Blenheim Horse Trials 2007

Blenheim Palace certainly provides an awe-inspiring back drop to the dressage and show jumping phases of this international equestrian event which takes place each year on the 'South Lawn' - by kind invitation of His Grace the Duke of Marlborough.

Wendy and I were once again exhibiting our range of gold and silver jewellery in the shopping marquees set up alongside the main eventing ring. The weather was perfect and a good crowd attended the event particularly over the weekend when, like Burghley, the cross country proved to be a very popular attraction.

The Blenheim Horse Trials started in 1990 and has become one of the most prestigious sporting events on the international calendar. Most people regard the sport of 'horse trials' - or 'eventing' as it is correctly termed- as the ultimate challenge in horsemanship because both horse and rider are required to fulfill three distinct phases within the same competition: dressage, cross country and show jumping. The dressage is judged subjectively with the horse and rider performing a series of movements and changes of pace. It requires a huge amount of preparation and the rider must maximise the horse's strong paces and disguise its weaknesses. The showjumping and cross country events are judged objectively as there is a clear winner. It is of course the cross country 'phase' for which the sport is best known and most riders regard this as the ultimate achievement within the competition.

Eventing has been part of the Olympic movement since 1912 and it originated in Continental Europe by cavalry officers as an entertaining and useful way to train chargers. The sport took off in Britain largely due to the late Duke of Beaufort who, in 1949, created the Badminton Horse Trials (an important event we also attend earlier in the year).

This sport is unusual in that 'professionals' and 'amateurs' compete against each other at all levels. It is not unknown for a one horse rider with a full time job to compete and beat an Olympic rider with a string of international horses!

This year's worthy winner was Great Britain's Chris King on 'The Secret Weapon', with Kristina Cook taking second place on 'Miner's Frolic' and New Zealand rider, Andrew Nicholson, taking third place on 'Armada'.

Burghley Horse Trials 2007

Zara Phillips on Magic Star

Burghley Horse Trials is the highlight of the shows we attend each year. This important event attracts riders from all over the world and it draws huge crowds. They come not only to see the horses but to enjoy the opportunity of a very different 'shopping' experience. Simply everything is available to buy here that cannot readily be found on the High Street and it is all excellent quality - clothing, footwear, handmade jewellery, fashion accessories, fine art, handmade furniture and so on.

The biggest draw is undoubtedly the cross country event which takes place on the Saturday. The challenging 32 fence course sprawls over 6.6km of the stunningly beautiful countryside located at Burghley Park in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Having suffered from the recent inclement climatic conditions at our other 'summer' shows this year - some of which were cancelled due to the floods - we wondered how 'Burghley' would fair! Fortunately the week proved exceptionally good and we could not have hoped for a better or sunnier weekend. Had the rain continued, however, we were confident that the excellent drainage at Burghley (built on limestone) would have prevailed.

This year the course went back to an anti-clockwise direction to make things different. The course itself was designed by Captain Mark Phillips. Having had an opportunity to walk the course in the early hours of Saturday morning, I could see for myself that it must indeed be the most difficult and challenging seen in the world this year!

In planning for this year's event, Captain Phillips will have originally walked the course and decided which fences would not feature from the previous year. These will have been taken apart and removed - the parts being stored for future use. Some of the fences usually remain from year to year but are altered and repainted, others are completely different. The new course will normally incorporate the natural elements of the landscape too such as ditches, hedges or fallen logs and this makes it all the more challenging and interesting.

In walking this year's course I decided I would return at about 2.30 pm and head for fence 24, aptly called "The Splash" - a particularly interesting fence with a demanding downhill approach where riders are advised to lean well back as they jump into the water before turning sharply to the right to meet the 'Goose' under the tree! I calculated that world champion Zara Phillips would reach this point at about that time and I was keen to obtain the shots now featured in this blog. I was not disappointed!


Another fence I felt worth watching was number 23 - "White Rails" - it certainly had the riders attention being fairly near the maximum height permitted at this event. I was pleased to get this shot of USA rider Sara Mittleider as she successfully made the jump on 'El Primero'.

Saturday saw a record attendance with some 80,000 spectators attending the event. The winner was Great Britain's William Fox-Pitt riding 'Parkmore Ed'. He takes home the Landrover Trophy and Burghley's biggest ever prize - £38,000 - a true and worthy champion! Second place went to Polly Stockton on "Tom Quigley" and Australian Andrew Hoy came third on "Master Monarch". The winner of the under 25's was Great Britain's Harry Meade on 'Midnight Dazzler' taking 8th place in the overall event.


All the photos taken at the show are available through our royalty free website at the link below:

http://www.stratfordimages.co.uk/royaltyfreeimages.asp

Photography by Paul Wright. All rights reserved 2007.