We were up first thing on Sunday, despite the late night involving beer and cognac, and it promised to be a hot one. The last day of competition was the Hunt Track, followed by the FFE Club competition that Ali was entered for.
The Hunt Track is basically a cross country course but with targets instead of jumps. A lot of these were 3D targets in the shape of the various creatures they like to pursue in France (although they usually go for it with big guns). Have to say, looked like a lot of fun and I really want a go at it one day!
We picked a nice spot near the start under some shady trees and waited for the action to start. Was actually quite difficult to photograph due to the white tape marking the track everywhere and having to be careful where I stood since the targets were on both sides and I didn't fancy getting hit by a stray arrow!
Ali ended up appointing herself head groom for the German team and spent most of her time holding on to various horses and passing up bows and quivers, and at one point being in charge of the wolf dog who tried to follow his owner onto the track!
A TV crew showed up in the afternoon and once they'd been told to move since they went to stand in one of the danger zones, they shot a load of footage of the competition and did some interviews, one of which was with Johan, so Kinna got on the telly (sort of)
Only one casualty, one of the Hungarians came off when his horse took exception to a plastic wild boar and he broke his wrist. For once, the pompiers showed up within minutes and took him off to hospital.
It was a great competition to watch, for the same reason we always go to Badminton on cross country day. There was even a Qabaq shot, where the target is above your head:
Quite a lot for the riders to think about, there was an optimum time and you lose points if you are too slow but also if you go too fast. A lot of them borrowed eventing watches and spent a lot of time checking them.
After everyone had been round, there was of course the prize-giving....
Then it was time for the Club competition, a bit of an anti-climax after the international one, but Ali and Kinna were up for it. She didn't do very well, largely because she was more focussed on getting Kinna to listen to her and stop at the end when she should, but then Ali really isn't very competitive at all.
She is keen to improve her shooting though, and Adam from the British team is always keen to help, so after the comp it was back to the training.....
We ended up with Kinna in hand as John was doing the club élite comp with the other horse and we didn't think it'd be a good idea to leave her on her own, so naturally she got drafted into service when Ali was practising her back shot
So another long but fun day, rounded off with a meal for all the competitors who hadn't had to rush off home, and a meeting of the new French branch of the IHAA
Great fun weekend, think I need to go and photograph some more competitions abroad, there's talk of a stage in Germany next summer :-)
Saturday morning saw us up and about early. We seemed to have been camping in the lumpiest field ever. Note to self: airbeds are NOT optional when camping......but sanity was restored with a trip to Luc and Isa's tent who had the camping stove to make us tea :-)
First thing was a reconnaissance of Sunday's hunt track, after her overenthusiasm the day before, we decided to get Ali to take Kinna round the track to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises on the day....
She was absolutely fine and sprang along with the funny-coloured ears flicking round at all the strange looking targets, but she didn't spook at any of them :-)
Thankfully the day dawned cloudy, so the temperature was lower, just as well since the Korean track was in a different field with no shade whatsoever......no trees to get in the way of the photos though :-)
After lunch the left-handed group were on last again, but I didn't need to catch Kinna this time!
The organisers had asked all the competitors to bring a blunt arrow along with them, and on Saturday evening we found out why, there was an extra competition just for fun. The target this time was a plate!
It was a knockout competiton and only a few people managed to break a plate to get through to the second round. Ali had a go but just missed it.....
...but Johan hit the plate, didn't break it as he wasn't using a blunt, but made a neat hole in it so they gave it to him to keep as a souvenir :-)
The evening light made for some nice photos.....
...and it was nice to see one of the competitors competing bridleless!
So once a winner was decided by the second round being timed, we then all went off for more apéros and a pleasant evening drinking beer and cognac and talking about horses. Ali stayed up even later than me talking to the German team and a very drunk Pole....
Last weekend saw Ali and I packing our bags to fly to Limoges for the second stage of the European Horseback Archery Grand Prix. As it was in France, I'd decided it was a good excuse for a jolly, and to go and catch up with some old friends who were going. The fact that Kinna was entered for the competition might have had something to do with it too....... ;-)
And we had an excellent time. We arrived at the venue, the Domaine de Gauchoux, at around lunchtime on Friday, just in time to get stuck in to the usual excellent French spread. We met up with John and Carole from our old club, and Luc and Isabelle from Beaumont. Then it was off to the Hungarian track to watch the first of the 3 competitions.
