Greenwich Park Equestrian Eventing

OMG!!
OLYMPIC DAY:

Not even at Metallica was the crowd so incredible..., I have rarely been swept away in the proceedings, but here's how the day panned out for John and I.

After some outfit anxiety and major fiddling about with accessories we finally left home.  The sky was grey with rainclouds but the temperature was warm, so difficult to decide what to wear.

After a woefully inadequate signage to Greenwich Park from Stratford we managed to 'guess' our way to the correct DLR platform which welcomed us with posters telling us we were in the right place.  Hoards of horse-mad girls and boys from Essex were trying to find their way through the already heavy crowds, it was still quite early...John and I don't hang about!

After that however there were a huge team of awesome volunteers showing us the way, every step of the way, accumulating with 2 police horses at the end, so it was easy...in fact on the way home there was a lady and her young daughter handing out free juice along the route to passing revellers...how cute are the Brits?  

One local Police Horse and one boxed in from Humberside.  They have walked the cross country course too!!

The security we had been warned was like an airport so we couldn't take liquids etc in and there was bag search too.  The Royal Navy manned the x-ray machines, and it was brilliant and light hearted as well as serious, and the excitement was beginning to build.

Next to find our seats, find a cup of tea (which we never did), then walk what was left of yesterdays cross country phase, already being dismantled to return the park as promised as soon as possible to normal, we were told for Health & Safety reasons we couldn't go near most of the jumps, they even had the army guarding it!!!  

...a shame, everyone at the Showjumping would have liked to walk that course.  the 'Over the Moon' jump was right on top of the hill next to the Observatory.

..as the jumping began, and I got more and more excited...the anticipation finally got me when Mary King came out on Imperial Cavalier, I have never cheered so much in my life, and the whole crowd almost lifted the stands off the floor!! the support was tear-jerkingly, spine-tinglingly emotional...tears ran down my cheeks as we learned we'd won team silver...Miners Frolic was incredible again, did you see 'Henry' doing his dressage test in the pouring rain?.  I have never clapped and screamed so hard in my life, and the whole stadium was the same.

The 'King'(Mary) and the 'Princess' (Zara Phillips) did the Nation proud, William Fox-Pitt, Tina Cook and Nicola Wilson were thrilling to watch in real life.

The anticipation of the event overtook us and we all cried like babies, banging our feet on the floor of the stadium, rocking it's foundations to the core!!!!!

See our pictures of the day...we took well over a thousand!!!

Back at home Tom & Henry had won team Gold for Gorgeousness and were relaxing in their field!!