Cross Country
One minute we are all sliding around in the mud at Badminton, then suddenly in the blink of an eye its mince pie consuming season already. The season was filled with adventures – Luhmuhlen, Europeans, Arville and finished with the new customary sun-soaked season finale at Pau. More croissants, an epic thunderstorm, flooding and sunrises.
Get a cuppa and a supply of mince pies before getting comfy…
Read MoreWell surely it’s better to sing about it, than complain about it; Mother Nature can’t be persuaded after all that we’ve had enough of the wet stuff. The departing snow bought the onset of ‘The Wet’ here in we have basically just talked about mud. Walking in it, rolling in it, getting stuck in it, showjumping out of it and I’ve even had to photograph it! “Mud, Mud; Glorious Mud” became the theme tune for the new few weeks.
Read MoreChristmas is a distant memory, January has felt eleventy billion days long, but alas there is light at the end of what now feels like a never-ending tunnel. The new Eventing season is only 5 weeks away folks.
With sights turning towards the much-celebrated end of winter, my thoughts drift towards which equines I shall be excitedly looking forward to seeing each weekend.
Read MoreWell blink and suddenly it’s the middle of April and the season is already almost eight weeks old – how did this happen?!? I’ve gone from wishing the winter to be gone to straight into full-on season madness, flying around from event to event.
The new season has bought some new clients and riders to work with, all of which are keeping me on my toes
Read More
Champions - Nicola Wilson & JL Dublin GBR are the new European Eventing Champions, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
With the last 18 months being a strange concoction of doubt, fluid plans and general disbelief as to whether anything would run; I didn’t really believe I could get to the Europeans until I stepped out of the car after the 15-hour journey onto the car park in Avenches.
I joked with my fabulous road-trip buddy Ben during the drive down to Avenches about the chances of a Brit 1-2-3, so imagine our complete amazement when that’s exactly what the Brits delivered on Sunday afternoon! Dreams do come true.
Read MoreTeam GB have sealed Team Gold this week out in Tokyo and what a performance from the squad - they have delivered the lowest ever finishing score by a team in the history of Olympic Eventing!
Now comes the realisation that basically Tokyo has filled all my conversations for seemingly the last 18 months, so what next, team picks for Paris 2024 anyone?!
Read MoreI have decided to inhale a good dose of optimism and forge onwards with my Tokyo dream…
You wouldn’t want to substitute yourself into the Team GBR selection committee; for they have many endless debates, head scratching and much deliberation ahead of them.
We are in a golden age of Eventing talent, both globally and here in Blighty; which gives us a tricky but fortuitous problem. We have a very long long-list of talent, yet only 3 team places are available and a lucky individual to take on board the plane to Tokyo.
Read MoreWhat a year that was! A pandemic was rather an extreme way of focusing the mind. Focusing on what mattered. What was worth the effort and what was not. What stirred the soul and what no longer mattered.
We may not have had a full season, but 2020 was definitely a year to savour ‘Quality over Quantity’ all the way.
Read MoreDear Santa,
I’ve been a really good girl, no really! I actually have this year - I’ve been socially distant all year, not just for lockdowns and I’ve done all my Eventing chores (well kinda….)
So how about a treat or two under the tree this year... Just in case you or Santa need some inspiration for what to put under the tree this year for me, or any equestrian mad friend or relative,, here’s some ideas…
Read MoreMuch has been written about the ‘strangest’ of years and how it’s been a shortened season - but in so many ways that hasn’t diminished the quality on display at Pau this weekend. A French adventure had always been on the grand masterplan for this season, long before we knew Covid-19 existed.
So much of 2020 hasn’t lived up to pre-season expectations. There’s been so many dreams lost this season. But one little dream remained, from the early glance at the Pau entries, one little dream emerged - could gorgeous Dan make amends for the unlucky tragedy of the Europeans last year.
Read MoreSeptember continued where August exited stage left, an action packed month with just enough spare time for a spot of seashell collecting….
Cornbury House had been murmured to be worth the wait and it was definitely that and so much more. After the doom and gloom of this Eventing year, this shiny gem emerged from the pack and really made their presence known that weekend.
Read MoreYou know that good things must come to the inevitable end, but when they have been this good, it’s a hard pill to swallow.
Gorgeous Gary has taken me on a memorable journey as his number one fan, he has taken me to courses I’d only ever dreamed of attending. It has been a complete pleasure to follow him all the way from the Highlands of Scotland to the French Pyrenees.
Read MoreAugust has been a hectic month, four events, nearly 1,300 miles travelled and an unmentionable number of photos taken.
Burgham did not disappoint. A world number one. A world champion. Three past class winners. Five star winners. More entries that anyone could have imagined! Eventing bliss.
Read MoreThe restart that we had all hoped and prayed for had finally come. Given the length of time that had passed since I was last at an Event, I’d be forgiven for thinking that we were starting a new season, but this was 2020 version 2.0. The wait was long and obviously completely necessary, given the global pandemic we all found ourselves living through...
But pulling into the hallowed turf of Barbury Castle, albeit a week later than originally scheduled, was just the tonic I had been hoping for.
Read MoreWith the continuing restrictions, I have done the obligatory garden and house tidy, then I started the online tidy. The trawl through the archives to tidy and refresh. And this got me thinking - now I will admit the search initially started with my top 10 photographs and this became a little impossible, so that grew into 15 before settling on my 20 favourite images. The soundtrack to the afternoon would have gone ’99 photos and I can’t pick 1’!
Read More
…but I can pick pick my 10 favourites.
Well some few hours later and instead of 10, I had 29 on my ‘shortlist’ - the greats of the sport, some that pull on the heartstrings and some that will just always hold a special place in my heart.
When reading the list below, you will notice a theme, one that could be used to create the ultimate Eventer - powerful, quirky, enthusiastic and brave when going XC, whilst being in true harmony with their human partner. I am a big lover of this great sport and have been lucky enough to watch many who fit the aforementioned description.
Read MoreUltimately Eventers (both competitors and supporters) are a bloody tough breed, we’ve got through previous outbreaks, disasters and wartime; the sport will make it through this. We’ve weathered cancellations and abandonments before, and this time will be no different.
Whether Tokyo comes or is lost, all that matters is everyone is still here when we pick up where the season paused, be that hopefully in a few weeks or we draw stumps and start a fresh next season with renewed energy. As long as the friends I have made on this wonderful journey are here with me, that’s all that ultimately matters.
Read MoreWith January finally completed, we can all now look forward to brighter evenings, snowdrops giving us a hint of the springtime to come and finally we can say the Eventing season starts this month!
So with the impeding starting klaxon, I thought I’d share a few ramblings about what the season may have in store for us all.
Firstly, at the risk of stating the obvious, 2020 is an Olympic year – the greats of our sport will be heading east to Tokyo for the Eventing medals at the end of July.
Read MoreWith a new year fully underway I decided why monkey with tradition, so here comes the customary new year look-ahead to what the upcoming year may have in store for all us Eventing fans.
We have just passed the 200-day countdown mark to the opening ceremony in Tokyo, with Olympic fever sure to set in if it hasn’t already. “Who’s on your team?” will surely be asked several hundred times as early season events get underway.
I’ve picked my team….
Read MoreBest moment
There was only ever going to be one contender here wasn’t there - Gary completing Badminton
Read More
