Burghley Horse Trials 4th September

Eleanor, Ian & I were up bright & breezy, 6.30 am a bit early for a Saturday but we had a busy day ahead.

it was an extremely misty morning with more than a hint of autumn in the air. As we left Halam we were hoping that the mist would soon clear & the sun would shine.

We had a good journey arrived nice & early so no traffic problems, fortified ourselves with a bacon sandwich & tea then set about the shopping task. We all could have spent a fortune, there were so many lovely things to buy even if you did not have a horse. Eleanor got some great bargains for her horse Clyde and also managed to get a variety of riding clothes although finding a pair of Jodhpurs that were small enough for her was a bit of a test.

We then started to walk the course spending time at many of the jumps and waiting as the horses & riders sped past us a varying rates of speed. The expressions on the riders faces ranged for total terror to sheer determination. The horses themselves seemed to be very focused on the job in hand, the way that some of them sailed right over the biggest and widest jumps without a problem was hard to believe. To coin a phrase they took everything in their stride and hardly faltered. When they did falter though this was accompanied by loud gasps from the crowd.

Even though I used to ride many years ago, Ian & I were "New to this equine world" but we really had a fabulous day, apart from our feet which were all very sore by the end of it. Mine were screaming at me to sit down, we had walked for hours on end. Despite being very tired Eleanor was all smiles & I guess she really enjoyed herself.

Enlarge the photo's to get a better idea of the scale of the jumps.

Early evening the 3 of us drove to Stamford to meet with Richard, Chris & Tom. Tom had been at Worksop college most of the day doing training & trials for the college rugby team. we are looking forward to going to see him play for the college or NLD for which he has also been picked for the team.

We had a nice meal in an Italian restaurant and then we set off home for Marlow. I cannot remember when I last felt so tired and was very glad to see my bed at the end of a great day.