Dogs and Mad Englishmen
Go out in the mid-day sun?
Never bet on it in England. While sunny at 9 when I met Dom at Epsom station before heading out to Blenheim for day 2 of the European Eventing Championships, by the time we had arrived the weather was glowering at us, and my idle thought that I might perhaps pick up some gumboots had turned into a critical mission. But then again, when was it that shoe shopping was ever anything else for me?
Saturday is given over to cross-country, which sees riders following a course around the estate and jumping over um... jumps, some of which involve water. Luckily Dom knew the more technical points of the event, otherwise I think I would have been a little lost!
The event also had a retail village which follows the course, allowing you to take time out from watching the event to purchase anything and everything needed for your horse or hound. Did I mention they had shoes? So a lot of time spent wandering the shops, but luckily, like the tube, there was always the guarantee of another horse in 3 minutes time, so we still got to see a lot of the action.
We are fairly sure we saw Zara Phillips, although by that time we were a little distracted defending our fish and chips against the downpour. We did later see the reigning European champion Nicolas Touzaint falling into the lake. Like motor racing it seems that the crashes are the best bit.
Just about everyone had brought their dogs, who all went totally nuts with excitement when they got out of the cars, then were perfectly behaved, until it began raining, when they all began to stare reproachfully at their owners.
Never bet on it in England. While sunny at 9 when I met Dom at Epsom station before heading out to Blenheim for day 2 of the European Eventing Championships, by the time we had arrived the weather was glowering at us, and my idle thought that I might perhaps pick up some gumboots had turned into a critical mission. But then again, when was it that shoe shopping was ever anything else for me?
Saturday is given over to cross-country, which sees riders following a course around the estate and jumping over um... jumps, some of which involve water. Luckily Dom knew the more technical points of the event, otherwise I think I would have been a little lost!
The event also had a retail village which follows the course, allowing you to take time out from watching the event to purchase anything and everything needed for your horse or hound. Did I mention they had shoes? So a lot of time spent wandering the shops, but luckily, like the tube, there was always the guarantee of another horse in 3 minutes time, so we still got to see a lot of the action.
We are fairly sure we saw Zara Phillips, although by that time we were a little distracted defending our fish and chips against the downpour. We did later see the reigning European champion Nicolas Touzaint falling into the lake. Like motor racing it seems that the crashes are the best bit.
Just about everyone had brought their dogs, who all went totally nuts with excitement when they got out of the cars, then were perfectly behaved, until it began raining, when they all began to stare reproachfully at their owners.
But yay, I had finally bought my new baby blue Hunter gummies and so was nice and dry and had a lot of fun jumping in puddles and squishing mud. Now who was I was calling 'mad' again? 
posted by Nis at 12:54 pm
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