As I mentioned in this morning’s quick post, everyone’s horse-show-viewing schedules were disrupted when a number of today’s classes, including the coaching marathon, were cancelled due to heavy, deep mud in the truck- and horse-trailer-parking area.

But we all found other things to do.

First, of course, were the dressage tests for the pair-horse class in the FEI driving competition. You can see how muddy the arena was in these photos, and don’t forget that you can read about the competition, get results, and see more photos at www.hoefnet.com.

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Misdee Wrigley Miller

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look at all the mud on Beat Schenk’s wheels!

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Then, there were all sorts of other horse-show classes:

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this Highland Pony won its class and its division and is owned by …

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… HM The Queen, who was standing by the rail and watching the class

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the exciting “skill at arms” class includes stabbing things with sabres (shown here), shooting balloons with a pistol …

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… and tent-pegging (shown here); we’ll have much more on this topic in a separate post

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Scattered throughout the schedule (with more added today when several regular classes were cancelled) were demos by some of the foreign groups scheduled to perform each night in the Jubilee Pageant, including …

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… riders from Oman …

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… Arabian horses from Azerbaijan …

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… and expert sword-wielding, um, riders from Russia

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Of course, the huge trade fair kept everyone (including us!) busy with shopping, meeting new friends, and seeing old friends. I’ll have more on that topic soon!

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And, finally, just for fun: a quick look at some of today’s horse-show mud:

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NOTE one correction in yesterday’s post: I had said the people in the final photo were from the Cook Islands. They are, in fact, from Kenya.