Megan Kepferle is Sinead Halpin’s groom and she was kind enough to send us her second EN guest blog on the eve of their departure for Burghley. All I will say is that when I grow up I want to be as funny as Meg. I don’t have the faintest idea what the last line means so don’t ask. Thanks for writing this Meg and thank you for reading…
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From Meg:
Well we are all packed up and heading to Burghley at 10 am London Time. Sinead and I just infiltrated the Canadian dinner party at Catherine Burrell’s (AUS) and her Fiance Ben’s (ZIMBABWE) with her mother (GBR) and David O’Connor (USA) and Graeme Thom (CAN).
Jess Pheonix and Hawley Bennett made a spaghetti dinner and they even were kind enough to make me my own vegetarian pot. Crushed it. Those Canadians are so friendly. Our contribution was supposed to be desert so we bought…I mean baked…two delicious tea cakes. Turns out they weren’t so delicious, so we made sure everyone knew we actually bought them, and the blame was passed to Pollys Tea Room. Crisis averted. After dinner we headed into the sitting room for an inspirational movie, Blades of Glory. Living the dream people, living the dream.
Earlier that afternoon, the Canadians had a mini training session, so naturally we infiltrated that as well and David helped Sinead over a few last minute jumps as I held up the tally board to keep it under 10 jumps. Tate is jumping great, and enjoyed a little jolly around the ring with all his minions watching. The energy level is different at Maizey Manor today. Everyone is getting excited, and we are all ready to head out….either that or we had a few too many cups of tea. People are laughing at things that aren’t really that funny, the washing machine is on repeat, the tack is all extra shiny, I’m pretty sure I randomly heard a fake German accent (definitely northern Germany) for an hour or so, and I cannot refrain from belting out an overplayed song where all they say is The Sunlight Hurts My Eyes…but in a voice comparable to Andrea Bocelli….you know just a normal day when you have 10 professionals and their grooms operating out of the same facility as they prepare for a four star.
Tate spent the better part of the day enjoying some final turn out time before the big week ahead. He got his bath and his mane pulled and braided over, and then was placed safely in his bubble that he will remain in until further notice. We took a final trip into Marlborough for some last minute supplies…Jaffa cakes and Liestershire cheese…to get us through the weekend. Gotta carb up for the course walks. I washed all of our laundry and packing took no time at all. I even fit in a final gym session. Taterball will be riding with Esib Power and her pony Squire. Sinead and I are so excited and ready to be there we asked her if we could leave at 6 – Esib counter offered with noon, and finally Sinead and Esib agreed on 10… plenty of time to fit in one last Costa trip.
Other than that all is quiet at Maizey Manor. Catherine erected a Canadian flag at the base of the driveway yesterday and told us whichever country wins Burghley gets their flag there…which is awesome! Forget the 50,000 quid, I want Old Glory at the beginning of Maizey!! It also makes it an obvious target for Sinead and I to play capture the flag. Now please excuse me while I get my black sweatpants and black hoodie out…stealth mode!
I am unsure about Twizzel and Neville, but judging from Sara McKenna’s equal level of excitement they will be heading out early from Headley. Gin N Juice, Madison Park, and Exponential head out first thing in the morning, and Manoir de Carneville and Kilpatrick River will be a few hours behind.
As soon as Tate is settled, I am going to be heading straight to the lemonade stand. (Which also doubles as an ancient stone trough vendor…the best of both worlds?)
That is all I have at this point. I must finish packing up my room at Parklands hotel (I may have told Sinead I was all done packing, but, I mean….it was either finishing packing which I loathe doing, or get a ploughmans sandwich, which I LOVE doing…so…)
Lastly a shout out to Sarah Rupert our working student who is manning all the horses and our dogs at home by herself and survived the hurricane! Go reliable working students!
Signing off from Ogbourne St. Andrew.
