Rider's Wednesday -- Standing in the Wings

Regular readers may remember a post on June 28 about Brigadier, affectionately known as Buford. Brigadier is a Kansas-born horse with international talent. The post told about his upcoming appearance at a show in Verden, Germany, competing against some of the best and boldest in the world.

Here he is, in the ring:

I heard from Cecelia with an update. (Buford is her trainer's horse. She takes clinics from David Wightman, the rider.)

Bufford did pretty well over there. The first day he was a little tense and didn't do the flying changes very well but was still 25th out of 36 horses with a score of 6.70.

The second day in the small final he was very good and placed 9th with a score of 7.26. He was the highest placed American horse! There were lots of nice comments from everyone who was there watching. It was HUGE show....all the best riders were there including Isabell Werth.

I am so proud of him and David! I want to thank everyone for their help and support! The next step will be Kentucky for him and then home for a well deserved break.

I don't know the horse, his trainer, or his rider, but I know Cecelia. And being able to stand in the wings and watch an international contender take shape is quite an honor.