Beervelde - the first show we went to
Although it seems like a lifetime ago already, before WEG I was lucky enough to take a trip to Europe with my partner Dave to see what it’s all about on the (dark side) showjumping world and to visit the growing Aussie contingent over there. It was a long flight of over 30 hours travelling time to get to Brussels, due to an emergency landing in Singapore with a sick passenger. Once in Brussels we were collected from the airport by good friend Jamie and headed off to the show where the Jamies (Kermond and Winning) were competing in Beervelde. This was to be our first taste of the European showjumping experience and it didn't disappoint. After the show we returned to the Jamies’ home town of Roermond in the Netherlands where they were busy setting up the apartment they were about to move into and trying not to think too much about Jamie's next competition, WEG. With many a trip to Germany where the horses lived, just across the border and a shopping/building Ikea adventure we had an idea of what it would be like to live over there and do horses… which sounds great but a lot of hard work, time and confusion goes into knowing your way around, getting into shows, working out how your horses are going to function in a predominately boxed life and just generally dealing with people who aren't always impressed that you don't speak German.
We took a trip over to London to go to the prestigious Global Champions Tour. It was located behind the Horse Guard Parade just a short stroll from Buckingham Palace. The standard of horses was of course very impressive as they seemed to be able to answer questions that seemed near physically impossible but even more impressive was the standard of the riders. This made me want to come home and be better, which is probably the best outcome of our trip!
Now this is the way to travel!
The fact that the riders arrived in their shuttle Maseratis and stayed in the flash hotels did not make them any less friendly and it was awesome to meet, sit near and watch some of the greats. It was also very cool to catch up briefly with the Aussie eventing team who had come over for a watch whilst their horses were settling in after the flight.
We were away for two weeks from take off to landing, it all came and went so quickly and I was sad to not go to an event and even more so to miss out on WEG, next time!
Tal
Of course the red phone box (which unfortunately smelt of urine)
