Badminton Horse Trials Cross Country Day

Kath and I were thrilled that fellow Cumbrian Ruth Edge was sitting in second place after the dressage test and looked forward to cheering her on around the Cross Country.

We managed to arrive pretty early again and did a spot of shopping before heading toward the stands to watch the first horses off the mark.

Kath is thinking about getting a new horse box, and it looks as though this could be the one. My spending was at the other end of the spectrum: I got a new leather hat as my poor well traveled old one is rather the worse for wear!

In true Badminton style, the course was as imposing and technically demanding as ever. Only the fittest, cleverest and best trained horses get around this Cross Country. Here Jane Doherty and Art Attack demonstrate how to take the hay cart with apparent ease.

Many came unstuck at the Blue Cross Roundtops, which were deceptively tricky.

Here a horse puts a knee in the pansies sending petals flying. They got over the obstacle however and galloped off looking fine. As did William Fox-Pitt and Ballincoola.

Of course the water always gathers the biggest crowd since it is one of the most exciting points of the course and one which causes the most problems. Sadly this combination was the downfall of Ruth Edge and Muschamp Impala who both tumble into the Lake. Both were fine and no doubt with have their day again.
Below Georgie Spence and Running Brook II show how it should be done.































In the end we were happy to see Lucy Wiegersma, who was on the British Team with Kath when she took Gold in the European Championships, come in second on Shaabrak