We began today with a visit next door to the Royal Dutch federation offices. Maarten van der Heijden who is the Topsport manager – for the talent development program gave us an overview of the goals and aims which thanks to the support of Rabobank allows them to offer opportunities for a wide range of riders in the Olympic disciplines. 400,000 dutch citizens indicated that they rode more than 4 times per year with a further 440,000 indicating they rode at least once per year 85% are recreational riders and the rest compete in various disciplines with by far the most participation in dressage & jumping.
I think a few of our riders are interested in immigrating to Holland after hearing about some of the marvellous opportunities provided for rider and trainer development.
Next international judge Jeanne McDonald of the USA gave us her impression of the competition and we compared notes on the standard of training & competition in the US. She too was impressed with the quality of the horses and standard of riding at the competition.
The competition project manager Annemarie van der Toon took us on a tour of the centre & talked about the challenge of planning a competition like this. 18 months in preparation & a workforce of 70 this is a big undertaking. Being able to utilise the National equestrian centre facilities has been a big plus, plenty of room for training & warm-up & a lot of permanent stables on site. Remembering that the Russian & Norwegian horses have to travel for several days to get here it is just as important to have facilities as it is at home.
Publiciy officer Christa van Duin interviewed Stephanie & chloe to get thier impressions of the competition. Stay tuned & we will give you the link to the website where the story will feature.
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