The Pan-Am Games 2015 are taking place right here in Toronto this year!

The Pan-Am Games officially started last Friday, and this past Sunday, I spent the day at the Caledon Equestrian Park with the rest of the barn gang, and we watched Canada take the silver medal in the Dressage Intermediate/Grand-Prix Team competition.

It was so amazing to watch these talented rider and horse combinations working together in harmony. Although, it wasn’t with out it’s bumps because there were some partners that just weren’t clicking that day, and it was reflected in the scores and the elegance of their movements. But I’m by no means a professional, so they all looked amazing!!

The sun though, was so damn hot, that I got a nasty burn from sitting in the sun all day on metal bleachers. Phew, we all melted! I could only imagine what riding in that heat was like. We ate a lot of popsicles, and drank a lot of water, and tried to keep as cool as possible to avoid heatstroke. But it was worth every sore shoulder and knee to see it all live.

I was impressed with how smoothly everything ran for this event. After hearing all of the craziness that’s gone into putting this all together, and how last minute some things were being rushed, I think that most of Toronto was skeptical about the whole thing. There is no parking at the Equestrian Park, instead you park at the Albion Hills Conservation Area and take a shuttle to the grounds. This worked extremely well, and was very efficient. Both times there was very little wait time before departure, and while there was a bit of walking, it definitely wasn’t outrageous (although by the end of the day, it felt like forever to walk back to the car). Definitely not the mess I thought it was going to be.

Are you going to be checking out any of the events while the Games are in town? The equestrian events are still on, a couple more dressage days, as well as show jumping and cross country! I’m pretty sure there are still tickets available, find them here.

I’m hoping to check out some of the events going on at Nathan Phillips Square – on Saturday the National Ballet is doing a presentation, so I’m definitely going to try and make it down for that!