Despite the unseasonably cold weather and snow, the 3 Canadian girls (McCann, Stevens and Vakalis) and Mexcian (Soto) made the most of it and rode in two daily sessions for over 4 hours.
Soto quickly learned to layer up with long johns, turtle necks and extra gloves to keep up with the girls. Canadian Coach Rick Maynard had the athletes challenged in all areas of riding.
We worked a lot on the flat and being collected in the corners to prepare properly for the jumps as well as getting to know and warm up your horse in a short period of time. Rick had us paying special attention to our own position since the horse being ridden was constantly changing.
As the jumps went up in height over the week, the courses got more complete. By the last day of the camp, we found ourselves doing a course of 10 jumps on all six horses that were present for the lesson.
We would rotate horses and brief each other on the horse to help one another get through the course. This required extreme focus and ability to adjust to the different horses one after another. This camp was extremely valuable in preparation for the 2012 season and the Olympic Games as it provides a time for us to focus solely on the equestrian event for an entire week.
Of course, being pentathletes, we managed to fit in training in the other events with swimming in the mornings and running or fencing after the riding sessions. With the help of organizer, Bob Noble, we were able to fit it all in.
Melanie McCann
