Saturday, 30 April 2011
Rolex XC Day...action packed!
This afternoon I had the pleasure of seeing Mary King ride her to horses into first & 2nd place after awesome XC rides here at Rolex Kentucky. Clayton Fredericks lies 3rd after a very good round with Be My Guest.
XC was very influential, with only 18 of 41 getting home clear of jumping faults & only 3 making the time.
I am in love with Fernhill Urco, Mary's grey. He will be one to watch...perhaps for London, or beyond?
Unfortunately Hamish Cargill had 2 runouts at the same fence, the Hollow, so incurred a 60 & time faults. A shame as the rest of his round looked good from what I saw. He had the unfortunate experience of being held on course just before fence 10, as the horse ahead, RStar, had a fall at the double of corners.
A lot of water was pumped out at various points, but the sunken road still had water in it. They lowered the first element because of it & it rode well. Everyone I saw went straight through. It got hot in the afternoon so it dried out & the going held up well. When we walked it 2 days ago, it was very wet. This afternoon, we got sunburnt!!
Showjumping starts at 1pm tomorrow, so about 3am in Aus if my maths is correct. Should be exciting...it's a big, stadium style course, very different to what I am used to seeing at home (ie compact indoor or outdoor courses).
XC was very influential, with only 18 of 41 getting home clear of jumping faults & only 3 making the time.
I am in love with Fernhill Urco, Mary's grey. He will be one to watch...perhaps for London, or beyond?
Unfortunately Hamish Cargill had 2 runouts at the same fence, the Hollow, so incurred a 60 & time faults. A shame as the rest of his round looked good from what I saw. He had the unfortunate experience of being held on course just before fence 10, as the horse ahead, RStar, had a fall at the double of corners.
A lot of water was pumped out at various points, but the sunken road still had water in it. They lowered the first element because of it & it rode well. Everyone I saw went straight through. It got hot in the afternoon so it dried out & the going held up well. When we walked it 2 days ago, it was very wet. This afternoon, we got sunburnt!!
Showjumping starts at 1pm tomorrow, so about 3am in Aus if my maths is correct. Should be exciting...it's a big, stadium style course, very different to what I am used to seeing at home (ie compact indoor or outdoor courses).
Friday, 29 April 2011
Things I have learned about USA & more on Rolex Kentucky
Well a slightly chilly start to the day, with XC course still looking damp & a lot of draining occuring at the lake area. The dressage test of the day for me came from Mary King & Fernhill Urco, who were classy, polished, accurate & mistake free. A very lovely horse indeed & IMO ( not that it counts for much) should have been clearly in the lead. I did note the US judge marked it 5% lower than the other judges, but that seemed to happen a lot, resulting in some close scores in the top 20. Of the Aussies, Clayton Fredericks lies 10th with Be My Guest & Hamish Cargill was another rider to perform a pleasing test (perhaps judged a tad harshly?) to be 14th.
Other highlights involved getting our Run Henny Run hats (personally signed by Peter Atkins)... And seeing the bronzes of Secretariat & Man O'War. Both are (believe it or not) ancestors of my little Henry ( on his TB side of course) as he has Bold Ruler & War Admiral back in his family tree. His toughness & cocky attitude might not just be the Cob blood! ;-)
Other things we learned in our travels today
1. You can get quite decent frozen dinners for $2.50 or less...under $2 for a Lean Cuisine!!
2. Most local chocolate here ( including candy bars like Kit Kats) is made by Hersheys = bile tasting. However Reece's Peanut butter cups are quite tasty. Thank God for Lindt being sold here though!!
3. If you look hard enough, you *can* buy products that DON'T contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is used here extensively instead of sugar, is evil tasting & wreaks havoc on my delicate stomach.
4. You can buy guns in Walmart. No joke. Tyres (tires?) for your car too!
5. Most horse park food is grotesque! Too hard to describe the weird delights, most being heart attacks in a box. We'll make our own sangas for tomorrow!!
Photos to come!
