The Review
So much for Monday mornings being a touch painful; after a snowy weekend spent silently envying those eventing in Florida we loaded up with a sense of purpose to visit the new all-weather XC arena at Attington Stud. 10 minutes from J8 of the M40 and the sun was shining – we had found our own eventing haven, complete with “beach” and “sea”!!
While the support crew were scrabbling around for a pair of sunglasses (last used at Aldon ’16) and contemplating bikinis; I tacked up the first contender and went exploring….
The Attington team have taken the large flat area around their water and surfaced it in an egg shape, with racing barriers to allow you to ricochet off gently on the sharper ones! At first glance there are just lots of jumps from 90cm upwards, hack around a while to familiarise yourself and some good lines and angles become apparent for the more advanced horses.
All the key questions are included, with ditches, trakehners, and a gently undulating quarry type area which can be utilised at all levels. By retaining the banks either side of the water they have developed natural turning lines to skinnies for more established horses, and created various step complexes which are suitable for all levels. However, gold star goes to the big puddle in the middle – most types of water fence can be found and linked together, from lots of ramps, islands, steps, and drops, to a bounce, and two fences in the water – which was at a good depth.
The XC arena is a 100m hack from the lorry park, where there is also a wash down facility – much appreciated for switching horses quickly and taking them home clean to dream of red & white flags in their sleep. Top marks Attington for a well thought out, user friendly schooling facility.
