Royal Windsor Horse Show [AD]

The lovely people at Revolution Sports asked if we would like to go to the RWHS and, as it’s just up the road, and we will go to the opening of an envelope like to get out when we have nothing else on and there’s a place we haven’t been before.

 Anyway, it was a lovely day to head off to Datchet, find the car park and then wonder which way to go (signage was a little lacking in the car park, but maybe that boosts the official programme sales ;-).

Once inside there were an awful lot of horses. An awful lot. Here are a couple.

And here’s another:

And here’s another:

The dressage was suitably dressage-y and a perfect illustration of one of the things that I loved most about the whole day – how ‘broad a church’ it is. There are posh people, and horsey people, and some posh horsey people. I distinctly remember (not the lady in the picture above, I hasten to add) some individuals who looked as it had been a while since they’d been atop a horse and they had……broadened….. somewhat.

 All sorts of stalls and shops to browse, from “fly visors” for horses (which I could do with on my evening bike ride), leather bags and Hermes saddles (don’t even ask how much) through to antique diamond rings (eh?) and “Wealth Management Services”. A fascinating mix of what vendors think horsey people are interested in.

 The most fun thing we saw was the Shetland Pony Grand National.   Truly.  It was hysterical.

A colleague of mine, interestingly, competed in the Shetland Pony Grand National once. Her memories perfectly matched what we saw:

• some of the girls were a little tall to compete on Shetlands, so they were a tad unstable when the pony jumped sideways without warning
• Shetlands are NAUGHTY and often jump sideways without warning

So it was all just, very, British. Marvellously eccentric and great fun, but I would imagine it would leave most of the rest of the world just shaking their heads.  T likened it to Narnia, the entrance to another world.   Don’t get me wrong, a world that is great fun but one that might need a few more visits before we understand it all!

Keep an eye on the Royal Windsor Horse Show website for ticket information and for the programme of events.  They also do great things like half price entry after 4pm and an evening entertainment programme, well worth checking out.

We were given complimentary tickets in exchange for this review