Ridecamp: [RC] Laura's WEG story part two

    Moving to the actual event stables was the first time we got to look at
other country's horses.  There were some of the most beautiful creatures I
had ever seen, and some of the sorriest, though many more of the former than
the latter!  I was particularly interested in feet and tack - and boy did it
run the gamut!!  I saw cheap western saddles with horns and many podium
saddles and english type saddles.  Most horses wore bits as opposed to
hackamores like you see in the US.
    The Australian, New Zealand and French teams seemed to have the best
uniforms and to ride out to train together.  It was obvious they were a
team, and very professional in looks and action.
    The vet in went well, with all horses passing, and it gave us an idea of
how the crew and vet areas were to work, as well as the start and finish.
The whole vet area was about a mile or so up the hill from the stable, and
had been part of the cross country course for the eventers the day before.
Everything was brand new and well organized.  All the buildings were
temporary, including one large complex that belonged to the Sheik from UAE.
There was plenty of available water and actual hoses to use while cooling
and pulsing down.
    The night before the ride we assembled all our crew equipment in our
section of a huge tent.  I don't have official measurements, but my guess is
that it was 140 feet long and 30 feet wide.  We got our slice of about 20
feet wide by the width of the tent - so we were crewing 6 horses in a 20x30
area.  Holy cow! There were two of those tents.
    I offered to sleep in a cot in the crew area that night to avoid theft
and tampering, and was the only person up there except for three guys from
the UAE who were in their area in the second tent.  Jeannie Waldron gave me
her USET cell phone in case I had any trouble.  About 4 AM after a short but
uneventful night, the rain started and came down in buckets.  It thundered
and lightening for quite awhile, but I managed to run to the porta potty in
between rain drops.  Then it happened - the infamous cell phone incident.  I
heard it splash - there was no way I was going to try to retrieve it.  The
worse part is that USET will most likely send me a bill for it - I heard the
deposit on it was $200.
    I didn't have a rain jacket or a change of clothes, so I didn't go out
to watch the start in an attempt to stay as comfortable and dry as
possible - it was to be a long day.
    Everyone had a job we had rehearsed several times - mine was to remove
Wave's boots on my side, check his shoes all around and start sponging,
Barbara was to take the tack and get it prepared to go back out, Alex took
Wave's head, Dr Mike Foss from the Pacific Southwest was to do the Pulse,
and Jennifer was to sponge and get water.  Pam Weidel showed up on the day
of the ride, so she was put in charge of caring for Cia and making sure she
had dry clothes and food.  Later, after he passed the vet, I would make sure
he had all he wanted to eat, and Alex would administer electrolytes.  I also
was available with an extra set of tools John borrowed for me to apply a
shoe for any team member if necessary and if John Crandall got backed up-
luckily I didn't have to do that, as I felt I had plenty to do and the
anxiety was high!



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