Hutton in the Forest Horse Trials: Day 1

By the time I was up and about the horse boxes had started to flood on to the field and it was nearly time to open the front of the stand.

A beautiful sunny day and a good number of people. However specialist events like this can turn out to be disappointing as the spectators are too busy spectating to be interested in retail stands. The morning proved to be busier than I had expected but as I have no responsibilities on the stand I could go for a wander round.

There were three areas of interest the dressage ring, show jumping and the cross country. Competitors seem to start with the dressage, move to the jumping and finish on the cross country course. I thought the cross country was probably going to provide most photo opportunities so that was where I headed. It never fails to amaze me that the public are allowed to wander where they want and basically watch from where they want. The judges on each obstacle blew a whistle when they could see a horse approaching to warn us.

I tried various jumps and got what for me were good shots. So why have I chosen one that isn't my best. Well the sheer luck of catching the horse right in the middle of the of its jump and the feeling of action it gave me.