Over the weekend of the 23rd/24th of October, our group travelled to The Netherlands to take part in a multi-period event held at Louvestein Castle, near Gouda.

The journey, there and back, was not without event in itself. A party of us set out from Buittle with four horses in 2 horse boxes towed by 4x4s. After travelling overnight, we met up with cars containing other members of the group, near Luton, and headed to Harwich for the crossing to the Hook of Holland. The winds had been very high for the two or three previous days and when we got to the port we found that the car-borne party could travel on the ferry but the horse boxes (which had to travel as freight) would not be allowed on board, as it was too windy for them to cross. This resulted in a 12 hour wait on the quayside in the port for those of us in the 4x4s. Eventually, the 12 hours passed. The next ferry (with us on it) was loaded up and we were off.

The difficulties were not over yet, however, as while driving through Holland, one of the horse boxes shed a wheel, which had to be rescued from the inevitable canal which ran parallel to the road.

Eventually we reached Louvestein, by now so late as to have missed our slot for our display on the Saturday. Saturday afternoon was spent setting up the ground which had been allotted to us for the horses to run on for the next day. It’s always amazing how people have no conception of how fast the horses go and just how much room they need to slow down and stop. The space set aside for us had the castle moat at one side and a steep banking at the other separated by a space of about 5 metres. This made for some interesting riding!

Despite all these difficulties, a great time was had by all. The journey back was only just less eventful, as the seas had not abated and the crossing was rougher than coming over. Still, we all arrived home safe and sound and more experienced.


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