I am writing this whilst waiting for Alex (Bragg) to take my horse cross-country at Moreton Horse Trials, which is a lovely event and so good to be out and about in the sunshine!

It has been a busy month as we move ever closer to May.  February was testing for Eric Winter and the Willis Brothers, as this is when the cross-country fences go out in the Park but thanks to the latter (and their team) hardly a mark was made on the ground.  Assisted, without a doubt, by the drainage of the Park that has been carried out over the years and now we are seeing the benefits in full.  Eric, Mathias Otto-Erley (Technical Delegate), Mike Etherington-Smith (Course Advisor) and Andrew Heffernan (Assistant Course Designer) then spent a happy couple of days ensuring all is placed as it should be with obviously a few tweaks to be made between now and May.  Eric has a few surprises for everyone!

The course, main arena and warm-up areas are looking in good shape thanks to the efforts of Dan Cummins who, as well as being the Deer Park Keeper, looks after the Horse Trials’ areas.  A big “thank you” to Roger Hughes (Farm Manager) and his team for working with us and also assisting with the mowing, which in turn has meant the ground and grass have come into the Spring in good shape.  This week Phil Cole and his team are working on the course, harrowing, verti-draining and fertilising.

Holly Hopkins (who has taken over from our longstanding Site Manager – Harry Verney) arrived on site at the beginning of March and already the Park is a sea of pegs, which mark out where the grandstands, trade stands, tentage, etc. have to be placed.  The accuracy of this job is all important, down to the last 50cm!!  The grandstand structures are up and now being covered.

Entries have now closed with a strong field and I wish all athletes and horses well during their preparations for May.  No waiting list this year, so they all know they will get a run!

The LeMieux Grassroots is also in a good place.  The cross-country fences are out and Simon Grundy (BE Technical Advisor) and Liz Lyall (BE Steward) visited the site recently.  The excitement builds as entries open next week.

The traffic meeting bought up nothing new but we are always tweaking the plan to assist everyone to have as smooth a journey into the Event as possible, which has been vastly helped in recent years, by all (officials, visitors, etc) starting their journey in good time with a view of arriving early, particularly on the Saturday.

The office are, as always, beavering away.  The tradestand work is all but complete and officials and volunteers in place.  The Box Office is busy and we welcome Sue Kay, who has joined this team part-time.

Last but by no means least, Andrew and I had a great quick trip to Florida at the end of February.  How lucky are we to have visited Wellington International and the Ocala World Equestrian Centre.  Both amazing venues, where the facilities for both horse and man are exquisite.  MARS Equestrian were sponsoring the big show jumping class at Ocala, so it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and catch up with the team, we are so grateful for their hospitality and are much looking forward to seeing them all at Badminton in May.

Now we are in the final leg to have all ready for the first week in May…..