The Slower Road

Jill’s report from Sunday:

Too good to be true!! The rain began this morning and continued on and off all day. One of the main things I wanted to see today was the British Driving Society meet and drive. Some thirty-five vehicles (singles, pairs, tandems, and fours) all gathered in an outer ring, then the royal turnouts, led by HRH Prince Philip driving his four of Fell ponies, arrived, drove through the ring, and led the way for a wonderful drive through Home Park Private. Then they came back into the Castle Arena to the delight of the smaller-than-usual crowd (probably because of the wet and cold weather!). An artist had watched all the entries out on the drive and again in the ring and then selected a single two-wheel vehicle driven by a large Friesian horse as the winner!

a portion of the lineup of the Laurent Perrier Meet of the British Driving Society (photo by Jill Ryder)

CAA member Ken Ruthven of Scotland, seen here driving Ian Smith's team of colored horses to a newly restored Shanks Roof-seat Break; CAA member Erik Greisen of Denmark is enjoying a ride with Ken and Anne (photo by Jill Ryder)

the winner of the BDS meet (photo by Jill Ryder)

I must say that the standard of turnout was even better this year than in the past. It was a real treat to see so many different turnouts.

Sarting this morning, the FEI event continued with the cones competition. Then, after the BDS drive, in came all the FEI entries and the winners of each class were presented their awards by HM The Queen: a great honor for all.

Misdee Miller (USA) leaving the Castle Arena after being presented with her ribbon in front of HM The Queen (photo by Jill Ryder)

Tucker Johnson (USA) leaving the Castle Arena after receiving his second-place prize in the horse four-in-hand class (photo by Jill Ryder)

HM The Queen returning to her seat after awarding the prizes to the first-place winners in the FEI competition (photo by Jill Ryder)

The show ended today with another spectacular drive of the King’s Troop.

Jill’s report from FEI marathon day (Saturday) at the Royal Windsor Horse Show:

Another sunny morning and a great day for the marathon. Despite having to drive nearly 4 km to the start of section A and then driving five sections, all horses and ponies ended the marathon without problems.

Only one elimination today for a competitor who was not wearing a protective vest, and he was pulled before the start of section E.

The two American competitors faired well. Misdee Miller finished the marathon in ninth place and remains in ninth overall: a really good finish for her first international competition. Tucker Johnson drove a good marathon and kept his second place behind Boyd Excell, who has won at Windsor several times.

There was a large crowd at the show today and many ventured down to the obstacles. It helps that one of the obstacles is located inside the show grounds and it attracts a lot of people who might not otherwise notice that driving is going on: a very good design.

Misdee Miller (USA) racing out of the water obstacle at the end of the marathon (photo by Jill Ryder)

Tucker Johnson (USA, currently standing in 2nd place in his division), approaches the finish of the marathon, which is right next to the Thames (photo by Jill Ryder)

Geoff Woods (GBR) at the finish; he's just been debriefed by the judge, Mark Weinstein (photo by Jill Ryder)

CAA member Mia Allo (BEL) in the water obstacle (photo by Jill Ryder)

the flying ponies of Aart van der Kamp (NED), leaving the water obstacle; the man seated by the fence is HRH Prince Philip, who often works all day at this obstacle during the RWHS since having retired from competition several years ago (photo by Jill Ryder)

Jill’s report on the driving that took place in Windsor earlier today:

Another lovely sunny day dawned and continued for the morning, then the clouds came over and it cooled down for the rest of the day. This weather has been repeated each day of the show: sunny morning and cooler afternoon – but no rain today!

The group scattered today, some continuing to watch the combined-driving dressage and others taking a close look at the coaches and then watching them as they were closely inspected by judges Jack Pemberton and Christine Dick before leaving on a nine-mile drive through Windsor Home Park. The two judges were driven (in a Land Rover) around the Park and were able to watch the coaches in several tricky spots along the way. Then all were back to the ring for the awards: Mark Broadbent (with a coach he built himself) won the Park Drag division;  Bob Alexander won the Road Coach division, Danny Kendle won the Military Coach division.

some of the many coaches, lined up in the main Castle Arena (photo by Jill Ryder)

Then all three winners came out of the lineup, and the overall championship was finally won by Mark. Bob Elliott was presented with the prize for the best coach horn.

Mark Broadbent won both the Park Drag division and the overall championship (photo by Jill Ryder)

American FEI pair-horse competitor Misdee Miller, of Florida and Kentucky, drove her dressage test today and scored in the 50s.

the famous flying Dutch ponies: FEI competitor Aart van de Kamp makes his way back from the dressage arena to the stables, along the Thames (photo by Jill Ryder)

Here are a few photos from Thursday at the Royal Windsor Horse Show:

three of the fifteen participants in the Light Trade class (photo by Jill Ryder)

a new entry in this year's Light Trade class ... an ice cream cart! (photo by Jill Ryder)

a Riding for the Disabled Fancy Dress entry in the warmup ring (photo by Jill Ryder)

two more entries in the Riding for the Disabled Fancy Dress class (photo by Jill Ryder)

Jill’s Royal Windsor Horse Show report from Thursday …

After a great reception and dinner last evening in our hotel, several of the group slept in! However, a hardy goup joined me at 8:30 this morning to walk over to the show and be shown around. Each year it seems that the show is slightly changed in layout and classes and I am often left surprised!

The weather was sunny and warm first thing this morning and continued so until after lunch. Then there was a little shower (this is England!!) and clouds and it was cold. I watched some Hackney classes this morning, then walked down to the driven dressage arena and saw Tucker Johnson score a 49 (ending in second place overall despite having his best leader spun from the vet check yesterday — apparently it did something to a leg while being transported from Germany to Windsor and was lame). Complete scores came be seen at www.hoefnet.com.

Then it was back to the Castle Arena to watch the Light Trade class. Fantastic is how I could describe it with fifteen in the class (six two-wheel and nine four-wheel vehicles). They all came in the ring together but ribbons were placed in both the two-wheel and four-wheel divisions and then an overall champion was announced. The class took almost an hour to complete as each turnout was given the chance for an individual workout (halt for a close look by the judge, then a figure-eight at the trot, a short walk back to the judge, stop, and back). There were some really unusual vehicles, and it was fun to see.

At 4:30 this afternoon, the entire CAA group was invited to a Pimms Party in the camp area of the Fawcetts, the Woods, and the Sellers. Great fun.