An introduction of Jacky is hardly necessary by now, but a ‘thank you’ is always necessary. So, thanks for writing this Jacky and thank you for reading.
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From Jacky:
As August draws to a close, marked by spectacularly forgettable weather which might make England a green and pleasant land but does nothing for one’s tan, all eyes turn to Burghley. And to Blenheim. As always we have an International feel about the farm where Annie Styles from New Zealand has been resident for a good few months, Esib Power from Ireland has been for 4 years, Will Faudree has based for the summer after a few years gap, Jessica Phoenix is back for a return visit for Canada, Sinead Halpin from the States for her first visit and we are waiting on Kyle Carter with his larger than life personality and Michael Pollard who are due to arrive later today. After many years playing host to the Dutton horses they appear to have decamped to the Fredericks which is quite shocking as we rely heavily on the legendary Emma to re educate us every year on horsecare and American gossip.
It is quite weird to see Will here without Brad (Antigua) and Joanie with her butt stuck to a bucket but Brad is now enjoying his retirement and Joanie has gone on to greater things with the USET. Having returned with a new team of horses and thankfully the welcome return of Nat VC to the pastures where she trained (as in trained me) after a short absence whilst I divorced my over sociable husband, Will has bought the fun back to the farm in so many ways. Never have I seen a horsebox decked out in the neighbours Laurel hedge quite so perfectly, rarely have I seen a small car with an engine capacity of 800cc driven so fast. No one ever has to ask where Nat is, we can hear her, whilst she steadfastly refuses to cook she cleans with a vengeance and the big news for August is that Will has given up alcohol for a whole month. He has been steadfastly resolute about the issue although we are all dying for him to shut up and just drink as he stares woefully at his Ribenna and whines that it might just taste ok with the addition of Vodka but the upside is that he has lost a whopping 15lbs and has also noted that next time he does this it will be February with just 28 days of hell to go through.
Preparation for Burghley has been taken very seriously…. We leave no stone unturned here. Tuesday saw us trek off to The Hand Equestrian Centre where we had hired the outdoor showjump arena with 15 horses for practice and despite the road leading to it being closed (luckily for us Rodney Powell got there first, and in true Rodney fashion ignored the Road Closed sign and then had to make a 98 point turn in his massive truck and rang us to tell us to hede the Road closed sign) which meant a lengthy detour we arrived at the destination only minus Will who had left at 6.30am for a Sandy Phillip’s lesson and was following by car which held its own possible problems.
Advanced horses jumped first and Pawlow and Tate (Manoir de Carneville) bounced around the track. Missy (Andromaque) was excused as she had been out through her paces with Sandy that morning and Will’s 2 young horses benefited hugely from the exercise. Several hours later we headed off and now we have dressage practice at Hunters Equestrian tomorrow where the organisers kindly lay on 1*, 2*, 3* and 4* dressage tests in a smart venue with good judges. Yes it is quiet, yes it is on a surface but as they run it unaffiliated in a venue which runs Inter I and II and PSG on a regular basis it is a great opportunity to have a dry run. We have around 40 entries in the 4 star tomorrow which shows how popular it is and the team at Hunters do an amazing job of being accommodating to riders with 4 or 5 horses. Will is riding 4 which will test out his skills at test remembering and Jessica Phoenix and Sinead Halpin are also coming along.
Jessica has just come in to tell me about her trip but has so far been transfixed by Hello magazine as for once it features Canada which I presume they do a feature on once every couple hundred years. Since Catherine Middleton is wearing a Stetson on the cover I fear for her trot up outfit at Burghley but we do have time to change that. Tucker (Exponential) has travelled well and is very happy to be back and is enjoying the peace before Kyle and Hawley arrive but also looking forward to the Canadian company. She is excited about dressage tomorrow which is a slight worry as event riders do not normally get excited about a pure dressage day and she also assures us that this time she is not pregnant which is something of a relief as she is currently hooking into the Pinot Grigio. Joking apart Jessica is really looking forward to the track at Burghely as she has one of the best cross country horses around in Tucker and she genuinely cannot wait to head off round the course.
Interestingly enough in these days of warmbloods our Burghley entries comprise of Exponential who ran 44 times and came out of racing as an 8 year old, Kilpatrick River who ran 22 times and came out as a 6 year old, As You Like It who ran 27 times and came out as a 6 year old. We also are fairly sure that Madison ran too which must have been fairly exciting for the bystanders not to mention the jockey and just goes to show that there really is so much more to give from the TB that has raced.
Sinead is very familiar with the UK having spent a year at Bill Pitts yard in Somerset where Tait spent most of his time languishing on box rest or in the paddock having injured himself and luckily escaped the Fox-Pitt radar as everyone knows he then went on to beat her mentor at Kentucky and is now headed to Burghley to try and emulate that performance or hopefully go two better. Sinead states boredom as being her biggest problem with just the one horse and she has become quite a fixture at the local gym not to mention Costa coffee.
So the clock keeps ticking and the ditch at Centaurs Leap gets no smaller and we are ready set go………
