Pau 2011: All To Play For

It All Starts Here

Eight horses are within one rail of winning Europe's 4 star swan song for 2011 in today's showjumping after a day of cross country that has undoubtedly left many horses stiff and a little sore after jumping all those fences on the top on mounds, so there's everything to play for, and two of those horses are ridden by none other than William Fox-Pitt which also means the lady with the big green truck, can't count her HSBC $s until the final whistle!

It all starts here at about 2PM GMT+1, until then, there's sunshine, horse inspections, CIC** Show Jumping, and tales of the unexpected.

All On Their Way.....

Rolex: Mary King Wins

Until I get round to uploading all the other footage, here's Mary King's winning show jump round from Rolex:

WEG 2010: Eventing - WE WON

Well Done William et al

Yes, Britain Wins Gold by jumping clear showjumping. There really is little more to say about all of this except:

The mistakes and bad luck that befell the Germans & Australians, allowed two other nations a great shot at medals, and I can't think of two better teams, Canada & New Zealand. Well deserved medal wins.

No one could begrudge Michael Jung his individual gold. He was foot perfect from start to finish, and a joy to watch.

I hope those that ran in to bad luck or injury get their day in the limelight.

Let the celebrations begin, then on to London 2012!

More on all this soon.....when I calm down.....

The Road To WEG2010...er, sorry, Highclere!

Showjumping at Highclere

Everybody seems to be talking about their "road to WEG2010". Team GBR has been announced, The Americans, even the Brazilians. All the riders are out interviewing, being ghost written in blogs, yada, yada, yada!

So whilst I haven't got a cat in hell's chance of getting anywhere near the World Equestrian Games, me and my trusty 16-year-old white charger do have our own 'road' to travel and every chance of making it to Highclere Castle Horse Trials 2010, even after 12 months away from the circuit and 5 months out of practice. I know it doesn't have quite the same glamour and buzz of WEG, but it does have the word "Castle" in the title!