We had a fantastic time at the Royal Windsor Horse Show last week. Not only did we get to catch up with some of our clients who were selling at the show, but we also caught up with client MBE and Gold Medallist, Natasha Baker and watched some of the dressage action with her (Although we think our constant questioning throughout each test in an attempt to glean some useful tips and advice was quite annoying for her!)
The stands were packed around the dressage arena and crowds watching the dressage horses warming up and the atmosphere was brilliant. One of the equestrian highlights for us was watching Shadow Horse sponsored rider Michael Eilberg riding Woodlander Farouche in the freestyle class (Which they won) and also getting the opportunity to watch some of the showing classes in-between meetings (Love the hunter classes especially the gallop)
The opening day of the show was free entry and it was incredibly busy and beautiful weather, which must have really boosted the moral of those stand holders who had literally travelled straight to the show from a really wet and windy Badminton!
Having gone to Windsor over the years, we were really excited to see what we feel is some of the ‘Old Windsor show coming back onto the play. Over time, like many equestrian events, we felt the show had compromised quality over quantity in terms of the stands and shops (Probably needing the revenue in these difficult times to continue)and as a result we felt the show had lost some of it’s elegant and premium feel.
This year the show excelled all expectations, the quality of shops varied from small country and equestrian bespoke brands through to well known equestrian brands and designer brands such as Daks and Hermes Paris (Who were both also involved as sponsors) and the main shopping avenues had covered walk ways to ensure that you were not wading through muddy fields, should the weather have worsened. The whole feel of the show had really improved and with a new international dressage competition running in the evenings, the equestrian marketing team are looking forward to next year already!
