During the weekend I mentioned that Mandiba’s full brother High Kingdom was competing with Zara Phillips at the Aston Le Walls advanced event in the UK this weekend. The Aston Le Walls event is a British WEG prep event and was attended by several members of the british team. Samantha Clark, a good friend of Eventing Nation and host of the 2010 Radio Show attended Aston Le Walls in England this weekend and sent us a report. For mroe great reports in the future, be sure to follow Samantha on Twitter. Thanks for writing this Samantha and thank you for reading.
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From Samantha:
Five full sections of advanced ran this weekend at Aston le Walls, which is Nigel and Ann Taylor’s farm. The dressage was squashed into an outdoor arena, 2 20×60’s crammed in right next to each other, and everyone warmed up in one 20×60 arena, so often 8 people riding together, but it worked.
The “Lexington rails”
The XC course was designed by Nigel Taylor who also rode round his own course at the competition. The XC was inviting and encouraged forward riding. There were lots of narrow but wide tables, two corners, and four combinations where you had to jump off a bank and then down a slope to a combination or a corner. The cross country course was lovely overall, and they made a real effort with the going because there had hardly been any rain. They used many galloping lanes with woodchips, some watering, and lots of aerovating.
Andrew Nicholson had lots of rides and all of them were pretty good. Out of everyone I watched all day, no one rides away from a fence as economically as he does–not a second wasted.
Tina Cook looked wonderful on Miner’s Frolic and he was 1st after dressage, one down in show jumping, and looked terrific on the XC. Mark Todd was of course all class and William F-P looked splendid as always! Piggy French was an incredibly stylish rider on cross country and was probably one of the best show jumpers. Mary King competed Imperial Cavalier but I did not see them go.
Mark Todd won a section. Pippa Funnell won dressage then withdrew Redesigned but rode several others. Oli Townend rode a few but withdrew Ashdale Cruise Master after dressage and then spent a long, late afternoon in the sponsors’ tent. Dan Jocelyn won two sections but looked to be schooling Special Attorney around.
Alex Hua Tian and Magenta
I had a long chat with Alex Hua Tian, who won his section on Magenta. He thinks he may not be coming to WEG after all because of the huge expense involved. He also shared that he doesn’t think the WEG will ever be held outside Europe again, his point being that it’s just not viable financially, and that the WEGs are supposed to be about all horse disciplines together, especially the satellite ones. This year, few people can afford to send full teams, if any horses at all of the satellite disciplines. So it’s more like a 2nd Olympics, and it doesn’t even feel like a fair playing field at that. He also mentioned how expensive accommodation was, and he wasn’t the only person I spoke to who felt this way. He explained it all so nicely and politely, and is such a charming man, it was hard to argue!
WFP’s lorry
Inside Willaim’s lorry
I also spoke to William F-P for quite a long time, about many things (!), but particularly about how excited he is about the WEGs. Cool Mountain’s owner Teresa Stopford-Sackville is thrilled, and I’m going to try and persuade her to come on 2010 show. She is so lovely but a bit shy, but has great stories to tell. William rode 5 round the advanced, all clear XC. Several of his rides were younger horses, but Seacookie went well for him as well.
I spoke to Tina Cook briefly who said Miner’s Frolic (Henry) is in fine form and gave her a brilliant ride all day. But she said it was hard because of the pressure of everyone watching her so intensely, and the selectors particularly want to see her go at Hartpury. She also talked about her kids a bit–she was very down to earth, very sweet, with a lovely sense of humour.
Mary King’s lorry
There is such depth in England and it is so great for your riders to go to an event and compete alongside that calibre of riders every weekend, not to mention being able to watch them go. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend!
