The Slower Road

The final day of this year’s Royal Windsor Horse Show was as exciting as you might expect. With the final phase of the FEI driving, the beautiful “private drive” of the British Driving Society, and final rounds and championships in many of the show’s most popular classes, there was a lot to see. I missed most of the show jumping, unfortunately, but some of the biggest classes, including the grand prix, are held on the final Sunday of the show.

The weather on Sunday was variable. I awoke to bright sunshine, and then by a bit later in the morning, it was pouring rain. The rain was so steady and the clouds so solid that it looked as if it were set in for the day, but by late morning it had blown over and the sun was back out. Then, in the early afternoon, it rained again, and then cleared up again. And on and on it went. As you might imagine with all this rain blowing in and out, it was really quite windy.

In the FEI driving, the rain, hooves, and carriage wheels had turned the warm-up area into a sea of mud, and the carriage cleaners must’ve had quite a job at the end of the day! When everything was finished, Dieter Hoefs of Germany had won the pony four-in-hand division with a score of 170.89, Beat Schenk of Switzerland had won the horse pair division with a score of 130.98, and the reigning world champion, Ysbrand Chardon of the Netherlands, had won the horse four-in-hand division with a score of 134.09. In the horse pairs, American driver Randy Cadwell finished in 9th place overall, with a score of 154.57. In the middle of the afternoon in the main arena, HM The Queen presented the awards to the winners of the FEI driving competition.

American driver Randy Cadwell on the cones course with her pair of horses

in the horse pair division, Austria’s Isidor Weber (shown here on the cones course) won the cones phase and finished sixth overall; his horses are owned by one of the members of our CAA group at the show

Ysbrand Chardon, saluting the crowd and celebrating his victory after the awards ceremony in the main arena

In the early afternoon, a large number of beautiful turnouts gathered in one of the arenas and then left for a lovely (and, unfortunately, rainy) long drive through the park. This annual class in composed of BDS members and is judged as a concours d’elegance of sorts. The judge each year is an artist (this year, it was Joy Claxton), and her task is to pick the turnout that makes the lovliest picture, the one she’d most like to paint.

as is tradition, HRH Prince Philip led the way for the BDS drive

a long line of carriages, heading out of the showgrounds and into the park for their annual drive

Some of the highlights from the rest of the day:

one of the several packs in the annual meet of the hounds

the members of the team from England celebrate their victory in the Pony Club games, which go on throughout the show (with the final on Sunday) and which pit England against teams from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland

a bit of the excitement from the final round of the Shetland Pony Grand National (look at that gray pony’s form!!)

In the evening, our CAA group met one last time for a farewell dinner. We enjoyed a traditional British Sunday dinner of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, and vegetables. Speeches were given, stories shared, and then, sadly, goodbyes made. We’ll be back again next year with a new group of travelers and, in the meantime, we’ll be traveling to Germany in August for the 2009 FEI World Pony Driving Championships and to Argentina in November. Whether in person or here on the travel blog, we hope you’ll join us!

Yesterday (Thursday) was a long, full day at the horse show.

The members of our group went their separate ways to find the things they most wanted to see. And there were so many choices!

First, there were the horse pairs and pony four-in-hand teams in the FEI driving event … they had their dressage tests yesterday (all the many horse teams will go today). The only American competing in this event this year is Miranda (“Randy”) Cadwell, who right now sits in fifth place out of 21, with a dressage score of 54.78 penalty points.

In the other three rings of the horse show were such diverse classes as jumping, riding horses, “fancy dress” for riders with disabilities, light trade turnouts, hackneys, polo ponies, driving for the disabled, hunters, mounted games, and more (see the photos below).

Each year, the layout of the venue changes ever so slightly, so that I always spend part of the first day at the show getting my bearings. This year, in the middle of the circle created by the three rings and the warmup areas, and next to the vendors and food court, is a big display of military vehicles. Most of these are open for peering or even climbing into. 

one of the competitors in the riding horse championship is standing here in the collecting ring, and on the other side of the rail is an RAF plane simulator on display

one of the colorful turnouts in the light-trade class

… and a different sort of milk-delivery wagon from the one above

this butcher’s cart won the two-wheel division and was reserve champion overall; they won the championship a couple of years ago

these were the champions in the light-trade turnout class: T. Cribbs and Sons’ funeral service delivery van (they won the class last year as well)

a competitor in the “heavyweight hunter” class

the Hackney pony Westbourne Hi-Tec (a 5-year-old stallion by Plaistow Pippit, owned by Mr. E.A. Ward) was declared reserve champion in the hackney division

… and the champion: the Hackney horse Forewood Brave Heart (an 8-year-old stallion by Heldon Expectations, owned by Mr. J. Wenham)

one of the exciting classes of the afternoon was a team jump-off between a number of hunts; these hounds were in the ring for the awards ceremony, and they led the way for the victory gallop

Near the end of the day, many in the group made our traditional trek under the Victoria Bridge, over to the stable area, and on to the Bowman/Fawcett “camp” for drinks and a visit. The Bowmans are actually not here this year, but the Fawcetts did a marvelous job of making the Pim’s in their stead! We all had a nice chat under the trees by the river. That part of the stable area, where the caravans park by the Thames, is always very peaceful and friendly. While we were there, several of the group met and struck up a conversation with a woman and her family, returning to their horse box from the arena. She had shown her “coloured” horse (pony-sized, actually)  in the in-hand class. He was an adorable youngster, only two and a half, that she had bought from the gypsies when he was six months old. Someone offered him a bit of his Pim’s cup, and the young pony was only too happy to have a slurp or two.

Later that evening, at least two members of our group who had so enjoyed the tattoo the night before went back again. Unfortunately, it poured rain for about ten minutes in the middle of the performance, but then it let up. We’ll hope it didn’t put too much of a damper on the festivities.

Today is the coaching marathon and such diverse horse-show classes as tent-pegging and skill-at-arms.

For combined driving or other horse-show results, don’t forget to check www.rwhs.co.uk or www.hoefnet.com.