Other highlights involved getting our Run Henny Run hats (personally signed by Peter Atkins)... And seeing the bronzes of Secretariat & Man O'War. Both are (believe it or not) ancestors of my little Henry ( on his TB side of course) as he has Bold Ruler & War Admiral back in his family tree. His toughness & cocky attitude might not just be the Cob blood! ;-)
Other things we learned in our travels today
1. You can get quite decent frozen dinners for $2.50 or less...under $2 for a Lean Cuisine!!
2. Most local chocolate here ( including candy bars like Kit Kats) is made by Hersheys = bile tasting. However Reece's Peanut butter cups are quite tasty. Thank God for Lindt being sold here though!!
3. If you look hard enough, you *can* buy products that DON'T contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is used here extensively instead of sugar, is evil tasting & wreaks havoc on my delicate stomach.
4. You can buy guns in Walmart. No joke. Tyres (tires?) for your car too!
5. Most horse park food is grotesque! Too hard to describe the weird delights, most being heart attacks in a box. We'll make our own sangas for tomorrow!!
Photos to come!
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Kentucky day 1 & 2
Well after 24 hrs in transit (from a 5 am London check in til arriving in Georgetown at 11pm!) we got here late Tuesday. Stormy weather delayed our flights, but very luckily we have escaped the tornadoes that have struck further south. Yesterday we picked up our car & Mark has handled the driving on the right hand side very well... Still freaks me out!
Today's trip to the Kentucky horse park was to find our way, check out the venue, go shopping ( !) and walk the XC. Tomorrow will be spectating the 2nd day of dressage. The venue is just amazing.... Acres of green pasture, post & rail fencing for miles, then the big stadium with lights to rival the MCG!
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Across the Atlantic & weekend reflections
Well, it's been a while between blog posts, so I'm going to attempt to put something together whilst crossing the Atlantic ( obviously to be uploaded later).
It's been a hectic few days....we arrived in Bath Wednesday & explored the historic sights. Thursday involved a trip to the Roman Baths & a walk through the lovely Parade park. Then it was off to Nettleton for our stay during Badminton.
The last 4 days has gone in a blur....Thursday was dressage day 1, then time for some shopping in the maze of trade stands & then a course walk with Paul Tapner, organised as a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK.
What I realised from walking the course is that it is not necessarily the size of the fences, but the order, placement & technicality that increases the difficulty....not to mention that watching on TV/dvd gives no indication of the (long!) distance between some of the fences, or the undulation of the terrain. Towards the end of the course there was a long uphill gallop, at a time when horses were tiring....this meant a lot of horses did struggle to make time.
Friday was 2nd day of dressage & the standard blew me away! So many good tests, of note Ruth Edge with Two Thyme & Piggy French on Jakarta put together brilliant tests & the crowd went wild! Of the Aussies, Sam Griffiths put in the best test. The difficulty of the 4 star test has noticeably increased...lots of counter canter & flying changes. Those who doubted Mark Todd's ability to step up to the modern sport were proven wrong, with a very nice test on NZB Landvision.
Cross country day dawned a little cooler than the previous days, but still nice & sunny. Andrew Nicholson set off as trailblazer& stormed around clear & under time...everyone thought the course was going to be a dressage competition....no, it was just Andrew showing his experience! After that, the wheels started to fall off, with time proving harder to get than anticipated (11 min, 16 seconds being the optimum time). From an Australian perspective, it was great to see all 3 get round. Sam Griffiths was the only one to make time with a very classy round on Happy Times. It was pleasing to see though that Lucinda Fredericks went storming around on her new up & coming star, Prada, who looks to be filling Headley Brittania's shoes. Paul Tapner also had a good round, but I know he was disappointed to not make the time. The action really got exciting later in the afternoon with so many in contention to move up the placings. One of the rounds of the day came from Nicola Wilson on Opposition Buzz, who looked so fit & bright right to the end. Mark Todd did not disappoint, with a clear round to go into the lead... the end of XC day, the top 12 only had one rail separating them....nail biting stuff!
