Tim and Coup de Coeur Dudevin (Joker) were re united on Thursday morning in rainy Germany after his overnight drive from Aston le Walls and Jonelle and Hiarado ( Jools) started their campaign for Paris in earnest with their first international. Joker and Tim have Kronenberg 4L under their belts but Jonelle just has three OI runs on Jools so today was a big step up.
A stunning backdrop to the dressage with the Wiesbaden City Palace taking centre stage. Not only beautiful but steeped in history from the revolution of 1846 through to annexation by Prussia in 1848, the headquarters of the German revolution in 1918-19 and after the Second World War the headquarters of the State Parliament of Hesse. The venue is a huge fixture in the German calendar for dressage and show jumping but the eventing is very much the secondary sport here… which is probably why the trucks are parked so far from the stables!
Tim owned the dressage this morning on Joker and it was just the second change that wasn’t perfect that kept them from the top spot. A score of 25.4 left them in second whilst Jonelle and Jools sorted all the changes but had a “burbling ” walk which dragged their score down to a 31.6 and 18th. Jonelle was delighted with Jools who did some super work and could well be forgiven for being a tad keen in the walk for her first international of the year and Tim full of superlatives for Joker.
Miserable weather with rain and grey clouds for Wiesbaden today and Jonelle posted a fun story on Insta with Tim walking the track in full waterproofs and having an encounter with the most friendly squirrel I have ever seen who scampered up Tim’s body and posed on his baseball cap!
Showjumping saw Jonelle jump a class clear round on Jools to move from 18th to 9th and Tim to “not set up properly for a vertical” for 4 faults on Joker which dropped them from 2nd to 7th. Tim was pretty philosophical, Joker is a cool jumper and it’s their first International since Kronenberg back in March and he cited the squirrel as being the highlight of his day which is a very Tim thing to say! Jonelle was delighted with Jools and says yet again the mare has proved her class with plenty to play for tomorrow
Cross country starts at 2pm tomorrow CET, rounds are available from dressage and SJ today on https://www.clipmyhorse.tv/en_GB/but there seems to be no live coverage. We will keep you posted!