The Fidelity Blenheim International Horse Trials recorded one of its busiest ever events with over 70,000 people attending and enjoying the sport in the sunshine last weekend.
“I am not sure whether it is the weather, the post Olympic ‘halo’ effect, the fact that many people have had many events cancelled and are missing their eventing ‘fix’, or the extra efforts we have put into marketing the event,” says Event Director Mandy Hervieu, “but we are delighted to have welcomed so many people- lots of old familiar faces and lots of new ones too. Everyone seemed to have a lovely time and we have once again been overwhelmed with masses of thank you letters, emails and card. It makes all the hard work worthwhile!”
The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials also enjoyed record crowds with reportedly 180,000 attendees over the four days of competition.
Both events were lucky with the weather (and a bit of luck was needed after this summer in Britain) but they also do many things which appeal to the public and make for a great weekend. Good food, good shopping, additional entertainment and fun classes designed to attract the not-so-serious event goer help boost the numbers.
Laura Collett and Jitterbug Photo: Blenheim Horse Trials
At Blenheim, the Eventers High Jump Challenge is hugely popular with spectators since it involves a ‘knockout’ style jumping class in which there is just one fence which goes higher and higher. Should the horse knock down the fence they are out of the next round unless the rider chooses to buy a ‘life’ (they are allowed one extra life) and have another attempt or remove their saddle/piece of clothing and jump the fence again! This year Tom Robinson did not need to use any of his ‘lives’ winning on Shannondale Quest at 1.80m while Laura Collett did the same thing bareback on Jitterbug but unfortunately knocked the top rail off to finish second. Mad but fun if you have the right horse. Shame that Shane Rose wasn’t there (to find out more about Shane’s prowess in this area CLICK HERE)
Both events had the bonus of Olympics riders competing and medallists’ parades and Burghley in particular has serious shopping. We’re not just talking equestrian products, we’re talking about 600 stands with everything a country person (and townies) could ever want for their home, stable, garden, property, lifestyle, wardrobe, garage as well as great food and even banks for when you run out of money (very dangerous!) We’ve got heaps of photos still to show from Burghley and we will be putting a photo gallery up next week to give a taste of the Burghley shopping phenomenon.
Guess which bank is on hand at Burghley?
Here in Australia we may not have the population to bring these sorts of numbers to events but event organisers are trying to improve the spectator experience which can only be good for the sport. The creation of the undercover Winter Trade Village at Melbourne International Three Day Event has been a big improvement in the past two years and the Australian International Three Day Event gets better every year. This year event director Gill Rolton has some great entertainment planned from Masterclasses with William Fox-Pitt to themed bars, celebrity course walks, the Twilight Showjumping Spectacular, horse tricks by the popular Double Dans, the Brewster Brothers (The Angels), plus street theatre and local bands. It looks like there won’t be much time for eventing. To check out more about the entertainment they have planned for this year, CLICK HERE and let’s hope it is a record year in Adelaide too
