Last weekend we were invited along to the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in Stamford, Lincolnshire. A show I’ve not been to before so we were even more excited to go along.
We went along on the Saturday which was Cross Country Day and definitely the most popular day as it’s easy for everyone to watch and enjoy the course. Like any show on a busy day the country lanes were jam packed taking a couple of hours to drive the last 10 miles – something to leave extra time for and make sure you have a loo stop before then!
The show is sponsored by Land Rover, who were also launching their new ‘Pet Packs’ at the show. We headed along to their stand with a film crew to test them out Spaniel style! Some dogs were a bit wary of the dog ramp as it’s an unusual thing for them to walk up, however as my two do agility they just thought it was a piece of equipment. Woody ran straight up and down and stopped at the end with two feet on, two feet off – just like we’d do at training! I’ve always thought about getting a dog ramp as they’re so much better for your dogs rather than jumping up and down into a boot, plus they fold away nice and small. They’re still very new and haven’t quite been released online, but I’ll let you know when they’re live! We also tested out the non spill dog bowl, fabric crate & my particular favourite the portable washer. With a hand pump and water container you can clean off your dogs, prams or bikes with a changeable nozzle on the end of the hosepipe.
The Land Rover team also had a fantastic caricature artist who was drawing peoples dogs. A really different attraction i’ve not seen at shows before, but Rick Coleman captured the dogs quirkiness and it’s something for us to treasure.
The Stamford Fine Food Store put on a beautiful hamper for us. We sat under the shelter of a tree for a picnic next to the start of the Cross Country. Such a wonderful variety of food, if only my picnics were as good as this for a day out with the dogs!
The event also had it’s own radio coverage so people could purchase headsets and keep up to date with the results and interviews whilst exploring the show. We had an interview with the radio team [Well the dogs weren’t too chatty so I did all the talking] about how dog friendly the event is.
With all our meetings finished we went off to watch the horses – the stars of the show! If like me you’re not too much of a horse expert this was a great chance to get up close and learn how the competition works. We walked around the Cross Country course and stopped to watch the competitors pass each jump. Woody’s favourite were the water jumps, although he’d much prefer to be in there with them!
I just loved the chance to photograph this event, there was so much going on and any animal sports are so much fun to capture on camera.
Have you been along to any Horse Trials with your dogs? Did they enjoy it? We live very close to Badminton & Gatcombe Horse Trials which I’ve loved visiting with Woody in the past, but next year they’ll definitely be on the list to visit with both dogs as I enjoyed this one so much.
Thank you to Landrover and Burghley Horse Trails for inviting us along, next years event will be the 5th-8th of September 2019.
Thanks for reading,
Megan, Woody & Wilma
The Cotswold Spaniels 