Pau 2011- Friday | Ruth Edge In The Nick Of Thyme

Ruth Edge (right) & Judy Harvey

Ruth Edge is probably mentioned more times on the second day of dressage at a CCI****, as Mickey Mouse is at Disneyland. With the scores to back it up, she leads the dressage more than any other rider before her. At Pau this year Ruth is riding only one horse, Nick Of Thyme, a relative new comer to the CCI**** circuit, but never the less an impressive one. 19th at his first 4 star at Badminton last year and placed more than once at 3 star this year.

I stood mesmerised in the warm arenas watching this big graceful horse float around the arenas, producing some fabulous suspension in his paces. Almost as interesting, was the fact that Ruth and her dressage coach, Judy Harvey seemed to be talking to themselves, when in fact they were talking to each other via a radio link, so I decided to find out more about the tech, the horse, and Ruth's thoughts on Pau this year:

Pau 2011 Friday | More Sunshine - More Dressage - More of Everything

Ruth Edge & Nick Of Thyme

Whilst I grab a quick bite to eat and prepare 2 videos, take a look at a few more magnificent horses out schooling this morning:

More Photos

Blenheim Horse Trials | The Cross Country Photos

Here's a selection of photos from Blenheim Horse Trials 2010 CCI*** cross country day. Video footage follows shortly....

Blenheim Horse Trials | The Cross Country Watch List

The Start | Blenheim Cross Country Day

Surprise, Surprise Ruth Edge heads the leader board going into the Cross Country, for both CIC & CCI classes. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Ruth Edge, and I don't envy her, as everybody must be thinking 'here we go again". Ruth is very capable and has managed to pick up a few big prizes during championship years, like the British Open during the Athens Olympics year. This year's field is missing many of the usual horses you'd expect, but does at least provide a chance for some of the rising horses and riders to get a little more experience.

Anyway, I just wanted to do a short post having looked through the CCI dressage scores, to see which horses I was most interested in watching, so I can plan my 'family duties' around these where possible. So apart from watching Ruth, I will be looking out for Matt Ryan on MayBee, as I'm interested to see whether this is a London 2012 prospect for him, if he ever gets his nationality sorted one way or another.

Others include Mark Todd, just because it's Mark Todd. Sharon White, as I've read a little about her recently. Kitty King on High Havoc, because I know the owners, and Andrew Nicholson because he's so exciting to watch cross country, especially at this level on his 'not so top' horses. I might also watch Pippa Funnell on Pure Addiction, but probably only because I managed to video this horse's dressage test at Highclere but missed the cross country.

Blenheim beckons.... "come eventing, come eventing"

Burghley Horse Trials - Cross Country

Mark Phillips | Burghley Course Designer

I've always thought the course at Burghley rides so much better than it walks, which I think is all credit to Mark Phillips, whereas the course at Badminton walks better than it rides, which is no bad thing and makes it all the more interesting. There is so much to play with at Burghley with regards to terrain and natural features, and whilst there are always a fair few fences where, if you're not careful, you can be on the horse's mouth a lot, it does always deliver a nice flowing ride.

Quite apart from all the ooh and aah moments, it's been very interesting reviewing all the cross country footage and seeing all the different styles of riding and the differences between the horses.

Gatcombe, The Festival of British Eventing 2010 - Friday

Gatcombe Park

I'm extremely flattered to have been asked to contribute to Monty's blog, and hope that I'll be able to hold my end up, as I'm a big fan of Eventing and Horse Trials/Talking Horse.net. Although I currently live in Lexington, KY, home of the 2010 WEG, I'm an english girl at heart, brought up via Enid Blyton, boarding school, British Eventing etc, and nothing pulls at the heart strings more than returning to Gatcombe, home of Princess Anne, in the heart of the Cotswolds.

 It's hard to describe how picturesque and unspoilt this part of the world is; how refreshing to see hedgerows, grazing sheep and cattle dotted in sloping, patchwork fields, narrow roads littered with horse droppings - how I miss hacking out in the countryside!