You need more than one day to truly appreciate the Dublin Horse Show. There is so much to see and do, and every day has its own exciting international competition that can't be missed. Friday is perhaps the most famous day, with the Nation's Cup taking place in the afternoon. It is a good excuse to dress up in fancy clothes and soak up the atmosphere as entertainers and street performers move through the crowds and not one but two bands parade in the main arena. The Nation's Cup, for those who don't know, is a tough competition where eight nations battle it out against one another to be the victor. Each country has four members to a team and each member must jump the same set of jumps in two rounds. The best three scores are counted from each round and the team with the lowest number of penalties are the winners. All the major shows around the world have their own nation cups and Samsung have sponsored them in what is known as the Samsung Super League. This means that every country competing in the various different nation cups get points depending on how well they do in the competition. Every year the country with the lowest number of points is kicked out and the country who has done best at the lower levels gets promoted. Ireland did very badly last year and was knocked off the Super League, but we still got to compete in the RDS because we were the host nation, thus there were nine countries competing this year. We had to do well in the first round or we wouldn't have made it through to the second round.
Because Friday is the most popular day at the Horse Show, Michele and I made an effort to arrive extra early at the RDS. Despite getting there before 11am, we still couldn't get parking. We were fortunate that a resident allowed us to park in their driveway, otherwise we would have been looking at on street parking and a long walk to the venue.
The RDS was packed when we finally got into the show grounds. We decided to do a bit of shopping and looked through the stalls in both Simmonscourt and the Main Hall. My German Shepherd, Janna, has recently developed arthritis, so I was on the lookout for something that might help her, and stopped at the Bioflow stand. These are magnates that work on the principle of increasing circulation, thereby flushing toxins more easily out of the system and reducing inflammation. The woman selling them certainly sang their praises, so we bought a collar for Janna and a wristband for my mum. We also stopped at a stand selling delicious homemade preserves and coulis and, after sampling some of the produce, bought some as it was so tasty. It has become a horse show tradition that fudge is purchased, so we had a stop at the confectionery stand. We found this stall with the most beautiful wildlife photographs I have ever seen. I was amazed to discover that the actual photographer was manning the stand. He was very pleasant and willing to talk about the different photographs, where they were taken and how he got to the locations. I'd say he had some interesting stories to tell and it would have been wonderful to stay and chat, but we had to press on and meet up with Madeline, who was joining us for the Nation's Cup.
At this stage we were feeling tired from making our way through the crowds, and it was so hot I was beginning to feel quite dehydrated. Once we had met up with Madeline, we headed out to our seats in the grand stand. What a difference from yesterday! The stands were nearly at full capacity and there were people thronged around the main arena. I felt quite grumpy because of there being so many people and it wasn't until I had a rest, some water and my lunch that I got into better form for the jumping. Pamela was also supposed to join us for the Nations Cup but unfortunately she couldn't get away from work.
As always, the Nations Cup was very exciting. Ireland had a good first round and went into the second round in second position after Germany. Germany was on top form and would have had to mess up terribly in the second round for Ireland to win, but if Ireland had kept on form in the second round they would have given Germany a run for their money. Unfortunately, Ireland lost it a bit in the second round and the USA crept ahead to steal second position, while Ireland fell back to third. While it is always nice to see Ireland come first, I couldn't grudge the Germans their win as they looked so happy on their lap of honour with the Aga Khan Trophy. The jumping was made all the more exciting by the fact that the course was one of the most difficult I have seen in years and the heavy ground, made worse by more rain in the afternoon, resulted in a lot of skids, refusals and two falls. There was also a dressage demonstration during the break between the first and second rounds, which was interesting to watch.
The RDS was packed when we finally got into the show grounds. We decided to do a bit of shopping and looked through the stalls in both Simmonscourt and the Main Hall. My German Shepherd, Janna, has recently developed arthritis, so I was on the lookout for something that might help her, and stopped at the Bioflow stand. These are magnates that work on the principle of increasing circulation, thereby flushing toxins more easily out of the system and reducing inflammation. The woman selling them certainly sang their praises, so we bought a collar for Janna and a wristband for my mum. We also stopped at a stand selling delicious homemade preserves and coulis and, after sampling some of the produce, bought some as it was so tasty. It has become a horse show tradition that fudge is purchased, so we had a stop at the confectionery stand. We found this stall with the most beautiful wildlife photographs I have ever seen. I was amazed to discover that the actual photographer was manning the stand. He was very pleasant and willing to talk about the different photographs, where they were taken and how he got to the locations. I'd say he had some interesting stories to tell and it would have been wonderful to stay and chat, but we had to press on and meet up with Madeline, who was joining us for the Nation's Cup.
At this stage we were feeling tired from making our way through the crowds, and it was so hot I was beginning to feel quite dehydrated. Once we had met up with Madeline, we headed out to our seats in the grand stand. What a difference from yesterday! The stands were nearly at full capacity and there were people thronged around the main arena. I felt quite grumpy because of there being so many people and it wasn't until I had a rest, some water and my lunch that I got into better form for the jumping. Pamela was also supposed to join us for the Nations Cup but unfortunately she couldn't get away from work.
As always, the Nations Cup was very exciting. Ireland had a good first round and went into the second round in second position after Germany. Germany was on top form and would have had to mess up terribly in the second round for Ireland to win, but if Ireland had kept on form in the second round they would have given Germany a run for their money. Unfortunately, Ireland lost it a bit in the second round and the USA crept ahead to steal second position, while Ireland fell back to third. While it is always nice to see Ireland come first, I couldn't grudge the Germans their win as they looked so happy on their lap of honour with the Aga Khan Trophy. The jumping was made all the more exciting by the fact that the course was one of the most difficult I have seen in years and the heavy ground, made worse by more rain in the afternoon, resulted in a lot of skids, refusals and two falls. There was also a dressage demonstration during the break between the first and second rounds, which was interesting to watch.
5 comments:
Sounds a great few days, though disappointing that Ireland didn't win the Nations Cup!
great photos and you captured the day! The nations cup is really the high light of horse show week although the crowds make shopping, moving, breathing etc a little difficult
Thanks Broken Wing. I looked at my diary from last year and it took us 30 minutes to get parking on the friday. It made me laugh. I don't mention any difficulty getting parking the year before. Germany won last year and Ireland came third, so two years in a row at the third position. I hope next year we manage to take first.
it sounds brilliant - i wish i could have made it. :(
I dont remember the 30 mins getting parking!! so obviously its always difficult. Yes, Pinky, its a pity you couldn't make it but now we understand why!!!!
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