Showjumping day was exciting as promised...although there were several clears in the morning session, the pressure mounted as the day went on. Paul Tapner & Kilfinnie had 2 down, whilst Lucinda & Prada had one. The order in the top 12 shuffled around when just a few rails fell. Sam Griffiths remained cool under pressure to go clear & move up the leaderboard (to be 4th, finishing on his dressage score) as did Mary King & Piggy French. It was all then down to Mark Todd & he was just amazing, going clear under enormous pressure to take the win with NZB Land Vision. The crowd went mad...what a story, a win 31 years after his first win in 1980...wins later with Horton Point & Bertie Blunt...a retirement after Sydney Olympics, then the comeback in 2008.
We stayed to watch the retirement ceremony of Tamarillo, then the presentations & victory lap. Then it was a fleeting trip back to London to prepare for our 5.40am check in to fly to USA...! Now I have no idea what "time" we are on....had to do a silly flight to Zurich to get our flight to Chicago, so have changed time zones all over the place. We'll get to Lexington tonight, making our day about 31 hrs.
Update: since I wrote this, we had a delayed flight to Lexington due to thunderstorms & got to our hotel at 11pm...! This morning we have woken to severe thunderstorm warnings & tornado warnings! Can't get our hire car til later as they are 'grounded' til the storms pass. I have heard the first horse inspection has been moved indoors with the weather...crazy stuff!
It's been a hectic few days....we arrived in Bath Wednesday & explored the historic sights. Thursday involved a trip to the Roman Baths & a walk through the lovely Parade park. Then it was off to Nettleton for our stay during Badminton.
The last 4 days has gone in a blur....Thursday was dressage day 1, then time for some shopping in the maze of trade stands & then a course walk with Paul Tapner, organised as a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK.
What I realised from walking the course is that it is not necessarily the size of the fences, but the order, placement & technicality that increases the difficulty....not to mention that watching on TV/dvd gives no indication of the (long!) distance between some of the fences, or the undulation of the terrain. Towards the end of the course there was a long uphill gallop, at a time when horses were tiring....this meant a lot of horses did struggle to make time.
Friday was 2nd day of dressage & the standard blew me away! So many good tests, of note Ruth Edge with Two Thyme & Piggy French on Jakarta put together brilliant tests & the crowd went wild! Of the Aussies, Sam Griffiths put in the best test. The difficulty of the 4 star test has noticeably increased...lots of counter canter & flying changes. Those who doubted Mark Todd's ability to step up to the modern sport were proven wrong, with a very nice test on NZB Landvision.
Cross country day dawned a little cooler than the previous days, but still nice & sunny. Andrew Nicholson set off as trailblazer& stormed around clear & under time...everyone thought the course was going to be a dressage competition....no, it was just Andrew showing his experience! After that, the wheels started to fall off, with time proving harder to get than anticipated (11 min, 16 seconds being the optimum time). From an Australian perspective, it was great to see all 3 get round. Sam Griffiths was the only one to make time with a very classy round on Happy Times. It was pleasing to see though that Lucinda Fredericks went storming around on her new up & coming star, Prada, who looks to be filling Headley Brittania's shoes. Paul Tapner also had a good round, but I know he was disappointed to not make the time. The action really got exciting later in the afternoon with so many in contention to move up the placings. One of the rounds of the day came from Nicola Wilson on Opposition Buzz, who looked so fit & bright right to the end. Mark Todd did not disappoint, with a clear round to go into the lead... the end of XC day, the top 12 only had one rail separating them....nail biting stuff!
Showjumping day was exciting as promised...although there were several clears in the morning session, the pressure mounted as the day went on. Paul Tapner & Kilfinnie had 2 down, whilst Lucinda & Prada had one. The order in the top 12 shuffled around when just a few rails fell. Sam Griffiths remained cool under pressure to go clear & move up the leaderboard (to be 4th, finishing on his dressage score) as did Mary King & Piggy French. It was all then down to Mark Todd & he was just amazing, going clear under enormous pressure to take the win with NZB Land Vision. The crowd went mad...what a story, a win 31 years after his first win in 1980...wins later with Horton Point & Bertie Blunt...a retirement after Sydney Olympics, then the comeback in 2008.
