We arrived at Barbury this morning after staying in Marlborough overnight at the historic Crown and Ball hotel, which dates back to the Spanish Armada! In the morning we got our gumboots because, yes you’ve guessed it, some rain had fallen overnight but it certainly didn’t dampen our spirit as we headed of to Barbury.
Our first glimpses of this event was the green open pasture that greeted us as we were directed to the VIP parking area near the main arena. What a stunning sight! Then there were the marquees and trade stands, 56 in total. They ranged from saddlery stores, feed, clothing, art you name it they had it, but it was the sheer size of the property that took our breath Way. Lush green manicured tracks lay before us.
A few darks clouds couldn't dampen the thrill of being at Barbury
The Land Rover fence
As we started to walk the course we noticed that the three star fences were flagged red unlike back home so that was a little confusing to start with but we soon got used to it and as we went around we started seeing a few familiar faces. First we met up with Clayton (Fredericks) who was exercising one of his horses and then we saw Mary King on Imperial Cavalier. Some of the novice horses were running round their cross country at the same time that we were walking the three star track and then we bumped into Matt Ryan (pictured below), who was out walking the novice track.
Captain Mark Philips had designed a new course with a new start and finish to previous years. It was a lovely flowing course that could be viewed by spectators at the main arena and everything was so beautifully finished. Heading back towards the stables we bumped into Kevin McNab who was riding Clifton Pinot in the CIC 2* Section B .
We also managed to locate Chris Burton and saw HP Leilani who look pretty relaxed after her test. Chris was quickly off one horse, Underdiscussion, and onto another one but we hope to catch up with him properly at Aachen. Another Aussie we bumped into was Di Schaffer but sadly we missed Wendy. New Zealander Jock Paget who was doing some flat work with Eric Duvander, the New Zealand High Performance manager, whilst being keenly watched over by other High Performance Kiwis. Then we just timed it right to see Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper produce a lovely test.
William Fox-Pitt and Oliver Townend
Mary King warming up
The who’s who of the eventing world were all at Barbury; Mary King, William Fox Pitt, Boyd Martin, Andrew Nicholson and Zara Phillips just to name a few and the CIC 3* class attracted 133 entries.
We had a quick look at the stables (above) which were covered and really well set out and located near the truck (ok lorry) parking area. Not a float to be seen but just rows upon rows of horse trucks.
Trucks on the hill
The whole event looked exceptionally with plenty of spectators, local TV crews and lots of volunteers all ready to do their bit. For us we were sorry to leave but Aachen awaits as we head to Germany tomorrow.
Catch up with you then,
Andrea
