Soggy or what? Just back from Gatcombe where mud rules OK! After one of the hottest days yesterday, it poured all day and was cold. We arrived at 10 am to meet Louisa and squeeze in an hour's filming (of her best eventing tips) before she did her dressage at 11am, only to find we couldn't work the extremely expensive mics that had arrived by courier yesterday. This was a blow but the inch thick manual just couldn't be rushed and try as she might, poor Lucy (who is technically very competent) couldn't work it out. There was no point me even trying!
So at 20 to 11 we ditched that plan and decided to do without any sound assistance. This meant the camera was literally at the end of Louisa's nose to avoid any unwanted background sound such as lorries coming and going, barking dogs, whinnying horses, screaming children and, of course, the tannoy! By some miracle (not to mention Louisa's professionalism and her horse's patience) we managed to do virually everthing we had planned in just 20 minutes!
After we filmed Louisa's dressage and showjumping to kick off her new video diary, we linked up with Vittoria Pannizon to debrief on her Olympic debut and find out how Bug was doing. We also made her first video diary entry! And later, when we bumped into Horse Hero's outrageous blogger, Wayne Garrick (who had just finished the 2 Star having survided a hairy moment in the show jumping), we couldn't resist doing an impromptu diary video with him too (there is seriously no stopping us now!) which focused on wet breeches and thongs (should I be surprised?!) and included his new partner, the gorgeous Rolo who is tiny, cheeky, perfectly formed and a complete match for Wayne (she also has fur and four legs!).
Only one small dissappointment, we almost got an interview with William Fox Pitt! Being parked next to his incredible new black beast of a lorry, and egged on by Lucy, I couldn't pass up the chance to ask him if he would do a quick Olympic round-up, too. Though he agreed (if we could find a spare moment in his relentless timetable to ride a million horses during the day), we were too wet and soggy to hold him to his promise. So another time, William!