We stayed to watch the retirement ceremony of Tamarillo, then the presentations & victory lap. Then it was a fleeting trip back to London to prepare for our 5.40am check in to fly to USA...! Now I have no idea what "time" we are on....had to do a silly flight to Zurich to get our flight to Chicago, so have changed time zones all over the place. We'll get to Lexington tonight, making our day about 31 hrs.
Update: since I wrote this, we had a delayed flight to Lexington due to thunderstorms & got to our hotel at 11pm...! This morning we have woken to severe thunderstorm warnings & tornado warnings! Can't get our hire car til later as they are 'grounded' til the storms pass. I have heard the first horse inspection has been moved indoors with the weather...crazy stuff!
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Good XC rounds for Aussies
Brief update....good day for Aussies! All 3 put in solid clear rounds, with Sam Griffiths being one of the few to make the time. Great to see Lucinda put in a good round with Prada.
The leaderboard has changed considerably, with Mark Todd & Andrew Nicholson & William Fox Pitt all to come with 2nd horses. An exciting day ahead tomorrow...warm here today too, how lucky we are with the weather, although it is "hot" by british standards!!
The leaderboard has changed considerably, with Mark Todd & Andrew Nicholson & William Fox Pitt all to come with 2nd horses. An exciting day ahead tomorrow...warm here today too, how lucky we are with the weather, although it is "hot" by british standards!!
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Brilliant Badminton
Well...what can I say? Been here 2 days & been too busy to blog!
Loving the Badminton experience, helped greatly by superb weather...25 degrees for today, 2nd day of dressage. Lots of people wilting, but I loved it!
Some absolutely superb riding seen, with 3 young British riders dominating the leaderboard. Ruth Edge & Two Thyme took the lead, followed by Piggy French & Laura Collett. Everyone loves a good comeback, so it was nice to see Mark Todd perform an excellent test to lie 4th.
The Aussies are a bit off the pace, but all 3 put in solid tests to be in the top quarter of the field.
Hopefully some photos & more stories to come tomorrow! Roll on XC day :-)
Loving the Badminton experience, helped greatly by superb weather...25 degrees for today, 2nd day of dressage. Lots of people wilting, but I loved it!
Some absolutely superb riding seen, with 3 young British riders dominating the leaderboard. Ruth Edge & Two Thyme took the lead, followed by Piggy French & Laura Collett. Everyone loves a good comeback, so it was nice to see Mark Todd perform an excellent test to lie 4th.
The Aussies are a bit off the pace, but all 3 put in solid tests to be in the top quarter of the field.
Hopefully some photos & more stories to come tomorrow! Roll on XC day :-)
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Riding near Cirencester...not quite as expected
Ok, so I did get to go riding, but it was a little different to what I had expected....! I picked what I thought was a reputable establishment & thought I had made my requests clear, as beforehand they asked my height, weight & level of experience.
XC lesson was ok...instructor was good, but the horse was big & clumpy. At least I got to go for a hoon, jump some fences & work on my lines & position. Not too bad considering on a strange, much bigger horse.
Dressage lesson...well, I thought " schoolmaster lesson with senior instructor" meant I'd get to ride an educated horse. No, it meant flatwork lesson on poor old school horse. Unfortunately he was big, hollow, stiff...with a mouth like concrete and rigid sides. I am used to riding horses that go forward into a contact. Made me appreciate my own horses much more in any case. Although they have their problems, at least they are responsive!
So now we are in the lovely city of Bath...very beautiful. Tomorrow we make our way to Chippenham for our Badminton accomodation. Only 2 more sleeps!
XC lesson was ok...instructor was good, but the horse was big & clumpy. At least I got to go for a hoon, jump some fences & work on my lines & position. Not too bad considering on a strange, much bigger horse.
Dressage lesson...well, I thought " schoolmaster lesson with senior instructor" meant I'd get to ride an educated horse. No, it meant flatwork lesson on poor old school horse. Unfortunately he was big, hollow, stiff...with a mouth like concrete and rigid sides. I am used to riding horses that go forward into a contact. Made me appreciate my own horses much more in any case. Although they have their problems, at least they are responsive!
