Blogging about Bramham with Hiho Silver.
You may of seen from my stories and posts that I was at Bramham horse trials last week so of course I naturally wanted to write a blog all about it. I had an absolutely fantastic time made even more exciting by the brilliant Hiho Silver team.
I try to go to Bramham every year for one of the days, it's always been my most local international event of the 4* (previously 3* before the changes) level so handily it's always been on the doorstep and is a great day out! Although I now live in Scotland it was an excellent excuse for some annual leave and time to see the family!
I normally just aim to go for the cross country day which I'm sure many will agree is the most popular day of the event with all its thrills and spills, tricky combinations and wonderful atmosphere.
This year I was very kindly gifted passes from Hiho silver who I'm sure you do but if you don't know are a stunning jewellery brand who sponsor the trot up offering a beautiful prize to the best dressed male and female combination. This year's theme being timeless classics if I remember correctly.
I had a excellent time covering their social media , sending my favourite parts of the few days trying to show viewers at home what actually goes on at these horse shows! I'm always nervous when on camera , my voice or face was definitely made to capture photos and stay behind the lens and not be the centre of attention in front so as much as I would of liked to do a little bit more vlog style for you guys unfortunately I did wimp out on this alot throughout the weekend! I hope what I did cover was still worthwhile though!
Wednesday was the trot up day and having been warmly welcomed by Andrew from the Hiho silver team, introduced to some of the Bramham team and briefed by the lovely Rhea and Emma on WhatsApp it was almost time for the trot up to begin but not before a quick sneak peak around the courtyard area. This is where all the horses wait to trot up and have their finishing touches applied. It was lovely to see the last minute added efforts by the groom's and of course that final look of admiration confirming the horse is ready to go. A look and proud feeling I can remember myself from previously grooming!
As 4 o'clock struck on the clock, continuing the Bramham tradition the first horse was led out ready for the first inspection! It was my job to take a photo of the horse and rider combination and then send it in the WhatsApp group with the horses number before the next one trotted down. Meanwhile Rhea had the tricky job of sharing on the Hiho story with all the correct social tags! It was fab to see my first trot up and get so close to all the action too! There were some super stunning styles with winners being Camilla Kruger in a glamorous red jumpsuit paired with a Fairfax and favour belt, simply gorgeous! The male winner being Richard Coney who looked super smart!
I actually missed Thursday as being back in Yorkshire I took the chance to spend the morning with my family and dogs before possibly heading further South to go view a horse for sale but that's for another blog another time!
Friday like Thursday is filled with dressage with the smaller ring varying throughout the day. It was fab to see Ben Hobday win with Shadow Kingsman in the 4yr old young event horse class. The afternoon was filled with rain but this didn't dampen anyone's spirts! Bramham has lots of lovely trade stands too so to dodge the rain we had a wonder round picking out our favourite bits!
Saturday is cross country day and is always action packed, the two arenas are filled with classes still too such as pony club jumping, mounted games and the equi trek arena British show jumping. Cross country always amazes me, infact eventing in general does. It's memorising to see a horse just the day before perfectly plaited, elegantly prancing round a dressage arena to be out covered in mud, storming round some super challenging fences! I absolutely love it, whoever you support doesn't matter , everyone becomes one big team, cheering each rider on as they pass. Even if you aren't a horsey person it's definitely something to experience, it's definitely a sport like no other.
Sunday is the final day, a day I've never actually attended before so I loved having the chance! It was brilliant! Showjumping runs in the main arena before concluding the winner of the event with a prize giving and lap of honour. Congratulations Kitty King! Following this was the Badsworth & Bramham moor hounds parade, this definitely gets the crowd going ready to finish the weekend with the Grand Prix showjumping.
Alongside this jumping runs in the top spec arena too and new for this year there was also arena eventing taking place. This was fantastic to watch and fab to see and take photos of some familiar faces too!
Sorry if this has been a long one but I wanted to give a run down of the event, share a few photos I took while there and of course give thanks to the Hiho Silver team for the best few days and of course for my beautiful new bracelet and limited edition Bramham charms! However to stop this post getting too much longer I'll be sharing my Hiho favourite items and more about these Bramham beauties in a following post which I hope you look forward to!
Speak soon, Meg xxp
