Welcome back to Le Pin - this time for the Le Grand Complet
Last year Le Grand Complet au Haras le Pin was held just after the London 2012 Olympics. The Olympic champion himself, Michael Jung was present and won the CIC 3* on Halunke, the horse he is likely to be riding at next week’s European Championship in Malmo and Australian Clayton Fredericks won the 1* and 2*.
This year the event immediately follows the WEG Test Event held last weekend and it is, of course, now inextricably linked to the Normandy Games to be held next year.
Valerie Moulin, Pesident of Ustica and Guilaume Blancon the XC course overlooked by the National Stud
Guillaume Blanc is the National Delegate for the Sport Horse for the French studs and is based at Le Haras du Pin. He has been the Technical Delegate for Le Grand Complet several times and is an international judge. He admits that the WEG adds an extra challenge to running the annual event but there are also plenty of advantages for an event that hopes to continue to grow in future years.
There are plans to include an international level carriage driving event as a part of Le Grand Complet in 2015 and they would like to run a CCI 3* class – something that will not be unfeasible with the improved facilities to be left after next year’s WEG. The cross country course has received over €1.5 million funding and a new sand arena, which will be overlooked by the main chateau, is yet to be built for the dressage. The event has been at this venue for four years; previously it was held at Martimvast near Cherbourg but move to the National Stud of Le Haras du Pin seems to be a popular one.
The event has been well attended by international riders and is well known for its friendly and family atmosphere. This year that family feeling is even stronger due to the addition of a new international competition for ponies (CCIP*) ridden by competitors under 16 years. 38 riders in this class have come to Le Pin with their ponies and families and were today enjoying the warm sunshine as they settled in
Time to unload, unpack and settle in for a summer's evening by the truck or in a stable...
There are 148 entries in the CIC 1*and 58 in the CIC 3* with competitors from various countries. Mark Todd is here, listed as riding Leonidas II and Oloa, along with fellow Kiwis Jonelle Richards with three horses and Clarke Johnstone with Easy Tiger. Shane Rose is the only Australian rider competing here and he is enroute to the event with Virgil, so with only one Aussie in the mix, this will be a good chance for us to find out more about other competitors and pony eventing!
Today we had a quick look at some of the cross country with course designer Pierre Le Goupil – it was a beautiful warm day and after the press checked out a few fences in a very leisurely fashion, we returned to the VIP marquee, sponsored by Mumm champagne and dangerously close to the press area, to taste some of Normandy’s produce – yum. The next couple of days are set to stay pretty warm but the watering trucks are out on the track which feels fantastic under foot