Helen Roeder Sunshine Pony Farm, El Hasa Sport Ponies and www.drivingpairs.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Jerry McLennan Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 5:31 AM Subject: Texas Tidbits #4 Greetings! Would you believe all 4 Americans in the top 10 after dressage in Germany!!! at Reisenbeck. The biggest surprise was Mike'"drawing a check for 6th place in "dressage". The Americans have now helped the Dutch pick their team at Beekbergen and the Germans pick their team at Reisenbeck. We were 3 of only 5 that competed both shows in back to back weekends. Most of our horses survived. Alan did have one horse eliminated at the Reisenbeck vet check. Fritz drove in Reisenbeck and did great!! He looked up to form and drove an impecable marathon. Mike tried all the inside routes with his horses bitted down and paid the price for it. The horses need an opportunity to turn tight and then be allowed to go in each hazard. Once he looked back to see if he'd hit a knockdown and overshot the next gate. Did I ever get him for that one!!! Getting the opportunity to drive marathons at this level, back to back was great for us. As usual the rain played a big factor since it tended to rain on an hourly basis. Lisa drew up late in the marathon and the mud took a toll on her Morgans. The last hazard at Reisenbeck was a large water hazard with the entry going across a very deep creek where Tuff fell down and completely dissapeared in the pictures underneath Ruff. The hazards are well decorated, moderately large with gates mostly set at 3 meters. Now we have a couple of weeks to rest and recuperate that is well deserved and needed by all - four legged and two legged alike!!! We went to Brugge (an ancient European city in the west of Belgium) after returning, unloading and washing clothes for 2 days, for a great get away. We returned yesterday in time to go to Vaalkensward to pick up a NEW van den Heuvel marathon carriage. We are off to try it out and get comfortable with a different carriage. This is the one we'll be using in Salzburg. It is still cold!! I've been in shorts a part of 2 days. Otherwise it has been a jacket everyday and most of the time wool socks. We went to a bicycle shop and bought rain gear that would repel water. Our's seemed to get us as wet on the inside as we were on the outside. And summer is going to be over in another couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure I'll have to break out hte snowmobile outfit that Mary Mott mailed me soon!! Get I'd better get this finished and go help harness! Serving the Shepherd, Loving His Lambs, Jerry McLennan