At the weekend, when the Corona Crisis exploded in Germany, the CDI4* took place in Dortmund despite all the cancellations of other events, although without an audience, but in the VIP Zone one or the other table was still occupied. There were various concerns in the run-up to the event that the event would be cancelled as a precautionary measure, but this fear did not come true. So Tatiana went into the full Corona risk with Diavolessa and drove to Dortmund.
Luckily, the couple received the invitation to the tournament. Actually, the well-named tournament was fully booked. However, when some cancellations arrived shortly before the start, Tatiana was able to get a starting place at short notice.
Dortmund also had tight training times. Here is a first training at 11pm.
The tournament was dominated by the Corona crisis. While business-as-usual was observed on the grounds of the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, the news of the crisis spread in the media. In the middle of the preparations for the Grand Prix, the news arrived, that the world cup tournament in Herzogenbosch was cancelled. There, as in Dortmund, the participants had already arrived, had set up themselves and the horses in the stables and had started the training. The arena was set up, the judges flew in, gastronomy and trade fair stands prepared. Then the Dutch government banned events with more than 100 participants. They were then able to load their horses and drive home. Could this happen in Dortmund?
By late afternoon on Thursday it was clear: the Grand Prix will take place. Tatiana got a favorable starting place at the beginning of the last third of the heavily occupied starter field. Many front-runners from Germany and abroad had arrived despite Corona and showed up in the Grand Prix.
How beautiful. In front of the famous stadium of BVB Dortmund I find a piece of lawn
Dia was also impressed by the showground this year. Already in training, she had looked at an advertisement on the left corner of the short judge's side, which seemed particularly suspicious to her. In general, the stands in Dortmund are very close to the arena. Dia doesn't like that. She then went into the exam with a slight tension and could not achieve the last looseness during the entire tour. The beginning of the test went quite well. Enter and halt, salute and collected trot, extendet trot, half-pass to the right and left, all good. Passage and first and second piaffe could also still please. There were almost notes of seven here. The extended walk as always strong. This time, the collected walk was also worth seeing, although at the beginning a rhythm mistake could not be prevented at the before looked out advertising poster. Remarkably here again the score: best grade 8.5 and then once again a judge saw a 5.5. Annoying. This deviation alone costed a rank in the end. It got even thicker with the flying changes. In the middle of the diagonal, Dia lost direction and in the correction also the flying changes. Smacked. It's a pity, because the other challenges in the gallop tour were quite good. Zig-zag traversals developed beautifully straight, even the flying changes every second stride were convincing. Only in the pirouettes to the left a small mistake crept in. Notes back in the area of the seven. Overall, the performance showed 68.424 percent, 15th place, Tatiana was quite satisfied with the performance, because it turned out that the training of the last weeks was worth it. Dia was more willing to help, even if the indoor situation made her rather small. She has to learn to cope with this stress even better. Mistakes can always happen.
And then everyone wanted to go home at once. Crowds after the cancellation
In Dortmund, Tatiana had opted for the Grand Prix Special, which turned out to be the right one. Despite finishing 15th, she came into the test, which was filled with 10 starters. Tatiana and Diavolessa were scheduled to start as the third pair at 11:08 am on Sunday. When the horse was saddled, the polished boots were put on and the frack was laid out, the neighbor's box received the news, that the event was closed. Officially, there was no information. But on the site, the news spread like wildfire. The city order office had banned the event. And those who did not believe it were informed at the latest at the show office of a better one. Representatives of all remaining equestrian athletes met here to settle tournament. In the queues, the measure was mostly understood, even under the rather unpleasant waiting situation in narrow groups of people, who endured it with humour. After all the Corona crisis caught up with this event just before the end. What a pity. Tatiana would still like to have ridden the Grand Prix Special, especially since no tournament will take place in the next few weeks.
