London 2012 blog

The Concours Hippique International Officiel (CHIO) in Aachen is one of the leading international horse shows. They held the World Equestrian Games at this showground in 2006 and many people think it is one of the best organised and best attended equestrian events in the world. I came here to see how they do it. I left behind a few London 2012 pins. And I had a great time.

The CHIO is the Official International Equestrian Event of the Federal Republic of Germany. It's run every summer. Last year more than 300,000 people came from all over the world to watch international-level showjumping, dressage, eventing, four-in-hand driving and vaulting. Check out the CHIO website at www.chioaachen.com for all the details.

I was there with my husband Jonathan (a keen carriage-driver) on Saturday - cross-country day for the eventers and for the four-in-hand driving. The night before, I watched the eventers show-jump in the main arena, a huge space with covered grandstands on all sides. I was, of course, cheering on the British contingent, but also keen to see the German, French and Swedish teams, all with their top stars vying for Olympic team selection (including Nicolas Touzaint, the first French winner of Badminton).

Lots of poles were falling but the main problem was the tight time, with very few able to manage without some time faults. Best of the British: Nicola Wilson on Opposition Buzz. Most surprising: Bettina Hoy, leader after dressage, collecting more than 20 faults on Ringwood Cockatoo. He was later withdrawn.

Up bright and early the next day to meet Gina Klaassen, head of CHIO Protokoll, and Frank Kemperman, the General Manager of the show who had been to the Montreal Olympic Games with the Dutch showjumping team. Frank arrived well-mounted on a lovely black....bicycle. We set out on a tour of the showground, starting with the stables. Aachen has 400 permanent stables, including some built for the 2006 WEG. Only the driving horses had to be put up in temporary stables.

The stable complex was as immaculate as I'd like my own barn to be. Every stall was marked with a complete print-out with all pertinent details of the horse occupying it. High-ceiling and stone-floored, the stables were cool and airy. The complex included an eating area for grooms and riders, shower stalls (for the horses, not sure about the grooms), and a fully-equipped veterinary clinic. Among the bustle of horses, grooms and riders coming and going we spotted a small fit Japanese rider in jodphurs and recognised Hiroshi Hoketsu, at 67 one of the oldest competitor at the Beijing Games, back again as an Olympian (this time on the Japanese dressage team) 44 years after showjumping at the Tokyo Games. There's hope for me yet!

We went back through the tradestand village towards the main arena, We couldn’t stop to shop then, but we did come back later to join the crowds who were happily tucking into wurst and beer and doing some serious work among the trade stands. Exhibitors covered the gamut from a to v (appliances to vaulting equipment), with the main focus on all the latest gear for horse and rider, missing only Jordan’s new pink and diamante horsey bling range.

Horses and riders go back and forth between the stables, competition and practice areas along paths which cross all the pedestrian walkways. Volunteers man every crossing to ensure people and horses can safely move in close proximity. Frank Kemperman believes the ability to see the stars (meaning the horses, of course!) and their riders close at hand is one of the features which people treasure. It was certainly a thrill for me to look up and see John Whitaker, stalwart of Team GB’s Beijing showjumping team, coming back from exercising one of his top horses. Many of the 900 volunteers are second-generation. They use summer holiday to be there and consider it “their” show.

Next stop for us was the cool-down area, where horses coming off the cross-country course were being hosed down and subject to vet inspection. No need for aggressive cooling yet, since it was only 9:30am and not too hot, but the vets and handlers were ready with ice as necessary later in the day.

We watched as one of the pairs came cantering through from the main arena after successfully negotiating the final five obstacles. The rider leapt off her horse and gave him a big hug. Her grooms rushed up and gave her big hugs. Then her coach arrived for more hugs all around. Meanwhile, the horse's saddle was quickly stripped off and he was sponged down, with water buckets at hand for further cooling. Within moments, he was being led around and his breathing was being monitored, well out of the way of the next horse coming through.

By this time, both Frank and I were keen to see what was happening on the cross-country course. We headed toward the control tower at one corner of the main arena, stopping for a few minutes at the edge of the arena to watch some of the cross-country action on the big screens and one of the competitors actually in the arena. Then up in a small lift to the control room, where the head of ops monitored more than a dozen screens covering all the live action on the course. Technicians were watching the data feeds and checking sound and picture quality. The course commentator was speaking into his mike, smoothly alternatiing between German and English.

We said goodbye to Frank and Gina and gave each of them a London 2012 pin - as you can see in the picture, Frank seems pleased and I look as delighted as can be, standing in the middle of thousands of horses.



Then out to the cross-country course! We started with the influential fence 15, a complex with an angled brush set about one stride out from the edge of a sunken road. We watched as several riders came through. One of the French riders hit the right-hand flag pole on the brush as he came through. That still counts, and the pole simply bent rather than breaking as the birch went flying.

Then we headed to the jumps clustered around the first water complex at fence 8, starting with a palisade at fence 7, then a couple of curving strides to a roll-top fence into the water, out onto a bank to jump a small table, back down into the water and out again with a stride or two to a skinny upright, ending with fence 7, the Needlemaker’s Mark, which was a carved wooden hand. Yoshiaki Oiwa, the Japanese rider based in the UK with Andrew Hoy, made this look easy on his horse Gorgeous George. I left Jonathan tucking into an ice lolly from one of the stands on course and walked the rest of the course back to the main arena, arriving at fence 22 just in time to see Frank Ostholt, the eventual winner, come flying through for the German team on his top horse, Air Jordan.

We could not leave without spending some time in the dressage arena, first because it was an opportunity to see Isobel Werth, the top German rider, on her WEG champion Satchmo and second because our neighbour in West Sussex, the Finnish multi-Olympian Kyra Kryklund, was there with her Beijing horse Max. We watched the grand prix special on Saturday afternoon, where Kyra placed 5th.


The dressage crowd here is highly knowledgeable and very intense. Scores from 5 judges appear on electric screens at ringside immediately after each movement of the test. Speaking, cheering, or calling out during any of the tests strictly verboten, only the quietest of ripples amongst the crowd signifying that someone had missed a flying change or, conversely, to react to several 9s (out of 10) being awarded to Isobel Werth, the eventual winner.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to the cross-country course for the marathon four-in-hand driving event, still large crowds around the obstacles cheering on the teams as they went over bridges, through water, around gates with skill and panache.

The day was not over yet! We managed to see three show jumping competitions in the main arena, including an entertaining mini-derby over banks and ditches, considerably smaller than Hickstead but still enough to cause half the horses to put on the brakes and retire. The final for the day was the crowd-pleasing accumulator (one point for the first fence, two for the second, etc with each fence getting bigger and bigger until the final huge upright for 10 points—and an additional 10 if you dared the even bigger “Joker” alternative fence next to it). The crowd clapped every horse around the course and here we thought John Whitaker just might sneak into the placings, as he approached the Joker fence on a good stride and still clear. Sadly, his horse Leandros hit it and his chance was over.

We filed out of the main arena, tired but still on a high from a grand festival of unparalleled equestrian sport, and counting the days until the next CHIO. Here’s hoping that London 2012 can capture the same combination of quality, proximity and fun.