Gosh, this happened a couple of weeks ago now but with so much going on in my private life I had completely forgotten to write about Wayland Show!
Wayland show was about 2 weeks ago and is a show I've always wanted to participate in but had never had a horse to show there. We've been going since 2015 with Beanie, and Georgie has always done well there. They have good judges, it's a well attended show, it's well organised and generally has good ground/grass covering so this year one of the first goals I talked about with Mum and Georgie is that I'd quiet like to take Erik. Having not shown in a long time and the show always being well attended I did think I'd have to try really hard to do well.
Erik had a light bath with Smart Grooming Lavender Splosh Wash as to get the dust off him but not strip him of essential oils in his coat. I also used Smart Groomings Polar White to brighten up his white legs and break down the grease that often builds up on his shins so afterward he looks really quite smart. Georgie did the same for Beanie and Ronnie and afterwards both Georgie and I stood plaiting our own horses. Usually Mum plaits B as with so many years of experience she is a master but we both decided we'd like to improve and I wanted to learn to properly sow in plaits. I'd say they came out rather well and stayed in wonderfully!
After the boys were tucked up in bed Georgie and I loaded up the two cars and Dad picked up the trailer we were hiring from our friend Jeremy at Jeremy Compton Horsebox Services.
Bright and early the following morning Georgie, Mum, Francesca and I rolled out the yard in a 2 trailer convoy to make our way to Watton in Norfolk! We were one of the first arrivals but with Frankie being in one of the first early classes we wanted to arrive in plenty of time. I mean, we did have 3 horses and a multitude of classes between us.
While Georgie and Frankie were off in their classes I got Erik tacked up and warmed in. Once accustomed to his surroundings I stood in the shade of a big tree and waited for the tannoy to announce the 5 minute call for my class. Unbeknownst to me there was no tannoy announcement for the start of my class so when I looked over at the ring, with 10 minutes before the time table scheduled start of my class I see horses and ponies walking round. The little voice in my head was telling me to get over there and I think my class has started..so as quickly as I could I made my way to the ring without Erik getting over excited..
As I arrived I found out that yes, my class had started and they were about to trot... so I got in to the ring and with no time for Erik to have a look at his surroundings (this ring was directly next to the secretaries marque, photographers booth and had the main ring behind a hedge with a motocross display starting) I got in to the ring and immediately started trotting.
Anyone who follows me on my Facebook or speaks to me often will hear me say how nosey Erik is about what's going on around him. Well, this could not have been more obviously at this moment.. At 18 hands Erik seemed to grow to about 18.3hh and become a snorting dragon as we trotted round the ring so he basically outright refused to go on the bit so when I was pulled in last I wasn't surprised. The shows of the other competitors went well and as the judge came over she asked me for a longer show so she could have a good opportunity to see Erik, as she hadn't been able to in the go round.
I utilised her suggestion to use more of the ring as he is so big and he did an alright show, but by far not the best he could do... so when I got joint third I was quite pleased! The judge I am sure pitied me or felt bad for starting the class early and not announcing it or both, but she did say he was a nice horse and to take him hunting and keep persevering with him.
I left the ring with a bit of prize money and a nice rosette and wasn't too disappointed.
Not long afterwards we were ready for our ridden hunter class which I was more looking forward to; it wasn't in a ring with jumps in (that Erik looked at a lot in his first class) and that it was bigger so he could stride out. He'd benefited from the warm up of the first class and went in this class more focused and less distracted. There was some real stiff competition here so I really tried hard to exhibit Erik as best I could. He went pretty good in the go round; he did get quiet strong and leaning on me but this is something I knew I had to work on as he did it a bit at home but with the adrenaline and excitement of a competition he did it even more. Despite this he did go pretty nicely and I was pleased to be pulled in in fourth place.
The judge is someone we've known for a number of years and rides the horses well, so when he came to ride Erik I was hoping he'd be a good boy for him. Thankfully E was a good boy and gave the judge a nice ride.
With our judge being called for another class we had to do the trot up with saddles on and luckily Erik was a good boy and didn't need dragging in to trot to I was pleased with how that went.
Obviously I got back on and waited nervously for my placings; I was absolutely delighted to be moved up a place to third place! Not bad for our second show and in my mind shows an improvement and I had a lot to take away and work on at home before our next event.
Frankie in the mean time had had a good morning, coming 3rd in both her classes and just after mine the judge whizzed off to judge Georgie's RoR Challenge class. I got Erik untacked and cleaned off as quickly as possible so I could get to Georgie's ring and help her out, sadly I had missed her jumping round but made it in time to have a quick tidy over before they all went back in for their show. Georgie surpringly came third even after a faultless clear round and a wonderful show but she went away happy and that's showing and the judges decision on the day. So for 'the dream team' it was a day of thirds!
Unfortunately due to all of being on horses and competing we have very few photos of us in the ring so no fancy photos for this post but I am just so proud of my family and our horses!
Let's see how we get on at our next show!
Blog soon
Sophie x
No comments:
Post a Comment