For three days of world class sport in the stunning Chatsworth grounds, you can’t beat the excitement and elegance of the International Horse Trials. With all kinds of displays, entertainment and stalls, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. A perfect gift idea.
The horse trials, which has the Duchess of Devonshire as President, is now firmly established as a diary must for all the top international riders. We have again been asked to host the prestigious FEI World Cup class alongside the established Advanced level competition on Saturday and Sunday.
It also offers a brilliant family outing with attractions including Pony Club Mounted Games, Owls Galore, sheepdog and birds of prey displays, face painting, Punch & Judy and a huge variety of shopping at around 100 quality tradestands.
Chatsworth House International Horse Trials
Peak District Online on Saturday attended the Chatsworth House International Horse Trials, the event was held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and featured top international horse riders competing in dressage, cross country and show jumping.
The Duchess of Devonshire is President of these horse trials and included the FEI World Cup Class along with the Advanced level competition.
This was our first visit to this event and we were very impressed. Apart from the wonderful equestrian events there were hundreds of stalls to visit and enjoy, ranging from horse equipment, horse boxes to hot pork sandwiches and a champagne bar.!
The weather just about held out and we took full advantage of this and wandered throughout the transformed Chatsworth House Grounds which blended itself perfectly to this event. The cross country riders were fantastic and we were very impressed by the layout and the ease of which spectators could walk around and view pretty much any part of the course. Horses were flying past making the event really exciting.
Saturday was a busy day which saw plenty of Equestrian activity including some world class dressage, show jumping and cross country.
For the rest of the family there were enough rides and activities to keep the children amused I was even persuaded to go on a couple of rides, our favourite was the G11 simulator!
One of the main attractions was the world renowned horse whisperer, Jean Francois Pignon and his famous grey horses from Calvisson. This display was a wonder to watch and drew huge crowds and much appreciation. Jean held a display on all three days and was definitely worth watching.
It was quite amazing to see how much work must have taken place to organize this size of event and everything seemed to run pretty smoothly, apart from the odd escaped owners dogs!
This is one to put in the diary for next year, horse lover or not just being in the magnificent setting of Chatsworth House is reason enough to attend.