Tokyo Diary 23rd July 2021
Last night after I had finished my diary for the day I then got a nice shot of Charlotte and Carl during evening training.
The eventers were out last night just working gently in the far arena (away from the dressage horses), taking horses through the water.
or just giving them a pick of grass…
Some were also taking the opportunity to familiarise their horses with the cooling tents..
This morning my first job was to site one of the WBGT monitors in the main arena ready for the dressage competition tomorrow evening.
I then went and watched many of the eventers using the gallops. Helen Reynolds and I were also out with the thermal camera which the teams have really accepted. One of the lovely things to see when I do my 1pm temperature and air quality check of the barns is that the barns are quiet, dark and many horses are chilling out.
This is such an essential factor in horses being able to recover from transport and daily training and stay healthy and perform at their best. I have to say at the trot up this morning the horses looked in fantastic condition and raring to GO!
I also took the opportunity to walk around to the spectators’ entrance.
The facilities are fantastic and what a shame for everyone, including the athletes that COVID has caused so much disruption. On that front, as far as I am aware there have been no positive cases within Equestrian – let’s hope it stays that way!
Its been pretty hot here this week so far with WBGT up around 32-33°C, but the good news is that it looks as though that is going to drop 2-3°C over the period of the dressage competition, which I am sure no one will be complaining about. The dressage as most people know will start at 5pm each day, which is when the temperature starts to drop down quite noticeably and it becomes quite pleasant. This decision by the FEI was based on my analysis of historical climate data and 3 years of recording conditions here at the main venue (EQP).
Well, that’s it for today, stay tuned, things are just about to get really exciting!
David
