Our Aussie show jumpers have so far experienced some amazing high’s & lows. Tonight’s team final unfortunately see’s us without a top 8 position, but given the company we’re keeping (alongside the also unqualified Germans & French), Australian show jumping has a lot to be proud of.

Back in the days of the Sydney Olympics, I met Stephen Lamb, Team Manager for the showjumpers. Nothing much has changed in the last 12 years (apart from a few extra grey hairs J!), so I asked Stephen for a little insight into what our showjumpers are getting up to in London…

What is the daily routine for the show jumpers at the Games? 

Generally the daily routine is governed by the timetable of competition. When we start competing at say 10.30am or 11am, the rider generally like to be on the horses at about 7.45am to 8am just to give them some light work and stretch their legs.

How does each rider differ in their routine (training time preferences, intensity of schooling, amount of jumping?)

The difference in training between the riders is generally reflective on the age, experience and temperament of the horse. There is vitally no jumping done by our guys once we arrived at the venue (on Aug1) other than in their warm up for a class.

Where is each rider’s current base:

Edwina - Stal Tops in Valkenswaard (NED)

James - Ger Poels Horses in Swolgen (NED)

Julia - based at Otto Beckers in Dobel (Ger)

Matt- based in Florida, but has been staying at Phil Levers place in Hasselt (Bel)

Do our riders bring their own trainers?

Riders generally use their own trainers. Edwina has Jan, JPR has Ger and Julia has Denis Lynch.

How technical/tall have the rounds been so far?

The courses so far have been fair, certainly not enormous by Olympic standard, but by the same token, getting a result. As always, you see some fairly wide variances in the ways some people ride some of the lines, but the distances are fairly straight forward. Of course, I'm writing this after day 2 of competition, with 2 days to go, and the normal progression is to get tougher and bigger each day.

Poor Matt... does his horse have a habit of napping or was that a special ‘trick’ invented at a bad moment?!

Matt’s horse had never done that before in the ring. He did it in the warm up of the ‘friendly’ (warm up competition before round 1), but then went out and jumped great in the ring. So when he did it in the warm up again on the day of the first individual qualifier, the expectation was that once he got out in the ring, he would click into gear and go. So, yes, I suppose you could say it was a special trick for the Games!

Is the surface top quality? And are the Greenwich facilities the best so far?

The surface is fine, horses jumping well off it. It is very "waxy", and the sand sticks to everything. The stables etc are also fine - but best ever? I think it’s hard for portable stables to be compared to permanent ones like Hong Kong (Beijing) or even Sydney.

Any other interesting things that have occurred/you've seen & can print?!

Something interesting and printable? I think we qualified for the second round of the teams event in Hong Kong with 20 faults, but didn't qualify in London with 12!!

Best & worst piece of Team clothing (I bet the worst is the bathers & the best is the team jumper?!)

The team jumper is pretty popular, as are the "pimped" volleys. The green plastic rain pants, although quite functional, are pretty horrendous looking! 

Amanda Ross reporting for Equestrian Life