A warm, breezy day provided good conditions for the Saturday of Barbury International Horse Trials. Several hundred runners in the CIC** sections delivered the main action for today’s competition with cross country rounds through the day. The main water complex for this class had an alternative added, and many of the riders I watched here wisely took the alternative as it barely made a difference to your time, although plenty did still opt for the fast route.
I may be wrong but the two star course didn’t seem quite as twisty as it has in previous years, although there was a real energy sapping up hill tight turn after the dolphin pond that provided some great photos of horses stretching out up hill as they banked left towards the haycart.
Meanwhile over in the main arena the CIC*** showjumping was causing plenty of problems and approx. 70% of the field left the arena with faults. Paul Tapner was one of the few to leave with a clean sheet. Both he and Tim Price managed it on both their rides.
Attendance today seemed to be up today compared to the Saturday last year, and with two CIC*** classes of cross country running tomorrow I imagine tomorrow will see additional gains. There is a slim chance of rain in the morning, but the afternoon looks to be set fair with some sunshine and warm temperatures.
Until then I’ll leave you with a few more photos from today, and the all important links:
