Is this not the cutest thing ever?

Salutations!

It's been such a wonderful weekend full of summer joy with plenty to share with you (along with stuff dating back weeks that still hasn't surfaced amongst the hubbub yet) so brace yourself for an influx of news, views and very interesting..... things.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when we went along to the Household Cavalry open day which is always a fabulous day out. The weather was just perfect, warm but not too hot so comfortable for us as well as not too taxing on the horses.

I'm not happy at all with the photographs I took as there were so many obstructions that they look pants but these are the best of the bunch.

I hope you had a great weekend too, tell me all about it (and send me links if you're blogging it). Let's make his week a good one, eh?

Sophie

On Sunday Mum and I headed down to Hickstead in Sussex for a day of horses; Mother and daughter bonding part 2. The day out was a Christmas present form my brother so we had been looking forward to it for half a year.

It was a beautiful sunny summer's day and we were in high spirits; I drove us down there super-early so we would have a whole day to enjoy ourselves. The drive down was a doddle and ridiculously fast so after a coffee and a cupcake we were ready to stretch our legs.

It was simply marvellous to take part in the public course walk. You really cannot appreciate just how humongous the jumps are and how long the course is.

We left our picnic bags to reserve our seats in the covered grandstand while we wandered off to take in the sights and sounds of the place. Obligatory selfie.

The trade stands always make for excellent browsing and people watching (bearing in mind a lot of snobby monied people come to this kind of event) so we ooohed and ahhed at the luxury products and some interesting people.

This tweed jacket was to DIE for, but at £225 it was perhaps a tad extravagant. These little tweed co-ords were quite simply divine, I wish I had been dressed in them as a little girl. How adorable!

There were several interesting classes before the main event which kept us entertained, our favourite of which was the scurry with two ponies pulling a cart at breakneck speed around a course.

Naturally the show jumping was the most eagerly awaited part of the day; despite about 35 horses jumping the same course one after another it remained captivating. It was great that there was a mini jump off with two horses which was thrilling and made for the best finale.

I had one major bugbear and I don't think I'm being petty. The commentator did KEEP saying 'lady riders'. Now, women have been prominent in the horsey world since the dark ages, so surely they are just riders? I didn't hear 'gentleman riders'. I don't think they would have the audacity to say 'ginger riders' or 'gay riders' so why on earth would anyone need to say 'lady riders'. It really irked me!

The time whizzed by and in fact the whole day zipped by in a flash, although we did get snarled up in queues on the motorway on the way home but that was expected. Such a brilliant day out! Maybe we'll head back again next year.

Sophie