As Libby Law reports from the Turtle (Libby’s very cute little mobile home), things have not quite gone to plan for our coverage of the UK eventing circuit with the cancellation of Badminton and Chatsworth. However next week, Llibby will trundle down to Saumur in France in the Turtle (Libby’s adorable mobile home) to cover what is shaping up to be a mega event – Saumur International 3 Day Event. In the meantime, Libby has a few ideas about how to pass her time so we’ll just have to wait and see what she comes up with!
With Chatsworth International Horse Trials, Aston Le Walls, Richmond and West Buckland Horse Trials all abandoned in the UK this weekend due to adverse weather conditions, the next major fixture on the UK eventing calendar is trying hard to accommodate extra riders and is hoping for an improvement in the weather. The Subaru Houghton International is hosting the inaugural FEI Eventing Nations Cup and will also be taking additional riders from around the world as last minute entries.
Yesterday, Musketeer Event Management (MEM) re-opened entries for The Subaru Houghton International having closed the CIC*** almost a week ago. Alec Lochore, Event Director at MEM and London 2012 Eventing Manager, commented, “Last week we had entries from all over the globe, including Thailand, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic and Italy. All being well, we’ll be able to run at Houghton in two weeks’ time so feel that re-opening entries to the International classes is the right thing to do. As a result, we now have a huge international entry, which also includes British riders such as William Fox-Pitt, Piggy French, Nicola Wilson, Mary King, Emily Llewellyn, Francis Whittington and Tina Cook, who may well represent Great Britain at Greenwich in July.”
Alec Lochore continues, “We will plan to run Cross Country over three days (Friday 25 – Sunday 27 May), with the Nations Cup taking place on Saturday 26 May. A revised timetable will be confirmed on Monday 14 May 2012 and published on the event website.”
Dates for various nations’ Olympic Eventing Team announcements vary; at the time of writing, Team GBR will be announced on Thursday 24 May 2012, the first day of competition at The Subaru Houghton International, but the announcement date may change. In view of many of the Australian riders’ last minute changes of plan, at this stage we have no information about whether Australia will field a team but we will endeavour to find out
For information on the event, visit www.houghtoninternational.co.uk and stay tuned for our coverage of Saumur (17th-20th May) and Houghton Hall ((24th- 27th May)
More coming up from Libby Law for an-eventful-life.com.au in the next few days.................
