1/8/2009
We arrived in Amsterdam without a hitch at about 8am Dutch time. Got in the car and headed north over the large dyke and into Friesland. The dyke is a levy about 50 miles long and it basically keeps the North Sea from flooding all of the Netherlands. This thins is just an amazing feat of engineering - a huge earthen wall with water on each side and a 4 lane highway across the top. I stopped out to take pictures. It is cold and windy (of course) but gorgeous with a clear sunny sky.
We got to the stadium about noon. I picked up a program (which they call a "catalogue") and checked on the internet connection price. In a nutshell, the cost is astronomical, so I will not be able to post often. My favorite saddle shop - Tweespan - is here and I chatted with the owner a while. I plan to buy some training boots for the horses and Tweespan has the best.
Today the young 3 year old stallions are being judged inside a closed ring (called "the cage"). Here they are let loose where they can show off the canter and general personality. This year, out of probably 1500 stallions, all but about 80 have been rejected over the past 3 months. These 80 or so are in 8 groups of about 10 stallions per group. As of this writing, 4 groups have completed their run in the cage. Fewer than half of the 80 are being promoted to the next round, which will be tomorrow.
Here is a video of one young stallion, so you can see what goes on in "the cage". By the way, I apologize to the lady who asked me to video tape one particular young stallion. I could not remember his name and cannot get to that email. So, I am sorry but I hope the video below will help a little.
The horse below is Doaitsen x Jasper. His mother, the Jasper mare, was born in 2001 and is a model mare. This horse did pass this round and will return tomorrow for the next round of judging.
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