Jessie and I spent this past weekend at the Olympia Horse Show in London. It is an incredible show in downtown Kensington where many of the world's top riders compete. After unloading Jessie's horse Baloufina on the sidewalk next to the London Olympia Exhibition Center on Friday night, Jessie and I went back to our hotel to rest up. On Saturday morning, I went to Whole Foods (my very favorite grocery store) just down the street from the hotel. I got Jessie a smoothie for strength and picked up some organic snacks. I've been missing Whole Foods since I've been in England! The biggest grocery store in Horsham is called Tesco, and it is not quite in the same league.
Sadly, the power smoothie didn't help Jessie win the Young Rider's class at Olympia. She had a great round with just a single rail at the B element of the triple combination and ended up sixth in the class. The class format stated that the top five horse/rider combinations from the first round would return for a jump off and carry forward any penalties they accumulated in the first round. Jemma Kirk, Matt Sampson, Mark Turnbull, Sam Hutton, and Tim Page all returned for the second round. After a speedy jump off, Jemma pulled out a second clear round with the fastest time to leave Matt; Sam; Mark; and Tim to finish second; third; fourth; and fifth, respectively.
The excitement continued for the rest of the weekend, with Britain's Michael Whitaker winning the H&M World Cup Qualifier on Saturday after an insanely fast jump off of fourteen horse/rider combinations. France's Penelope Leprevost triumphed in the Kingsland Olympia Grand Prix on Sunday, a class in which the famed Ellen Whitaker actually went off course. I think all of England was shocked!
Jessie and I had lots of exciting adventures over the weekend! We ate at the delicious sushi restaurant Nobu. It was terrible for our wallets, but I think the smoked salmon was worth it! We also met a famous English futbol player named Jermain Defoe (and got his number!); we went Christmas shopping at Harrod's, which was also pretty dangerous for our wallets; and we lost a little self-confidence watching the best riders in the world run faster than children's jumpers in jump offs! All in all, it was a great weekend. I am back in West Sussex now, but it was so snowy today that riding was not an option. Tomorrow we should be back in action!
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