Well, our evening is over. I guess it could have gone better, but if you were to have asked me two weeks ago to tell you honestly what I expected, I would have said, “please, let us get through without a Bentley explosion. Having been here before, I knew the difficulty of this arena, the excitement, the closeness of all the crazy/gorgeous decorations, the tough warm-up, etc,etc,etc. Anyway Meagan and Bentley made it through warm – up holding her own against the rider who was pretending she owned the arena (it was really rather amusing), the jumpers coming out of awards, the three trucks going through the warm-up pulling trailers filled with arena stuff along with the tractor that drags, the 10 jumpers coming out of the awards and being oblivious to the riders warming up. Anyway they warmed up well and the beginning of their test was so much better. Then as she came toward the corner for her canter pirouette, it became a bit too much for him. Bentley stopped dead and I was afraid he was going to rear and/or spin, but Meagan was very cool, finally picked up a canter then  did like a quarter pirouette. From there on there were some very uncharacteristically weak changes, she tried to put in another pirouette with only a little success. She tried valiantly to make it all work. And came out with a smile — 63+ % and 7th place (very close to 6th). The first time, I believe that a US rider has made the A final.

I assure everyone in America that we were very well represented. Despite being quite sick, Meagan was always positive, did her best, smiled, rode well, and turned out to be a leader amongst the riders. The tope riders all have AMAZING horses — on a par with our Olympic horses, (some are Grand Prix). I am pretty sure that she is the only rider who has done all the riding on her horse since she acquired him – she gets an average of maybe three lessons a month, and has to go in the ring never knowing if Bentley will pull a Bentley. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it’s pretty impressive.

So I leave Monday (weather permitting — Europe is in the midst of a mega wild winter) and tomorrow Meagan and Bentley go to Hubertus Schmidt’s for 4 – 6 weeks. This will be the first time that she has some long term daily lessons. I am thrilled for her and can’t wait to see her when she returns for part of the Florida season — no longer a young rider, but showing with all the professionals.

And a huge congratulations to her parents — more supportive and fun to be with wouldn't be possible and her great brother Brad who made it here today to watch. Brad took a lot of pictures so hopefully we will have some tomorrow.