Somerley Park CIC** - The Drinks Are On Kitty

It was definitely warmer yesterday, and there did seem to be a bigger crowd at Somerley Park for the Chesterton Humberts CIC**. Unfortunately a combination of the day job and needing to get home for my kids prevented me from spending more than a few hours to watch the main event. The international class didn't start cross country until late afternoon, and with the sun getting low I had expected to see more than just Andrew Nicholson wearing sun glasses.

Pau CIC** Cross Country ✔ Done

Paul Tapner Foot Perfect In The CIC** Cross Country To Maintain His Lead Of 4.8 Points

The two star cross country from Pau has been full of thrills and spills, with a large number of the field stumbling and fumbling their way through the water fences, whether they went clear or not. It is a lovely course with far less mole hills to deal with compared to the four star track.

Paul Tapner has maintained his lead heading into the showjumping, and both  he and Andrew Nicholson (in 2nd place) provided a masterclass in cross country riding, with the two cleanest rounds of the day, on a track that was not helped by a low early morning sun and most of the fences in shade.

Barbury Castle Horse Trials 2010 - A weekend of hot competition to match the weather

With a high of 27 degrees and no shade this was one very hot and dry event. How Barbury manages to battle these conditions is with the old established turf, that at least muffles the rock hard ground on this chalk down land. 

Since it started 5 years ago, I've been to Barbury as a competitor, spectator, guest of a sponsor and even a supplier, and each time I've found myself wanting to call Nigel Bunter [Barbury's Owner] and say "well done but have you thought about..."

There's so much to love about this event, and considering it's relatively new you have to be a little forgiving over the things to dislike about the event.  Running this event here proves that you don't need a grand stately home setting to host a great event that draws in the public.

Barbury Castle Horse Trials 2010 - CIC** Dressage Leader Video

As I just happened to capture Andrew Hoy's Dressage Test on camera whilst waiting for our horse to go, and it was the leading score I thought I'd upload it for you to view.




It's been a great day at Barbury and the Cross Country Course has played havoc with the novice and CIC** classes so far. I did capture some of this on video and there's a fair bit to report, but I'll leave this until end of play tomorrow when I'll do a full round up on the weekend down here in sunny Wiltshire.

It's been a scorcher of a day, but at least there was a decent breeze and the occasional cloud to keep things cooler.

'til tomorrow.........