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| Quick snapshot of Antwerp as we strolled around |
Needless to say, as I write this from home sweet home; that I survived my first long road trip as chauffeur. Myself and the Guru headed from Luxembourg to Antwerp overnight to check out the opening leg of the 2014 Longines Champions Tour.
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| Hoodie I splurged on as I was so cold - was not prepared for wind; hopefully lesson learned! |
There were two other classes on before the main event at 6.30pm. There was a 1m15 class on first which we spent the entire time watching the warm up arena - such nice horseflesh although nowhere near the quality of the animals that followed in the later classes.
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| Cute castle on the waterfront |
The shopping was super disappointing, we were definitely not the target audience for the few stands that were there. I was half hoping (but not really expecting) to find a Charles Owen, Tredstep Ireland and/or Ogilvy stand so that I could see the products on my shopping list in person. Sadly not to be so shall hold out hope for next equine adventure tbc ;-)
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| White tents & cranes are LGT showgrounds - photo taken from castle above |
That's enough talk from me; I'm now going to leave you with my poor quality camera phone photos - hope you can make out the horses :-p
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| Dirk Demeersman & Artemise du Houssoit in 1m45 class |
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| Artemise du Houssoit really caught my eye, she is gorgeous SBS 8yo mare by Sherman-Sitte & Ksar-Sitte mare |
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| Nick Skelton & Aristio (mini-Arko) |
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| Aristio is an AES 8yo stallion by Arko III & Voltaire mare |
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| Nick & Aristio sproinging |
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| The magnificent Carlo & Sergio Alvarez Moya |
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| Ludo Philippaerts & Challenge v. Begijnakker |
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| Nicola Philippaerts & Forever D'Arco Ter Linden |
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| Nicola & Forever @ Jump 1 |
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| Shane Breen & the stunning Balloon |
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| Balloon & Shane Jump 1 |
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| Mark McAuley & Isco de Amoranda |
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| Mark & Isco Jump 1 |
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| Eric Lamaze & the fabulous Powerplay |
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| Cameron Hanley & Dundee v. Dwerse Hagen |
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| Cameron & Dundee Jump 1 |
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| Denis Lynch & Coulisa; isn't she a looker? |
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| Denis & Coulisa |
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| Coulisa & Denis |
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| Edwina Tops-Alexander & Old Chap Tame |
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| ETA & Old Chap again - another rubber ball of a horse |
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| The legends that are Rolf-Göran Bengtsson & Casall ASK |
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| Rolf & ASK |
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| Kevin Staut & For Joy van'T Zorgvliet Hdc |
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| For Joy & Kevin Jump 1 |
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| Kevin & For Joy @ Jump 6 |
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| Reed Kessler & Cos I Can |
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| Reed & Cosi - who has the same sire as my Kika! |
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| Reed & Cos I Can heading for fence 6 |
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| Over they go! |
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| Luciana Dinis & Cassius 56 |
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| Sadly I messed up my timing to snap them over the jumps |
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| Ben Maher & the gorgeous and aptly named Diva II |
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| She's a beauty |
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| Ben & Diva |
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| Michael Whitaker & Elie van de Kolmen |
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| I can't remember if I mentioned that MW was on the same flight as me to Brazil last year - starstruck moment for me as I gawped when he passed my seat |
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| Jump 6 for Michael & Elie |
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| The gorgeous Taloubet Z & Christain Ahlmann |
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| Taloubet fence 1 |
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| Plot Bleu & Marcus Ehning |
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| *drool* |
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| Penelope Leprovost & Nayana |
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| Penelope won a lovely diamond prize for being the Leading Lady rider |
Apologies for the photo quality and that they are so far away. I was also a lazy bum and only took photos during Round 1 of my favourite riders & horses - so as to actually watch the other rounds and not be hiding behind my phone trying to click at just the right moment to get the sproing shot. This means I managed to miss the top 3 even though The 3rd place Belgian youngster was on a stunnig horse - what a dreamboat...the horse! I wasn't perving on the kid!
Oh, very cool! Looks like a fun time!
ReplyDeleteIt was great fun, hoping to hit up another LGCT event later in the summer; but shhh - it's sort of a blogging secret until all plans in place...pricing transport down & hotel stay at the moment - sadly looking pricier than i'd anticipated eventhough we're looking months in advance!
DeleteSo cool that you got to go!
ReplyDeleteIt was beyond brilliant!
DeleteOh! So much fun!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've always wondered, how do you pronounce Longines? Is it a hard G or soft, etc?
Soft G I think as it's followed by an I
DeleteSo many great riders and horses! I really like the sweatshirt too :) I'd love to see Antwerp some day.
ReplyDeleteAntwerp was really cute, I have other photos from our nosy around the city Sunday morning...shall be sharing them on instagram :D
DeleteI saw all your photos on Instagram, but couldn't figure out why I hadn't heard from you in forever. Turns out your feed stopped updating in my reader. Oh noes! I think the problem is fixed now ... :)
ReplyDeleteThat castle is rockin'. I wanna live in it ...
Oh noes indeed - quel domage!
DeleteHopefully all is sorted now and you can keep up with all the word vomit ;-)
The castle was class, right on the waterfront although we didn't go inside so couldn't tell ya if there were mod cons for in-habitation :p
Yay photo spam! I'm jealous of Europe's amazing competition circuits. Here in the States, we only have a few places with that sort of showing (ie: Wellington) and I'm no where near them.
ReplyDeleteI am super lucky with where I live, here's hoping I can hit up a few more events in the "neighbourhood"
DeleteGood lord: Kevin & For Joy @ Jump 6 - that looks insane!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd how cool that your pony has relatives competing here!
Very cool that my ponio has rellies in high places, now if only we could get our acts together maybe we could get back out competing some time too ;-)
DeleteI am super jealousss!
ReplyDeleteWhen you come visit we'll go on a roadtrip to a big Euro SJ event...now get your butt over here! :p
DeleteThat looks like so much fun!!!!! I'm glad you got to go. Thanks for sharing pictures. :D
ReplyDeleteIt was amazing, i feel so lucky to have been able to go!
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