Author: Amanda C

Which day is the best day? Cross country day! The whole point of coming to Burghley is to see the biggest toughest XC that exists in the sport, and this year’s course certainly lived up to that reputation. Burghley is no freaking joke.

We started our day at the Leaf Pit, camping out there for a couple hours before the start to make sure we got a prime spot. We came equipped with mimosas and cheese and crackers, so we were happy. We watched the riders doing one last walk, plotting their lines and cementing their plans. Oh, and Michelle went back to grab a few more things for us (and other people) at the trade fair before the start, because that pile of stuff we had already accumulated on the living room floor of the Airbnb wasn’t big enough yet I guess. I’m proud of us, it was beautiful.

Soon enough the first horse was on course, and I was pretty freaking excited to be sitting at the bottom of the Leaf Pit, one of my favorite jumps in the sport, on a beautiful Saturday morning in England. That drop is so big, and the landing so downhill. We watched the first four horses hop through like it was a gymnastic before packing up and moving along the course. Our plan was to watch a handful at each of the major fences/combinations. Which… on this course was kind of all of the them.

The crowds were CRAZY, like multiply Kentucky by at least 3 and there you go. But it was surprisingly easy to get right up to the ropes, since almost everyone was traveling around the course from jump to jump like we were. All the pics in this post are from my very shitty cell phone camera, to give you an idea of proximity. I could have reached out and touched the horses a few times.

We watched a few go through Discovery Valley, and once Will had gone with Tight Lines, we moved along again, this time to the Trout Hatchery. One iconic fence after the other. We watched a few there, which had varying success. This was a course that definitely needed to be attacked confidently, and we were already seeing some horses that looked a little overfaced and some riding that wasn’t nearly positive enough. We stayed at the Trout Hatchery through Andrea Baxter, then moved along to The Maltings.

Those big open oxers and corners at the Maltings were definitely my least favorite on the walk, but I figured we might see a lot of people opting for a longer route. There were lots of options at that combination aside from the very difficult straight route. But no, most tried to ride it direct, and that didn’t work out so well for many of them. Almost everyone who had a problem, you could see it coming from at least the first fence of the combination, if not even earlier. Or they didn’t make the right decision in the line from the oxer to corner and got there on a half stride. I hate open corners and always will, but thank goodness for the frangible pins. We saw them break 3 times just in the first 6 horses we watched come through.

After that we moved along again, to the Rolex corners. We only saw a couple come through there, because everyone was getting caught out at either the trout hatchery or the Maltings. So we kept going along the course, stopping a couple more places along the way to watch a rider come through, before finally making our way to the Cottesmore Leap at the farthest end of the course. Where we sat for like half an hour and only had one horse make it that far. And then Liz hopped over that giant death trap like it was no big deal, and it was super anti-climactic.

By this point after listening to the announcer and getting an idea of what was happening, we figured that if we wanted to actually see anything, we should go back to the Maltings. So we hoofed it way back there, stopping along the way to watch Chris Talley come through the Rolex corners.

Then we just parked ourselves at the Maltings for the rest of the day, down by the big open corner of the direct route. From that angle it was easy to see exactly where things were going wrong for people. So many just made a bad turn from the second oxer to the corner. It seemed like the USA folks had mostly decided to go a slightly longer route, turning right after the second oxer to a different corner off a longer approach. It still caused it’s fair share of carnage, and I was kind of surprised to still see so few people opting for the easiest longest route. We only saw one. Therefore we also saw a whole lot of fence repair when people missed or tried something they shouldn’t have, and inevitably went crashing through yet again. It was a treat to see Gemma and Pippa and Ollie and Tim come through though… they made it look so easy. All class.

Burghley has always been a dream event for me, and it definitely did not disappoint. We had a great time, and WOW it is truly next level. I was sad to walk out of those gates after XC, not really ready for it all to be over. I’m not sure any other event will ever compare.

We had a total freaking blast, that’s for sure. And bought a ton of shit. For once I think Bobby bought as much if not more than I did. I have some pride in that. My job here is done.

