The first 38 riders in a field of 77 took to centreline in the main arena at Tryon on an oppressively humid day that alternated ruthless sunshine with torrential downbursts. Belinda Trussell and the handsome Tattoo 15, the 15-year-old Westfalian gelding she owns with her husband, Mark, were first up for Canada this morning, riding in front of a fairly sparse crowd. The pair performed a calm and responsive test with nice changes and big extensions, although he was a little stingy with the piaffes. Their score of 68.634% parked them in 16th place at the end of the first day of grand prix competition that would count toward team medals and individual qualification for the freestyle.
Trussell, who lives in Stouffville, ON, was quite pleased with their test overall. “I think his changes were fine and I was praying to the gods I’d get the ones and I did. Right pirouette was really, really good, right half-pass was good. What is a major improvement are his extended trots. They weren’t so great earlier in the year so that’s a big improvement, too.”
As part of her pre-competition routine, Trussell warms Tattoo up well away from the ring, avoiding the secondary warmup area adjacent to the main arena. She explained, “During the week we had our chance to familiarize, and he is really sticky and very dramatic and emotional ‒ ‘ I was in that ring and now I’m in this ring and that’s not normal; I should just go there!’ I wanted to just keep him focussed; we go in the warmup ring and them we go in the normal ring. That was my thought behind that.”