Mercedes World Cup Show Jumping

Getting off the train in Zurich we thought we would be able to find our hotel quite easily as we had written down the directions before we arrived to try and save as much time as possible...however little did we know that the whole day would be one wrong turn after another. Walking out of the train station, instead of getting on S7 train we got on 7 tried to catch the 7 tram, which of for now quite obvious reasons didn’t have our stop on it. After a very long time of standing infront of the tram time table and having no idea why our stop wasn’t displayed on the board, we asked a nice lady how to get to Kolten. She informed us that it was tram number 10 not 7 we needed to catch. Going to tram number 10 we saw that there was a stop called BF Kolten , so thought it would take us to the right place. half an hour on the tram and we arrived at BF Kolten, thinking we were at the right stop we then proceeded to try and follow the rest of the directions to our hotel, and then were wondering why none of the street names matched our map. After over 30 mins of wondering around in circles and trying to decipher a map at the tram stop, we decided to ask a man who was walking by if he could help us and if he knew where any of the roads were. Funnily enough he was an Australian guy from Sydney who had only been in Switzerland for a few months, and so he couldn’t really help us as he didn’t know the area very well. another 20 minuets or so went by and we after much debating we finally realized we were meant to catch the train S7 and that was why we were at the wrong place. The train stop was another few km down to road. At that moment the Australian guy came running back towards us. He had been walking back to his work and saw one of the roads we had shown him, so ran over a km back just to come get us and take us to the street. We were all so amazed that he would come all the way back for us, and were so thankful coz the once at the street the instructions we had written down finally made sense. All very amazed by the mans good deed the rest of the walk wasn’t so bad. Eventually after another 15 mins of walking we finally reached the hotel! And about 20m from the hotel was the Kolten train station! we all burst out laughing, if only we had caught the train instead of the tram. 

The one good thing about wasting 2 hours trying to find the hotel, was that when we arrived it was now 2pm so we could check into our room. We put our luggage in the room, got changed and then headed back into ZUrich to the stadium, where we would meet Katrin and who had our tickets, and who was going to take my snowboard home for me. We managed to find the stadium without to many hassle, only 5 mins on the TRAIN. However the next step was to try and locate Katrin, and after many phone calls back and forth and walking the wrong way we eventually met up with her and Khanh. They were both planning on coming to the show jumping also, but the weather was so bad, and it was snowing quite heavily, that they were worried about driving home late at night. So to our amazement they drove all that way just to give s the tickets and take my snowboard. It was very kind of them. The second good dead we had witnessed that day.

So initially planning on getting to the jumping by 1pm, it was now 4pm and we finally got to our seats. The first class we watched was the World Cup qualifier 155cm to determine who would ride in the final on Sunday. There was a wide range of riding, with some amazing horse and rider combinations, and some very good horses with shocking riders, and some very good riders who were let down by their horses. Overall the class caliber of the competition is unlike anything we see in Aus. We then watched the Robinson entertainment which included performances from Lorenzo and his famous white horses. There where some great ticks with horses laying down, rearing and bucking on command as well as extremely well trained sheep dogs and goats. But Lorenzo, who stands on the back of his horses and goes over jumps while controlling up to 8 horses at a time was amazing. 

(Our handsome Lorenzo & his beautiful horses) 

Now for some pictures of the super huge Show Jumps!!!

The final class for the night was called jump and drive, and similar to horse and hound, the riders did a show jumping coarse against the clock, then got off the horse and got in a mercedes car and drove it around a coarse, through witches hats, trying not to knock off the balls onto of the cones. It was a very exciting and crowd pleasing event. The funniest part was when one Italian girls took a corner too fast and crashed straight into the side of the arena...luckily no one was standing on that side of the arena at the time. Then just two people later, another girl some how didn’t see the timing equipment and arrangement of pot plants at in the middle of the arena, which marked the start of the show jumping coarse, and made a direct line for them and drove straight over all the timing equipment and flower arrangements. Needless to say neither of the girls were in the placing’s, and the poor little mercedes had a flat tire and who know how much other damage, and had to be taken away and replaced with another car for the remaining two riders. Luckily for the last two boys, the new car that came out was the display car, and extremely nice and surely very expensive mercedes. The managed not to crash the car and came first and third overall. Unfortunately the two rounds I filmed where not those of the girls crashing the car. 

(massive fence!!!)

After arriving home well after midnight and then not getting to bed until after 2am, we all decided to sleep in on Saturday and so none of us got out of bed until lunch time. The rest of the day was quite uneventful, and we were well rested for the show on sunday.

The show-jumping on Sunday was what everyone had come to see, the Final of the Mercedes World Cup Show Jumping, and it didn’t disappoint. The class in the morning was a teams event, where two riders where paired up at random and would ride against the clock. The first member of the team would ride the entire coarse, and then as they went over the last jump, their partner started over the first jump. It all came down to which riders were game enough to take ridiculous lines onto jumps and how good their change overs were. There coarse was set at 130cm and again there was some very good and very bad ridding, with some of the younger riders being a bit wild. Still with 18,000 CHF on the class you would want to have a good go at winning.

The World Cup was next, but during the break between the two classes we went shopping at the expo, which was held in a big tent next to the stadium, it was also where the warm up arena was, and so spectators could watch the riders getting ready before they went into the stadium. After spending some money and wishing we could spend more, we headed back inside to walk the coarse before the competition started. Set at 165cm the coarse was huge, towering over my head and wider than our arm spans. It’s incredible to think these riders would soon be jumping these huge fences. Instead of going up to our seats we decided to stand alone the edge of the arena and watch from ground level. The power and accuracy of the riders was so good, with about 10 clear rounds and another 10 or so with only one rail. The jump off was just as exciting with the last rider into the arena managing to take out the prize with the fastest round and double clear. 

I decided that we should buy 6 horses from the show & load them onto the beautiful Mercedes 6 horse truck which I would also like to bring back to Australia. Daddy you may need to sell the farm!!!!