Aussie YR Megan Bryant’s Snowbound European Christmas
14 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Aussie YR Megan Bryant’s Snowbound European Christmas
VLIMMEREN, Belgium, Dec. 25–Australian Young Rider Megan Bryant is spending a white Christmas in the heart of snow-bound Europe, beyond anything she ever wished for.
The 19-year-old came to Europe with her horse, Donnabella, to compete in the Young Rider World Cup Final in Frankfurt last week, arriving at the beginning of December to be based at the stables of Dutch Olympic rider Arjen Teeuwissen in Belgium.
They arrived in snow, and as the world knows, it’s gotten worse.
“We wanted a white Christmas but we didn’t want this much snow!” Megan wrote in a blog for The Horse Magazine of Australia.
On Christmas Eve, the veterinarian, two farriers and an electrician ran off the driveway and had to be pulled out of the snow.
“At this point we are unsure whether we will be able to get to the show (Jumping Mechelen CDI-W) at Mechelen on Sunday, hopefully the snow disappears in the next two days,” she wrote.
Megan said she and the mare need to be in England by Wednesday morning to go into quarantine for the flight home.
“If we don’t make it, Donnabella won’t be able to get on the next flight to Australia,” she said. “And with flights only going to Australia once a month, it looks like we could be stuck here another month.”
Her mother tried to catch a bus to go Christmas food shopping but no buses were running because of the snow so someone from the stables offered her a ride. That was before the electrician ran off the road and blocked the driveway. After he got pulled out, the car became bogged, too. With mats under the wheels and four people pushing, the car was eventually freed to go hunting for Christmas dinner.
