Monday, July 7 – Fun at the Falls
First
of all, today we attended the horses as usual, i.e., the riders rode
them and the alternates cleaned their stalls. But today there were two
clinics – one was showmanship and the other horsemanship. Every team
had one or two members participate.
After
riding at the AgriPlex, we all got on the bus, including the parents,
and we drove two hours to the Niagara Falls. Everybody took this once
in a lifetime opportunity and had a great time.
The
United Kingdom team rode the Maid of the Mist. It was great because we
got right up close to the falls, and everybody got wet. Two hours
later, we all climbed back onto the bus and headed home once more.
The bus journey was great. Everybody was singing and having a good time – there were also prizes for the best singers.
--Tom Howell
[Click here for pics of the teams at Niagara Falls.]
Sunday, July 6 – Cowgirls and Paint Fights
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| Team UK at the welcome dinner Saturday, July 5, in the Great Hall of the University of Western Ontario. |
This
was the first proper day of the Youth World Cup and the experience
started to come to life! All teams traveled to the Western Fair on
typical Canadian yellow buses full of nervous yet excited participants.
In
the main arena we decorated where we sat with flags and bunting. There
were speeches about the competition and thank yous for the owners,
sponsors and volunteers.
After the
speeches we watched a performance by the Canadian Cowgirls, which
involved synchronized formations, stunt riding and lots of ‘whooping.’
The Cowgirls rode around with each country’s flags and then the teams
entered the arena for our parade. We wore our blue shirts and flags.
Each country was called forward to their national anthem and stood with
the cowgirl and flag for photos.
We
then drew the order that each country would pick their group of horses
in. Once we finished lunch, we drew our horses in the barn.
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| Checking out their new stable of horses, "group six." |
We
drew “team six,” and we all hurried to the stables to see what horses
we had. We then decorated the stalls and the riders rode the horses for
the first time. The leadership program went around to each team to hand out souvenirs and to chat.
In
the evening, we had team building with the Cowgirls. Everyone was given
a tag and you went into groups with the people with the same tag. We
did various activities such as lassoing, painting flags on each other,
races, twister and lots more. This was really good as it made everyone
talk to each other and make friends.
It all ended in a paint fight! Not many people managed to avoid the paint so we all looked pretty weird.
Some people went to bed whilst some went out to meet with other teams. Altogether, it was an awesome first day.
-- Lisa Cockburn and Katie Redfern
