This year’s Badminton Horse Trials had everything; exciting competition filled with drama, endless sunshine and a storybook ending for Caroline Powell aboard Greenacres Special Cavalier.
I struggled with FOMO not being able to go and watch all the thrilling action – will be catching up on Badminton TV very soon!
The arrival of Spring in full force was a stark contrast to the mud-pocalypse of 2023 (or as my dad called it, Badminsomme).
Set up on Tuesday went pretty smoothly, with Mum and Dad on hand to build my stand, with Penny the labrador ‘supervising’. Shout out to my Mum who spent most of her birthday setting up, I couldn’t do this job without my parents’ support.
Set up in the sunshine
I did a re-jig of my stand for 2024, last year I had less than 3 months to prepare for the event so it was a bit of a scramble to get everything together. This year I wanted the stand to be a bit more inviting so put the table to the back and brought back my wall of mounted prints, rotating the images each day so everyone had a chance to see something different. Once again I had my big frame of eventer David Doel, plus my new 3 in 1 of Olympic dressage rider Laura Tomlinson as my stand stars.
Show Time
It was so lovely to have both David Doel and his Mum Maggie make the effort to come visit my stand over Badminton. I was gutted for David and connections having to withdraw after dressage as Galileo Nieumoed just wasn’t feeling his usual perky self. This is such an exciting combination and I have no doubt they will better their incredible 6th-place at their Badminton debut in 2022, as well as take the rest of the 5-stars by storm.
Tom Rowland and Dreamliner, models for my recent Wolf London shoot, posted an epic result of 7th place, charging up from 29th after dressage and posting one of only 4 clears in the show jumping at their first 5-star together. I am so delighted for them and look forward to working with him and Wolf London again. A big thank you to Wolf London for giving £20 off vouchers for everyone who booked a shoot with me and also have been raving about me to everyone they meet. It was so nice to see Andre and Harvey during Badminton including Wolf London mascot Storm.
I had a great morning on Friday at my Client Breakfast, thank you to everyone who came and to my clients who made the effort to come find me throughout the event. It was lovely to catch up and to those of you who tried to say hi but I was too busy, or couldn’t make it, I look forward to catching up soon! Thank you to my friends Jen and Immy who assisted me that day and kept me well-fed and watered on one of the warmest days of the event.
My show offer was a huge hit and I now have a packed diary with shoots booked in Cornwall, Essex, Preston, Ireland and Jersey as well as closer to home. If you or someone you know is in any of these locations and wants to take advantage of reduced travel costs please do get in touch and see if we can coordinate shoot dates. Email info@jossridley.co.uk or call 07788282126.
Thank yous
A big thank you has to go to everyone who supported me, visited me and booked me over Badminton. I still remember the first time I visited this iconic event and thought that I would love to be either in the press pit or exhibiting in the shopping village so it is a pinch-me moment every time I drive past the ‘Welcome to Badminton’ signs. That Joss would have never believed that she would be a professional photographer, photographing some of the world’s top equestrians and producing treasured memories for such wonderful clients. Today’s Joss is so excited for the future and can’t wait to see where her camera takes her next.
Where can you find me next?
Festival of Dressage at Hartpury: 2nd – 7th July 2024
Cotswold Cup Championship at Cirencester Park: 27th – 29th September 2024
Badminton Horse Trials: date TBC 2025
