off over the years and has left the donkey's feet gold!!

We walked around for a while and did some shopping. Of course there were some chain stores, but there were many more independently owned shops and boutiques. We had a lovely afternoon lunch on an old pirate ship that was transformed into a pancake house. There is a river that runs through the middle of Bremen. The restaurant floated in the river and several of the shops were right along side the river. It was just a beautiful day filled with lots of interesting culture. I think the pictures do it more justice than my writing!