On Sunday we packed up and left Peterborough to head back to London, and Bobby parted ways with us. He headed home, and we got on the Chunnel train to Paris. We were able to watch the showjumping on the train, so that worked out great. From Paris we rented a car and headed west, ending up in Le Mans for the night. Today we start the stallion and foal part of the trip, and I’m super excited.

Michelle got some really awesome Burghley photos on her camera, which we’ll upload when we get home. Here are some sneak previews though, with me just taking a picture of the camera’s view screen.

Things are gettin crazy up in here y’all.

So ANYWAY.

Our focus on Friday was the Young Event Horse Championships and stallion show. The British format is kind of similar to our own as far as judging criteria, but the format is a bit different. The arena has a dressage court, show jumps, and XC jumps set up in it, and the horses do all 3 phases back to back. Dressage test, then straight over to showjumping, with XC jumps at the end of the showjump course. After that they strip tack and judge confirmation. Each horse is in and out in about 10 minutes.

Each horse gets scored for those sections, then they bring the top 10 back in together to w/t/c while one of the judges (in this case Ian Stark) gives them a score for Suitability. Fun little byline, I happened to be sitting next to Eliza Stoddart‘s grandparents, who were super sweet and adorable. I texted a video I took of one of Eliza’s young horses (the above Ramiro B) to her grandmother.

From there Ian picks the top 3 to ride, and the horse’s rider hops down, Ian gets a leg up, and off he goes for a quick w/t/c. They had Ian outfitted with a microphone so he could talk about what he was feeling with each horse, and what he was looking for. Basically he wants one that feels balanced, elastic in its body, rideable, and with a desire to go forward. Each of the horses he chose to ride was quite different from each other, so it was interesting to hear what he had to say about each. The one that was my original favorite ended up 2nd, so I was happy about that.

What struck me the most during all of this was how absolutely PACKED the crowd was. The bleachers were full and it was standing room only, many people deep, all around the perimeter of the arena. Having been to the US championships at Fair Hill, where there are maybe 20 people watching, it blew me away. The people seemed mostly quite educated too, the comments and murmurs I was hearing were spot on. It made me a bit sad, knowing how little people care about these classes in the US. It’s a big deal here.

During the lunch break they had a stallion show, and I fully expected the stands to empty out. Yeah no. MORE people filled in.

I particularly wanted to see former 5* stallion Leprince des Bois, and was not disappointed. For a 20yo stallion that jumped around Badminton, Pau, Burghley, and Luhmuhlen, and THEN went on to win at the Young Rider level, he looks freaking amazing. Good mover, good type, lots of blood. We might have to use him next season.

After that we wandered over to dressage warmup to catch some of that. We got over there as Lauren was warming up on Vermiculous, at which point the skies opened up and it was blowing a gale. I was frozen. Luckily it passed through quickly, and the sun came out for the last group. We watched Pippa and Izzy and Ludwig and Ollie and Tim warm up, which was interesting. You saw everything from lots of long and low stretchy trot to people running through their tests over and over. Watching warmup is definitely more fun to me than watching the actual test.

Despite all the shopping that we did on the first day, we still managed to do some damage again. Not nearly as much, but we went back and got some more stuff. The prices are so good, and there’s just so much. I grabbed Henry a shipping halter like I got for Presto (it was $18, how could I not???), Bobby bought a hunt bridle, and Michelle got a couple halters and some gifts for friends.

The total pile that is accumulating on the living room floor in our flat is getting out of control. We’ve left it all there because every time we walk in the room it feels like Christmas all over again.

We finally got our very English dinner last night too, fish and chips. And peas I guess, which I don’t eat. The mushy peas looked even more disgusting. But the fish and chips were AMAZING, especially with the curry sauce. Then we found an ice cream shop and tore that shit up too.

Rough life y’all. Today is cross country (I’m literally sitting by the Leaf Pit as I type this, waiting for the start) which should be AWESOME. The course is huge. So freaking big and gnarly.

I’m posting a lot more pics and videos on my Instagram stories if you want to follow along over there! I’ll be adding things as the day goes along.

