Chatsworth (May 08)

Apologies for the slight delay in putting this one together as I went straight from the novice day at Chatsworth to a two day oil company visit.

I was very impressed by the whole organization, with a very large spectator turnout on the first day too, and a very good collection of trade stands (including my friends from Sandstorm).

The accommodation I picked for this, I probably wouldn’t recommend, despite being in some guidebooks, and there was a warning signal when I rang a week before, only to discover they had lost my reservation. The food was good, but there was something a little fawltyesque about Riber Hall, which eliminated its potential charm.

The next administrative hurdle was the failure of the NBR lorry to appear on schedule with some particularly difficult traffic conditions. Fortunately this had become clear well in advance, and I can only commend all the officials from the Secretary’s tent to the Dressage arena who were able to adjust the schedule as the situation unfolded and slot us into a break in the schedule in the intermediate novice

Mistral probably did one of his best dressage tests, frustratingly had what might be termed an aberration at one fence otherwise jumping beautifully, and went clear Cross country inside the time. He ended up fifth picking up a couple of points and was behind Ruth Edge, Piggy French, Polly Stockton, and John-Paul Sheffield. It was also the first event where I have seen a rider disqualified by the stewards for going too fast. The riders view was that he could have been inside the time, the horse was going really fast and it was a thoroughbred. Having come across the cross country course designer (and head steward) later, that certainly wasn’t a shared view, with reckless almost unsafe riding perhaps a better description. Given the recent number of fatalities in the sport seeing the stewards use such powers seems very sensible. I will be interested to see if there is a further disciplinary follow up.

The event was undoubtedly a success, and it was well organised and set out. There were a range of activities to keep people entertained, and a good spread of trade stands. The weather was also kind which clearly helped. The help we received form the dressage team was certainly much appreciated.

Next event.. two weeks time at Houghton ..Freddy Curtis 1* , Mistral 2*

We drive down on Thursday afternoon and will be there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We wont get our actual times until after trot up earlier in the week, but certainly are looking forward to seeing both Freddy and Mistral in action.