So now we are in the lovely city of Bath...very beautiful. Tomorrow we make our way to Chippenham for our Badminton accomodation. Only 2 more sleeps!
Monday, 18 April 2011
A visit to Wickstead Farm
A hectic few days
Finally managing to catch up on my blogging. Friday was a very long day, with the trip to Calais to get back to London. We did really well on the road (left Paris at 7:30) and the plan was to get a midday ferry....well, that was the plan & must have been everyone else's as there was a line up kilometres from the port. We were able to take a short cut to get there a bit quicker, but then it took over an hour to get through border security! Hundreds of people in line, but only 2 staff on duty, what the?
We finally got on the 1.35 ferry & that was ok...a 2 hr bus trip & we'd be back in London right? Wrong! Due to London Marathon. & apparently a fire on the M1 (?) we went through the suburbs & our trip turned into 4 hrs. :-( ( including a 2nd accidental sightseeing tour of very busy London, past Westminster Abbey). By 7pm we reached the tour ending hotel & had to find our way to our hotel. It was only a 2 mile walk with heavy luggage & to start with, NFI of where we were going. A taxi might have been more sensible! The saving grace for the day was getting upgraded from a standard room to an entire suite, because of the marathon bookings. It was just about was big as our house). Quote of the day by Mark "I feel like the Queen". Unfortunately I didn't get to appreciate it much, being up all night with a tummy bug (ferry food?).
Then it was time for a change of pace, so we got a train to Bedford to escape the hectic pace of London on Marathon day. Stayed at a lovely hotel on the outskirts & enjoyed a walk to a local fair, had a Lovely dinner & early night ( still recovering from the tour!) After a good sleep we headed for Wiltshire & are now having a nice stay in Highworth to explore the Cotswolds before heading to Bath & then it's all roads lead to Badminton!
We finally got on the 1.35 ferry & that was ok...a 2 hr bus trip & we'd be back in London right? Wrong! Due to London Marathon. & apparently a fire on the M1 (?) we went through the suburbs & our trip turned into 4 hrs. :-( ( including a 2nd accidental sightseeing tour of very busy London, past Westminster Abbey). By 7pm we reached the tour ending hotel & had to find our way to our hotel. It was only a 2 mile walk with heavy luggage & to start with, NFI of where we were going. A taxi might have been more sensible! The saving grace for the day was getting upgraded from a standard room to an entire suite, because of the marathon bookings. It was just about was big as our house). Quote of the day by Mark "I feel like the Queen". Unfortunately I didn't get to appreciate it much, being up all night with a tummy bug (ferry food?).
Then it was time for a change of pace, so we got a train to Bedford to escape the hectic pace of London on Marathon day. Stayed at a lovely hotel on the outskirts & enjoyed a walk to a local fair, had a Lovely dinner & early night ( still recovering from the tour!) After a good sleep we headed for Wiltshire & are now having a nice stay in Highworth to explore the Cotswolds before heading to Bath & then it's all roads lead to Badminton!
Friday, 15 April 2011
Quick Paris update
Well we enjoyed the cabaret show last night...Paradis Latin. For someone who has never seen this sort of show, it is hard to explain. My Aussie first thoughts were " Rock Eisteddfod on steroids, but with adults, lots of flesh (male and female), acrobatics and 100 x more bling" Good fun, but did leave us sleep deprived for sightseeing today. To cut a very long story short, we did some sightseeing with the group & then set off on our own to explore...saw the Arc De Triomphe, walked under the Eiffel Tower (too big wait to go up on it), went in Notre Dame cathedral, decided we didn't have enough time for the Lourve but saw that precinct...went past the Grand Palais, which is hosting a CSI 5* showjumping show today til sunday. Unfortunately tickets were only available to special people today, not general public, so we couldn't watch. Bummer. Was interesting seeing all the portable stables in the heart of Paris though! We are now about to head out to dinner with some fellow Aussies...not too late tonight though, we have an early start tomorrow to return to London.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Lucerne & Mt Titlis - photo overload!
Photos from Lucerne & Mt Titlis, Switzerland. Lion Monument, Lake Views & Mountain views.
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