They have a funky electric target at Gauchoux, so instead of 3 target faces, there's just the one and it turns as the rider goes down the track. Some video of that here:
The track itself is dug into the ground a bit and lined so the sand stays put (mostly). 'Twas a bit hot and dry however, so sand was flying all over the place as spectators huddled under the trees for shade, or hid in the woods and risked the horseflies biting......
The trees along the front of the track made it a bit tricky to get decent shots, as did the very pretty but somewhat obtrusive plastic flowers, but I managed some....
Emil riding for Sweden
Dorine riding for France
Wojtek riding for Poland
Some great costumes on display, much fur in evidence (on saddles too) but possibly a tad warm for the Limousin in summer!
As usual, the guys were all very lovely and when Ali asked for some tips with her shooting, they duly whisked her away to the practise range (OK, some big round bales with the tattered remains of target faces on them) for some instruction.
She somehow managed to come out of it 2 euros in profit too ;-)
The left-handed archers were the last group of the day, and Kinna duly made her appearance, ridden by Johan, John and Carole's son. Mademoiselle gave some cause for concern to begin with, unsurprisingly really as it was her first big competition away from home, and he was having trouble getting her attention hen it came to things like stopping.....this resulted in me standing at the end of the run to make sure she did, and didn't try to rush off back to the others.
Once we'd replaced stressed pony with chilled pony, I was able to get a picture! She soon realised that her mate Idaa wasn't going anywhere and that she only needed to do the same thing each time on the track. She has always been a quick study.......
So with day 1 over, a lot of very hot and bothered people retired to the picnic tables (via a spéctacle put on by the kids from the club which involved ponies painted as zebras and giraffes!) for a good old French aperitif.....which of course turned into a proper drinking session. For once I was surrounded by languages I couldn't all understand (although was quite chuffed I was able to get most of what the German team was saying). Very pleasant evening, but we didn't stay up too late having been up at 4.30 to get to the airport!
Horseback archery, of course. The only sort of GP that's worth watching, as far as I'm concerned. This weekend, Team GB are over in Grunwald, in Poland and from the photos I've seen, it looks like they're having fun (and not getting too wet).
Wish I could go over there one year, not to compete, I'll never be that good, but to take a load of photos and join the guys for the après.......
Still, have managed to blag a weekend in France for the next stage since they'll need an interpreter, right? Limoges at the end of June should be nice :-)
Went to watch the UK leg of the European Horse Archery Grand Prix series this weekend. First challenge was actually finding the venue, which was the Centre of Horseback Combat Had the postcode I'd found online for them been accurate, we might not have spent most of the morning driving around tiny country lanes looking for the place.....in the end we took the only sensible course of action and repaired to a pub with wifi for lunch, got the phone number from the website and phoned them.
Having finally arrived (turns out we'd driven past it twice) and trudged along the traditional muddy tracks, we were greeted by the people who run the place telling us to keep Choccy on the lead and away from their huge (and presumably quite grumpy) Dyrewolf like dog.......
So we briskly strolled over to where the action was taking place and some nice people immediately introduced themselves and started telling us what was going on and who was who.
There were 4 teams, GB, Poland, Poland and Finland, and one of the GB guys was on the most gorgeous Haffie, you sure knew when he was coming up the run....
That'll be Tari in a couple of years :-) Although probably with a significantly dirtier tail ;-)
Spent a while talking to one of the Swedish guys (who of course spoke perfect English) about the merits of the thumb draw versus the 3 finger draw, as you do, and the NO made herself useful bossing the British team members' two small sons around and occasionally "helping" to collect arrows......
Yesterday's comp was all about the Hungarian style of archery where you have the targets up high (like Club 1 in France), we were hoping to get back today for the Korean shooting (separate targets on the ground, like for Club 2 & 3) and something called the Mamluk, which apparently involves having to shoot at targets at all sorts of different angles, including on BOTH sides of you (more on that here) but ran out of time largely due to massive traffic queues on the M25......
After Saturday's comp, Team GB were just in the lead, but they had 4 team members and the Poles in second only 3, they are amazing archers!
Some great kit on display too, love this quiver.....
Wish Hemel Hempstead wasn't so bloody far away......
