The Slower Road

Last Sunday at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, members of the British Driving Society gathered for a drive through Windsor Home Park and a Concours d’Elegance competition. Following with the tradition of this annual drive, the group was led by HRH Prince Phillip, driving HM The Queen’s team of Fell ponies.

After all the rain and mud of the previous few days, and the unfortunate cancellation of Friday’s coaching marathon, the participants in the BDS drive couldn’t have asked for a prettier day.

I was able to get photos of several of the turnouts while they were lined up on the road after their drive; driving down the road; in a collecting arena; and (the winner of the first-place ribbon) in the main arena.

Enjoy!

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the winning Hackney Pony

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We, and crowds of other people, spent lots of time during the Royal Windsor Horse Show exploring and shopping in the many, many booths and tents in the trade fair.

I enjoyed seeing (and was able to introduce A.J. to) some friends from Spain, when we discovered the Dorantes Saddlery booth. During last year’s CAA trip to Spain, the group had visited with the folks at Dorantes, and with their compatriots at Alba Carriages. At Windsor, we talked about England, Spain, food, and, of course, the beautiful items on display in their trade-fair booth.

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detail of the blinkers on a beautiful russet bridle

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a spares kit

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a rosette and leather hat box

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a lovely variety of browbands …

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… and more browbands

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also on display: gorgeous storage boxes, which can be painted in the owner’s colors

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… the same box, opened

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… the red one shown above is in the background here, accompanied by a beautiful blue storage box in a different shape and size

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… the blue box, as displayed, had drawers for storing bits; it can be configured to store any number of items

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detail of yet another beautiful set of harness

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In today’s post, I had meant to share the story of and some photos from the booth of a Spanish harness-maker we saw at the RWHS trade fair. But I seem to have run out of time, and we’re traveling all day today, making our way back home.

So for today, I’ll leave you with a twilight photo of beautiful Windsor Castle, from my evening visit to the showgrounds on Saturday.

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I have a LOT more to share from this week’s trip. Stay tuned for photos from the harness-maker I mentioned above, the RWHS Light Trade class (this may even warrant two separate posts), tent-pegging, a rocking-horse-maker in the trade fair, a variety of pageant participants, the BDS drive, and more.

As you may have heard, there’s an extra-special addition to this year’s Royal Windsor Horse Show: a nightly pageant of music, horses, and more — “Around the World in Sixty Years” — in honor of HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the many countries she’s visited during her reign.

Half of our CAA group went to the pageant last night, and the rest of us saw tonight’s final performance. (It was a stunningly spectacular show, by the way.)

The U.S. contingent consisted of cowboys, Native Americans, roping cowgirls, the “Pony Express,” longhorn cattle, and an original Stagecoach owned (and brought from California specifically for the pageant) by CAA member Michele Macfarlane.

Yesterday evening, I was fortunate to be allowed to go (with an escort, mind you) “backstage” at the very beginning of the pageant to watch some of the U.S. contingent gathering in the huge driving warmup arena, and to see Michele’s horses being put to the Stagecoach.

Here’s a look at the portion of the massive production that I saw, in the order that it all took place:

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Today at the Royal Windsor Horse Show: the driving marathon!! … and a few other things, too, of course.

On our way out to the marathon course this morning, A.J. and I happened upon an adorable leadline class:

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Here are a few scenes from today’s marathon, featuring the obstacle that was added to the course just this year. Thecompetitors are shown in the order they drove.

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Laurie Astegiano

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Mia Allo

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Bram (son of Ysbrand) Chardon

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Jan deBoer

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Harry Verstappen

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David Matthews

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Misdee Wrigley Miller

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Barry Capstick

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Glenn Geerts

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Boyd Exell

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Koos deRonde

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George Bowman

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Ysbrand Chardon

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