Badminton 2017

So Badminton 2017 is behind us and was quite a weekend.  I was there on Friday walking the course, it was excellent to see a good group of you on the Club course walk which I always enjoy doing. I am not sure if everything I said about the course was correct but that often does happen.  I did think there were some serious fences, and I thought Eric Winter had been imaginative and demanding in what he produced as questions.  It was unbelievable that there had still been no rain at Badminton and the ground was worked on hard and was quite good in parts, but I was surprised how firm and unforgiving much of the course was.  I am aware that I am sensitive about ground but I was amazed so many people decided to take the risk when they would clearly not be in the hunt at the end of the day.  Had I had a horse there I would undoubtably have been concerned, but I am obviously in the minority.

It was good also to see some of my sponsors and be able to do signings, which is always worthwhile and there is always an appreciative turnout on the day.  

Alice and I were very lucky again to stay with Liz Beattie in Badminton, and through her connections with the Beaufort Pony Club she had asked me to do a course walk in the evening which also went very well.  They were a terrific bunch and I was sorry that it all got so late.

I was at home on Saturday and got to watch a bit of the red button, and the course as predicted did provide a serious challenge.  Many combinations happily went very well but considering at how fast the ground was I was surprised that only two made the time.  

It was certainly a great result for Andrew Nicholson at the end of the day, another one for the oldies, but what a shame for Ingrid who must have really hoped she had it in the bag.  Who would have thought that both she and Michel Jung could possibly have had the same fence down on the same day,

on normally very good jumping horses.  The ground for the show jumping on Sunday also looked unforgiving so perhaps after their excersions on Saturday their legs were stinging a little?

Overall it was an excellent weekend for the sport and all credit must go to Hugh Thomas, Eric Winter and their brilliant teams.  

Here it is on to Aston Le Walls this week, but still sadly no rain in sight, and then off to Chatsworth where I certainly wont be expecting to run if they too have had no rain.  Over the next few weeks we have the build up to Houghton and Tatts which is very exciting, with all the youngsters hopefully coming up with the goods.