Hickstead August 2013

By: Ashleigh on 17:16

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I love a tradition.

My family doesn't really have any. I guess it's because you never know what is round the corner.

However my Mum and I always use the free tickets for Hickstead which come with Local Rider every July and August. For years now we have done this and we love it.

When we first started going, we watched a fair bit of the Dressage and Dressage warm-ups, but to be honest, we love the showjumping more. This is probably because Candy, our horse, is an ex-showjumper.

Mum and I spend a lot of time watching the jumping warm ups. It's amazing how you can pay extra money to see the likes of the Whittaker family jump a *little* bit closer, yet you can watch them warm their horses up a metre away for free.

Mark Todd

Mark Todd

We watched Mark Todd and Shane Breen (one of my favourite riders) warm up their horses, then walked round to the main arena, to see them jump the course, then wandered back to see them cool the horses down!

Shane Breen

Shane Breen

Shane Breen

Shane Breen

Shane Breen

It's so much more natural as well, you get to see them have the same problems as you...they also need someone else to do up their girth for them!

There's always plenty of shopping to be done, which is a great time to talk to different brands and do some research. Simple System were there for the first time so it was good to talk to them about what we feed Candy. Feedmark were there as well, we normally pick up something from them too!

I also got my 21st birthday present from my Grandma whilst I was at Hickstead too...a pair of Ariat Windermere boots which I am a little bit in love with. I may have to dedicate a separate blog post to them!

Then we have the typical wistful horse box shopping...

Look at all the chrome! (There's Mum having a lil peek at the back!)

We even had an excited moment where we saw a horse that had the same suffix after it's first name like Candy. (Like a surname.) We went rushing after it, going to the warm up area to see it be cooled down. I had my doubts as I didn't think it was quite right. Either way, Mum still chatted to the groom, spoke to the rider (a lovely French guy!) and I took a photo of them together.

When we got home we realised that the horse was not related to Candy like we thought. (We thought they had the same Dad.) Mum was a bit disappointed, but then we found that they were related, just a lot more distant than we thought. Regardless, it was still amazing to meet such a wonderful horse! He also came fourth!

Kevin Staut riding Taran de la Pomme

Kevin Staut riding Taran de la Pomme

Kevin Staut riding Taran de la Pomme...fourth place!

Kevin Staut, my Mum and Taran de la Pomme

Hickstead is always such a good experience. I hope Mum and I will always go together for many more years!

Apologies for a photo heavy post today, I just really wanted to share some happy memories! It's nice spending the day with your best friend.

You and me,

we're invincible together.