As I type this it’s 6am and I’m sitting in our Peterborough Airbnb apartment (sorry… flat) looking at the massive pile of stuff that the three of us bought at the trade fair yesterday. We spiraled. It was glorious.

That first travel day was a whirlwind, just getting here. I don’t sleep on planes and we had an overnight flight, so instead I watched 4 movies. Luckily I found a second wind when we landed, and we successfully navigated our way to the airport train, then through our changeover to the tube at Victoria Station at rush hour (omg), and we actually made it to King’s Cross without getting lost. That’s a small miracle.

We had some time to kill while waiting for Bobby, who’s flight was a few hours behind us. We explored King’s Cross and St Pancras and wandered around the surrounding area a bit.

Once Bobby arrived we walked down to platform 9 3/4 into the absolute bedlam of the Harry Potter shop. It was smaller than I expected, and SO PACKED, but it was fun to see anyway. I grabbed a souvenir for Hillary and a little something for myself, because I’m definitely a nerd. Did NOT wait in the queue to get a picture with the cart in the wall though, because that was just crazy. I was already pretty peopled-out for one day.

After that we boarded our next train, to Peterborough. We managed to make it there just fine too (I find trains to be very confusing but after this trip I might be cured), and make the half mile walk to our Airbnb without getting lost. What are the odds of making the whole journey without getting lost at all? I was shocked.

The walls are also glittery. It is a sight to behold.

We hit up the grocery store, found a good pub to grab some dinner at, and then we all passed the eff out by 9pm. That was a long ass day.

The next morning we were on the 8:42 train to Stamford, then made the walk to Burghley, arriving at the trade fair by 9:30. I can’t even explain how many vendors there are and how far it all stretches. Seriously it’s twice as big as Kentucky, with a wide variety of vendors from home goods to casual clothes to saddles to jumps to footing to feed to regular tack shops. So. Many. Tack Shops. Also SO MUCH FOOD.

We had planned on the whole first day being for shopping and course walking, and I’m glad we did that because it took us about 6 hours to make it through all the vendors. And we actually didn’t go into that many of them, mostly just the tack shops.

I did see so many pompom helmet covers that I wanted to buy about two dozen of them. Just about every tack shop has them, and there are two vendors dedicated solely to custom helmet covers. I was geeking out. Sadly i don’t need anymore covers so instead I hit up my barnmates to see if anyone wanted me to bring one back, which turned into a really fun personal shopping experience.

After we finished shopping we started walking the course, which led us to a whole new section of shopping that we had missed. That one sucked me in real bad. So then we had to course walk carrying like 50lbs of shopping bags, since we were nowhere near a shoppers drop and they close at 5 anyway. But whatever, we walked it with all of our shit. Not the whole course, but most of it, to plot out which jumps we want to see most on Saturday. These jumps are big and gnarly AF. Like… Jesus. No thanks, hard pass. Burghley is a whole ‘nother level.

We also managed to fit in a bit of dressage during our breaks, catching some of warmup and a few tests – Will Coleman, Sarah Bullimore, Ben Hobday, Ariel Grald, Katie Preston, and Doug Payne. It’s really cool how close you can get to everything, and you can literally be standing in line for ice cream and watching dressage at the same time. It’s a lot more accessible than Kentucky.

The only kind of disappointment so far is the lack of Burghley swag. They have some, a collection from Joules, but there’s not much variety and it’s all expensive. The only thing I really liked was a jacket that was $200. So… no. No swag for me.

Instead I’ll just pretend that my new shipping halter, gloves, hunt bridle, ice boots, and toiletries bag are my official Burghley souvenirs.

Today is the Young Horse Championships and stallion parade, so we’re catching an earlier train and preparing for a day in the bleachers. Which I’m not too upset about considering we walked a good 15+ miles yesterday and my backpack rubbed a hole in my armpit. Tough life here at Burghley y’all.

That long holiday weekend really worked in my favor. I wrapped up barnsitting on Saturday night, got a day to play with my ponies and relax, then a day to play with my ponies and run errands/pack, and this afternoon we head out for Europe. Whew. Time flies.

