This was the first time I had visited Houghton on what was only its second year in existence.
The overall impression was very favourable if this has only just come from a standing start
There obviously still remains plenty to do, but the doubled entry numbers from last year, are a significant validation.
The setting was stunning. The drinks on the front lawn in front of the House was a classic and fortunately the weather was very good.
The gardens were also very impressive and clearly tended by people that cared, and there were requests for them to be opened for the duration of the event. Mrs Kerr also had the chance to nip to Sandringham, where the reaction to the gardens was considerably less enthusiastic. “The Queen should sack her head gardener.”
Weather
Tricky to manage given the drying wind.
We were there on Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday
The first two days were sunny and dry, the Sunday was wet (very wet)
Retail
The event is still establishing itself at all levels, and there was a good array of stalls, but it is still early days.
The weather last year hadn’t helped, and I suspect there will have been a fairly mixed response. The economic slowdown has clearly taken its toll, but there was a reasonable enough range of items for Mrs Kerr to find her birthday presents. It will be a challenge in some cases to persuade them to come back for a third year, but if the entry numbers keep growing then this could catch on, and validation from the riders will be the key to keeping the public and the retailers interest.
Facilities
The loos were better than I have come across at other events, and there was a valiant attempt to keep them in working order.
Reasonable range of food stalls and my wife had found the EHOA tent a good refuge.
Programmes
A big success with the family. Lots of things that we like to see and very informative.
Where to watch the cross-country, Riders to watch. Commentators slang.
The commentary came over very well too, and was very enjoyable listening, whilst being informative.
The comment of the year still comes from Floors though, (without a blog as we had no horses running), as in reference to Darcey Bussell II and Emily Galbraith, we heard “ moving like the ballerina she is…. That’s both horse and rider”…
The Event itself
Cross Country Course
This was a flowing course but relatively flat and through wooded parkland around the house. This made viewing for the normal mortal quite tricky, and a big screen had been provided close to the main arena. It was feasible if one ran (reasonable quickly in places) to see the horses jump 19 fences though some were slightly distant. It was easier for the two star where thay had put in an extra loop.
Iona and I accompanied Nicky on a course walk with William Fox-Pitt which was extremely instructive, and we remained very quiet throughout. This prepared us extremely well for the event itself. It was also fairly clear even then that the very drying wind had made the going firm up significantly in places, despite being treated earlier in the week. On the two star the designers did take out a loop of three fences, because of the conditions, which also shortened the course slightly.
The challenge seemed reasonably stiff and no one fence accounted for a large swathe of riders, unlike the novice at Scone. All the fences did have to be ridden though and the picture of Nicky at the seventh undertaking a sharp change of direction, with reins in one hand descending from a log is well worth picking out as an action photo for next year.
Dressage Arena
This was near the main house, with a significant practice area nearby.
All seemed to flow along here very well. There was easy viewing and it was well corralled.
I do wonder whether spreading a class over three days as happened here does make it slightly more difficult to judge consistently, and I would prefer to see it run over two days. I know this was probably done to help with the extra one star event put on, but it did tend to drag out the competition somewhat.
Showjumping
Arena well laid out, and the judges adjusted the times in both classes that I saw shortly after the start bringing the one star down and putting up the two star.
24 out of 58 went clear in the CCi* section B, and 20 out of 53 in the CCI * A. The two star seemed especially challenging though we did leave before the climax of the competition, where 24 went clear out of 91, without time faults, and only six outside the top 20. (that did include Nicky, Sharon Hunt and Sarah Cohen). A particular mention here for DHI Hindle who jumped an absolutely magnificent clear round to win the one star. Well worth watching, having just pipped Mistral at Chatsworth two weeks ago, was in the lower class this time.
So how did the horses go…
Very much a case of two phases out of three..
Freddy Curtis performed a much better dressage, and probably the best he has done at a 53.9. he wasn’t let totally go given previous form, but this held together well, and he followed this with a clear cross country inside the time to lie 20th after Day 2. This was also the first occasion Freddy had done Showjumping after Cross country, and his performance was disappointing with three down, the worst result in the class excluding time faults. He seemed distracted by his surroundings , and his jumping lacked its customary precision. Perhaps with the firm ground, compared with the softer ground of previous attempts, he may have been carrying a niggle, which didn’t show up, but held him back a bit in actual competition. He ended up in 39th place. He is due to be rested for a few weeks anyway, and his next scheduled date is the Novice Regional Final at the end of June at Aske. Other dates may be slotted in
Mistral went about things the other way round.
Dressage was very disappointing, and he seemed spooked by the slightest thing. A wailing child around the dressage entrance certainly didn’t help (especially as it was another competitor’s who had just finished the one star test as Mistral was set to go). Staggeringly they then decided to hang around prolonging the process. One would have hoped for better from an experienced rider.
He seemed out of sorts compared with the impressive tests at Ballygraffan and especially at Chatsworth. The 2* test has several halts and he seemed more tense after each one to such an extent that arider error appeared as well. He can do a lot better and was lying 88th after the first phase.
He carried on being a bolshie Frenchman through the first half of the cross country course, with Nicky’s arms stretching as she tried to reign him back, but once through the water he seemed to settle and completed a very good second half of the round. Mrs Kerr captured the part of the course that I couldn’t see, the quarry where he was very impressive as others struggled to get through. The 3.6 time faults, but clear, was an excellent result and he rose to 61st.
The show jumping was very very good, and was one of 23 horses with double clears. The course was very challenging, and asked a number of questions, with the planks at the last providing an extremely difficult finish. They had been positioned in a way to ensure that if they were touched they would fall.
Overall he then rose to 43rd, came in the top half of the field, gets 5 points and is now an intermediate horse, or Grade 2, with 21 points.
Next diary dates are slightly unclear, and there will be some events before the Novice Championships at Gatcombe at the start of August
Overall
Alec Lochore and his team have done an excellent job here
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