The Slower Road

Jill sent this report (and these photos) from Saturday’s CDE marathon at the Royal Windsor Horse Show:

On Saturday morning Richard Nicoll met the CAA group early and walked them around the marathon obstacles. He is in Windsor for an FEI meeting, and so he was enjoying himself instead of working! 

.

early on Saturday, Richard Nicoll gave the CAA group a tour of the marathon obstacles (photo by Jill Ryder)

.

... in the water obstacle, presumably before the horses and ponies came through! (photo by Jill Ryder)

.

part of the display for Land Rover, sponsor of the driving event (photo by Jill Ryder)

.

The marathon started at 10:00 a.m. and went on most of the day, starting with the pony fours, then horse pairs and, finally, the horse fours. All seemed to go well on the marathon until the horse fours. The team that went just before George Bowman (GBR) had a turnover and runaway in Obstacle 3, and the horses all ended up in the ditch, which was full of water. It was scary and dramatic, but all horses (and people) were ok.

The CDE scores are available at www.hoefnet.com.

Jill sent this report on Friday’s coaching marathon at the Royal Windsor Horse Show:

The spectacular coaching marathon took place Friday with fourteen entries: Park Drags, Road Coaches, and a military entry. First all the coaches lined up near the main Castle Arena for a close inspection by judge Jack Pemberton (judging the best-turned-out entry), then all fourteen coaches made their way to the Castle Arena for a drive around and inspection by the Coaching Marathon judge, Jim Corbett.

Led by the Queen’s team, driven by John Nelson, they all then left for a six-mile drive around the Home Park.

Katie Whaley had been asked to judge the coach horns and so she (and I, acting as her scribe) were chauffeur-driven from the ring out on to the Long Walk, where we watched each coach pass by. Bob Johnson was with us, carrying a large Union Jack flag, which was the cue for any horn blower to stand and sound the horn. Once all fourteen had passed by, we raced off to another location just beside the River Thames and heard them all over again. Katie made her choice after hearing two calls, and Bob Elliott (on Mark Broadbent’s coach) was the winner.

When the drive was over, all the coaches lined up near the Castle Arena, where the passengers enjoyed a glass of wine, the grooms had a chance to wipe off the horses, and everyone had a breather before going into the ring again for the final judging.

The Windsor Show awards ribbons in the Park Drag class (won by Mark Broadbent), the Road Coach class (won by Ken Ruthven), and the military class (won by Danny Kendle). Then those three went up against each other and, finally, Mark Broadbent was awarded the Coaching Championship, with Danny Kendle as Reserve Champion. Very well done. 
 
.

all the coaches lined up and rested for a little while before entering the Castle Arena for the final round of judging (photo by Jill Ryder)

Jill sent this report yesterday (Thursday) night:

I have had a busy time here with the group and with so many things to see and then some computer and internet issues, so I am behind with my news. Sorry!

On Wednesday night, our entire group was joined by sixteen guests, mostly from the UK but also from Belgium, Canada. and the U.S. We all enjoyed champagne on the outside deck at our hotel on a mild evening. We then went into the hotel restaurant (which holds only forty-five in total, and we were forty-two, so needless to say no one else was there but us!). The lively group chatted loudly and enjoyed a wonderful meal together and lots of wine. Towards the end of the meal, Jack Pemberton stood up and, in his usual humorous way, introduced all the guests. Among them were George and Eileen Bowman and Tommy and Barbara Fawcett. Following Jack, Tommy got up and invited all present to a “Pimms Party” at the Bowman/Fawcett camp on Thursday. It was a great night for eveyone.

Early on Thursday (8:30 a.m.), I led our group on a walking tour of the Royal Windsor Horse Show. This is a necessary thing, or you just do not get the lay of the land at this large show (three show arenas, plus the combined driving event). We walked about, and I showed them the areas where their tickets got them, and we worked our way to the dressage arena to see first the pony four-in-hands followed by the horse four-in-hands. Then everyone was left to pick and choose what they wanted to see; some watched the many hackney classes, the driven dressage, or the many other interesting and unusual (to us!) classes.

.

one of the entries in Thursday morning's Hackney class (photo by Jill Ryder)

.

At 2:00 p.m., I made my way up through the town of Windsor to join the group at the entrance of the Royal Mews for a private guided tour of the Mews by Terry Pendry (Stud Groom). Terry spent an hour and a half with us and showed us the buildings — stables, carriage house, indoor arena — and all the ponies and horses. So interesting.

.

our CAA group enjoying a private tour of the Windsor Royal Mews (photo by Jill Ryder)

.

Then back to the show to watch more and then to meet the group at 5:30 p.m. to walk to the Bowman/Fawcett camp (they are in caravans parked right on the edge of the River Thames). There we enjoyed Pimms (a British drink that is mixed with 7-Up and fruit). The evening was wonderful: mild and sunny.

So far we have been blessed with the weather every day (although there is a threat of rain on Friday).

Our one and only American entry in the CDE pony four-in-hand class did not make it to the event due to a truck breakdown, so Laurie (who lives in France) is out. Both Pippa Bassett and Wilf Bowman-Ripley from the UK (horse four-in-hand) had horses spun at the vet inspection. Pippa lost her best horse, so she loaned Wilf another of her horses and withdrew. George Bowman has a young team of horses here and one of them found all the activity just too much. He said that he was thrilled with how his horses went despite his not-so-great dressage score. What a great horseman.

.

at the first horse inspection for the CDE (photo by Jill Ryder)

.

Mia Allo - a CAA member in Belgium - performs her pony four-in-hand dressage test (photo by Jill Ryder)

Jill sent the following report and photo from the first official day of our CAA trip to the 2011 Royal Windsor Horse Show:

The balance of the group arrived on Tuesday for the beginning of the CAA trip. This year it was a rough start for some: a missed flight, lost luggage, a forgotten passport, a lost wallet! By the end of the day, we had sorted everything out and started the trip officially!
 
We are staying at The Christopher Hotel in Eton — just a short walk across a pedestrian bridge between Windsor and Eton, over the River Thames. This hotel had once been a coaching inn and some of the rooms are now in the area that was the stables — appropriate for the CAA, I think!
 
Our first official activity was a walking tour of Windsor for anyone who wanted to join me. About ten hardy souls followed me across the bridge and up the hill to the Long Walk. The sun was shining, and we stood at the private entrance to Windsor Castle and just looked down the Long Walk to the statue of the Copper Horse three miles away. Fantastic.
 
Then we slowly walked back to our hotel (with me pointing out sights and facilities), where we were joined by the rest of the group for a magnificent afternoon tea. Eveyone had the chance to publicly introduce themselves, and the trip started!

.

a view of Windsor Castle, from a boat on the River Thames (photo by Jill Ryder)

I arrived back in the office today, and Jill left this afternoon to lead the next CAA trip: this one to the Royal Windsor Horse Show in England.

Here is a glimpse of (a smaller-scale, shortened version of) one of the spectacular events the trip participants will see while attending the horse show’s Royal Tattoo. The one shown here was performed at the 2008 Olympia Horse Show in London.

.