Presto’s foot is doing as well as can be expected. The vet had to block the foot to cut off the big flap of split hoof and clean out the wound/try to save the horn-growing tissue. He thinks it should heal fine eventually, although whether or not he’s permanently effected his ability to grow a good heel on that side, we’ll have to wait and see. It’s been bandaged since it happened, and will probably stay bandaged for a while. He’s quite sound in the bandage though, and he still gets to be on his regular turnout schedule, so thank goodness for that. The vet is 50/50 on whether or not Presto will be good to go by FEH championships, it’s just too early to tell. I retrieved the entry from the mailbox since it miraculously hadn’t been picked up yet. There aren’t any refunds after closing date but they accept late entries with a fee, so I figured I’d rather potentially pay an extra $30 than lose $290. I’m hoping he’ll be ok to go since he looks so good right now physically, but… we’ll see how his foot is doing in a couple weeks. As usual, Presto has been a fantastic and easy patient throughout all of the doctoring. *muttering something under my breath about having lots of effing practice*

I also got to fit in some rides on Henry, which were much needed. I am SO ready for it to quit being so damn hot, this triple digit shit is getting ridiculous. Not that sad to be flying out of here considering the next 6 days are all supposed to be over 100 degrees. This is a never-ending summer. Hot, dry, disgusting, and totally miserable. Get your shit together by the time I get back, Texas. I’d even happily take low 90’s at this point.

The boys also got spa days this weekend, with a fungus bath/scrub for Henry (his skin is looking better, thank goodness) and haircuts for both. They look like proper beasts again.

These two weirdos. I wish I could squish them in a carry-on and bring them with me. I am willing to admit that I’m perhaps creepily over-attached. I miss them after just a couple days, much less 10. TEN. I’ve already debated what to bring them each back as souvenirs.

In between packing, laundry, phone calls to the bank and my cell carrier, and jotting down every phone number/address/reservation/confirmation code just in case (I had a real “omg I am my father” moment as I was flipping through the print out of my 5 page detailed itinerary), I caught some AEC action. I did find myself pining for last year’s live stream where it showed every level’s XC, but I was glad they did at least show the BN showjumping. The upper levels are cool to watch and all, but I want to see the lower levels too. It’s so much fun to see them have so much fun. Nobody ever looks that excited at the upper levels.

I would also like to point out that at least 2 of the Champions wore pompoms. Scientific evidence of Pom Power, y’all. They’re making a comeback, mark my words.

Our flight leaves at 4 this afternoon, and we’ll be in London by 7am their time tomorrow. I will update as I can, time/adventures/WiFi permitting. I’ll try to post a lot to my Insta stories, at the very least. How ironic is it that this showed up in my facebook memories today?

Still 100% accurate. Lord help Burghley, Bobby and I (and Michelle) are coming!

Today I have to run some last minute errands before we leave for Europe tomorrow, and of course since I wake up obscenely early even when I don’t have to, it left me with lots of time to kill before any businesses opened. Naturally I fell face first into Instagram, especially since Spoga Horse is going on right now over in Germany. What is Spoga Horse? THE big international trade fair for equestrian products. Someday I will get to go, but I do also love stalking Spoga on social media. You get to see all kinds of crazy things, and new things, and see brands I maybe haven’t heard of before. My favorite part are the runway shows where the models dance to terrible european club music while wearing equestrian fashions. That mostly happens at the spring Spoga, where the focus is on fashion and clothing, and it is a spectacle to behold. None of those videos have been posted yet for the fall Spoga, but there have definitely been some interesting things floating through the feed nonetheless.

Crazy boots

 

Bling for days

 

And all kinds of other bold helmets

 

Buttonless jackets and holey shirts (I’m waiting for someone to market this as being more aerodynamic)

 

Bits and stirrups

 

And of course… horse goggles.

 

See anything you like? Anyone else following the #spogahorse and #spogahorse2019 hashtags? I like it a lot more than I probably should.