PolarSkye
Well-Known Member
Got back last evening after a fab three days up at Burghley Horse Trials. My two daughters (15 and 13) and I left home at about 9.30 and got up there in time for lunch. They trawled the trade stands (and pigged out on nummy food) while I sat sipping Pimms in the stands and watched Maria and Michael Eilberg ride their incredible horses in the dressage demo. After a short break for lunch, went back to watch the last few dressage tests - Mary King and Caroline Powell both rode blinding tests. The girls and I met up, had a very tasty pork and apple burger and then headed back to the hotel.
Saturday morning we were up very early to be at the showground when the gates opened. Breakfast in the Members' area with some friends from our yard, a short pootle round the tradestands (where I had to buy both girls a LazyJacks hoody b/c they were so cold!) and then out onto the course for the day. The highs: seeing some of the fences we haven't visited in previous years (e.g., the trout hatchery), the beauty and technicality of the fences, the quality of the riding and athleticism of the horses, the number of facilities on the course (nice to have such great access to toilets!), the friendliness of the crowds, Cottesmore Leap - oh my goodness what an enormous fence. The lows: car parking on the course - I know it means people don't have so far to walk to get to where the action is, but it means you lose the feel of being out in the park; the number of bars and burger bars across the course - there were far more than the last time we went and it detracted from the views (although it meant we never had far to go to get a snack!); the cost of the concessions (£9.50 for a glass of champagne, £5.00 for a burger); the rudenesss of some spectators at some of the fences - blocking views by standing up in front of those sitting/lying down (particularly at the trout hatchery), the very grumpy man who retrieved Jules' phone for her but acted as though she had dropped it on purpose, the selfish attitude in the members' area wrt to chairs - I witnessed several people refuse to give up a chair that was doing nothing more than supporting a handbag.
We didn't see Oli fall off, but did see the horse ambulance and chatted later to the driver who told us the horse was fine and on his way home. We did see several riders tackle the Cottesmore Leap with real style - and several decide it was too much and take the long route (not that I blame 'em!).
We headed back to our hotel and had burger king (yuck) and watched X Factor.
Yesterday we were back up there early to watch the final horse inspection - Nereo in particular was feeling "well" and practically dragged Andrew Nicholson up and back! We did some horsey shopping, sat in the pouring rain to watch the lower order riders and then grabbed some lunch and went to sit in the car to dry off/warm up (we were parked up right by the Members' area). In the afternoon we were pleased to discover our seats were right underneath the royal box which meant most of the riders stopped right in front of us to acknowledge Princess Anne - we were also next to the first fence, which pretty much everyone rapped and quite a few had down. It was also lovely to see Oli Townend so clearly moved at retiring Carousel Quest. The SJ was nail biting and I have to say I had to bite my lip so as not to cheer every time Andrew Nicholson had a fence down
. I did take pictures, but my camera was very wet, it was VERY dark and my lens fogged up - so they're a little fuzzy - apologies for that.
We were home by 6.45 - to jacket potatoes and a nice glass of wine courtesy of my lovely husband (who regretted not going with us).
Here's the link to the pics - apologies for the overload but this is a quarter of the ones I actually took!
https://picasaweb.google.com/NaomiH...authkey=Gv1sRgCK7rzpLL7-_l4QE&feat=directlink
Hope everyone else who went had an equally lovely time! Dying to hear all your reports.
P
Saturday morning we were up very early to be at the showground when the gates opened. Breakfast in the Members' area with some friends from our yard, a short pootle round the tradestands (where I had to buy both girls a LazyJacks hoody b/c they were so cold!) and then out onto the course for the day. The highs: seeing some of the fences we haven't visited in previous years (e.g., the trout hatchery), the beauty and technicality of the fences, the quality of the riding and athleticism of the horses, the number of facilities on the course (nice to have such great access to toilets!), the friendliness of the crowds, Cottesmore Leap - oh my goodness what an enormous fence. The lows: car parking on the course - I know it means people don't have so far to walk to get to where the action is, but it means you lose the feel of being out in the park; the number of bars and burger bars across the course - there were far more than the last time we went and it detracted from the views (although it meant we never had far to go to get a snack!); the cost of the concessions (£9.50 for a glass of champagne, £5.00 for a burger); the rudenesss of some spectators at some of the fences - blocking views by standing up in front of those sitting/lying down (particularly at the trout hatchery), the very grumpy man who retrieved Jules' phone for her but acted as though she had dropped it on purpose, the selfish attitude in the members' area wrt to chairs - I witnessed several people refuse to give up a chair that was doing nothing more than supporting a handbag.
We didn't see Oli fall off, but did see the horse ambulance and chatted later to the driver who told us the horse was fine and on his way home. We did see several riders tackle the Cottesmore Leap with real style - and several decide it was too much and take the long route (not that I blame 'em!).
We headed back to our hotel and had burger king (yuck) and watched X Factor.
Yesterday we were back up there early to watch the final horse inspection - Nereo in particular was feeling "well" and practically dragged Andrew Nicholson up and back! We did some horsey shopping, sat in the pouring rain to watch the lower order riders and then grabbed some lunch and went to sit in the car to dry off/warm up (we were parked up right by the Members' area). In the afternoon we were pleased to discover our seats were right underneath the royal box which meant most of the riders stopped right in front of us to acknowledge Princess Anne - we were also next to the first fence, which pretty much everyone rapped and quite a few had down. It was also lovely to see Oli Townend so clearly moved at retiring Carousel Quest. The SJ was nail biting and I have to say I had to bite my lip so as not to cheer every time Andrew Nicholson had a fence down
. I did take pictures, but my camera was very wet, it was VERY dark and my lens fogged up - so they're a little fuzzy - apologies for that.We were home by 6.45 - to jacket potatoes and a nice glass of wine courtesy of my lovely husband (who regretted not going with us).
Here's the link to the pics - apologies for the overload but this is a quarter of the ones I actually took!
https://picasaweb.google.com/NaomiH...authkey=Gv1sRgCK7rzpLL7-_l4QE&feat=directlink
Hope everyone else who went had an equally lovely time! Dying to hear all your reports.
P
