An Eventful Life will be filming all competitors on cross country at
Osborne House - find out more here
Well, if you want to feel as if you’re on holiday during a horse trials event, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight is the place to be this week
The weather gods who had such a strange sense of humour earlier in the year when they sent the ‘Beast from the East’ to the UK are being much more beatific now with a prolonged hot and dry spell that is giving the new showcase event on the Isle of Wight an even more holiday feel
Most of the riders competing this week at the inaugural London Capital & Finance Osborne House Horse Trials will make the journey via ferry from Southampton or Portsmouth to the island but there will be one local competing, Sarah Holmes.
Sarah is based on the Isle of Wight and normally has to travel to the mainland but this week, for a change, the competition is coming to her doorstep. Sarah is competing in all three classes, riding Greenvale Corriado and Dunganstown Fleur on Wednesday and Lowhill Clover on Thursday
Most of the competitors are arriving today by ferry
The classes are all running at Open Intermediate level and Sarah will be facing some tough opposition who have crossed the Solent to enjoy the new showcase event on the summery Isle of Wight held at Osborne House. The numbers may not be large for each class but there are plenty of big names here including Oliver Townend, Andrew Hoy, Izzy Taylor and Emily King and they will all be competing in the first two classes on Wednesday.
The action starts around 10am tomorrow with riders performing a shortened dressage test of approximately four minutes on the Durbar Lawn and in the Cottage Field for the OI Section A and B, followed by the show jumping on the Durbar Lawn and again with a slightly shorter course than usual, offering riders the chance to choose alternative jumps and various routes
In the afternoon the riders take to the Osborne House grounds for the three kilometre cross country course designed by Adrian Ditcham and the winners of the Warrior Bowl and the Albert Bowl will be decided by the end of the day
The first class has an international feel with riders from Sweden, Australia and Brazil competing against the Brits and Sweden’s Ludwig Svennerstal on Fit For Fun RAA, will be one to watch, having recently finished second in the CIC2* at Barbury. Andrew Hoy has two horses in this class; the colourful Hasenacher Jack Sparrow and Basmati while young British rider Holly Woodhead is having her first start on RLE Dierekt since joining the team at River Lodge Equestrian. Another young rider, Emily King is competing in this class too on board Quinlan Z while the World Number One Oliver Townend is riding Midsummer Picnic
Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around at Floors Castle
Oliver is likely to be very competitive in the Section B with Coldplay III, who picked up fourth place in the CIC2* at Floors Castle, but Izzy Taylor also has one of our favourites in this class – Le Lion d’ Angers winner Monkeying Around, who won that same 2* at Floors. Keep an eye out too for Alex Bragg who is on great form at the moment, riding Barichello, winner of the OI at Rockingham Castle and Liz Halliday-Sharp on Cooley Quicksilver, second in the OI at Barbury
We’ll be at Osborne House bringing you rider interviews and a wrap up of each day from the Isle of Wight as well updates on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so stay tuned …….
Osborne House is just a few minutes drive from the ferry arrival at East Cowes
