LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!

Boyd

Silva

Let me start with, "It is absolutely amazing to be here"!!! The atmosphere in London is unbelievable and the horse park is out of this world. I can't even begin to imagine how much money and work went into the park!

Kingham

Jess Frankfurt, (Will Coleman's better half), and I took the train from Kingham, (near the training camp), to London yesterday. Since we are both…let’s just say, "not the best " with directions, we weren't sure if we would ever make it there. Actually we are pretty sure we are going to miss the Olympics altogether! BUT, amazingly enough we made it here with NO problems at all! We even beat the boys to the hotel and they took the car!

Jess and I in London

We took three trains and one bus and could not believe our eyes when we drove by the Olympic park and all around London . It is indescribable! 

London Fashion

It was a fun trip and definitely the way to go to London, by train. We had so much fun and let me tell you, if you are one of the many people that say, "the English can't dress", YOU ARE RIGHT!!! Jess and I could not believe what kind of fashion we saw arriving in London.

Yesterday afternoon the team went to meet the horses and took them all for a walk. Jess and I went to check out the shops and the restaurants (the important things!) Greenwich has some pretty areas with nice parks and nice places to eat.

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes!

This morning we got up early because I had to get my day pass to get into the park. The security is very strict and I am not accredited to be with the horses or the riders. I am getting a day pass for every day to coach Boyd up until Sunday, which is the last day of dressage. After that I will be on a ticket for cross-country and show jumping. 

Seating

We worked Otis this morning in the main arena and he was great. He really looks fantastic; we just have to keep it that way until Saturday!! 

Main Arena

Boyd at Main Arena

The arena is very electric and I think there will be a lot of atmosphere when the stadium is packed on show days. Otis seemed to be okay about the arena. 

Stilts

It is absolutely amazing what they have done to put up this horse park. Since it is in the middle of a park in the middle of the city the entire park is on stilts. Nothing touches the ground. That means once the last day of the Olympics is over they will take down everything they put up and nobody would even know that there was anything going on at all.

Boyd and Will Watching the Horses

The footing is amazing and the amount of it everywhere is also unreal. They have big watering trucks to water all the footing and the grass they put up. To make sure that all the water they need to keep the footing perfect does not ruin the grounds underneath the venue they catch all the water in big containers underneath the big platform the venue is on. Amazing! They even perfected the venue to the point that when you are on the platform you would not know you are on stilts and not even touching the ground at all.

Stilts

This is such am amazing time for us to be able to be here and for Boyd to achieve his dream to compete at the Olympics. We have worked very hard for this but we would not be here without the support of our amazing owners, friends and our families.

Team USA!

It is also so comforting to know that our team at home is taking care of everything for us and we don't have to worry. We would not be able to be here without Caitlin, Kymmy, Sara, Beau, Scout, Jen and Felix. THANK YOU!!

We will keep you posted as much as we can!!

Silva

Stabling