TARRA define amateur for TARRA/ROR Qualifiers

I made a discovery last night while reading the Gransden Show news section and it was new news to me so I thought i'd share it. 

As some of you may know the ROR (Retraining of Racehorses) and TARRA (Thoroughbred and Retired Racehorse Association) have joined forces to give another branch showing series for horses who haven't raced, or that have raced overseas and cannot compete under the other ROR rules (have to have raced in GB and can be ridden by a professional or amateur alike) thus creating the ROR/TARRA in-hand and ridden series.

Well as mentioned horses can have raced overseas, or been in training but never actually raced can now compete in this new series. As well as all scars and blemishes on the horse being overlooked (ROR they're not). But I read this last night and thought i'd share it as so far from what I've seen in speaking to other showing 

TARRA have defined the term ”Amateur” as follows: An individual who has not received any remuneration, from the showing, riding or production of show horses in the last 5 years, sponsorship included.  Individuals employed in other equestrian disciplines shall be classified as amateurs for the sake of the TARRA show series.  

Interesting. So by the sounds of it anyone who has competed at HOYS, not just won there, cannot enter under this rule definition. Looks to be taken very seriously too as Gransden have written this, and I'm sure that applies at other shows too -

"Any breaches of this ruling will be taken seriously and may result in disqualification from future classes."

So there you have it, feel free to share this blog post on facebook, twitter and wherever else and make sure that your showing friends looking to compete in this series know about this rule. 
It may be very new and now widely know yet (Gransden only published it on Friday 29th May) which was 4 days ago but helps to spread the word..

Smart Grooming Review - Coat Sheen

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend with your horses?

I had a very busy one with Francesca's 3rd birthday party Saturday morning, a Polo tournament Saturday afternoon and then showing yesterday at Houghton Hall Equestrian Centre.

Sadly it was not to be our day, with the judges preferring Hacks to Riding horses. Beanie is the epitome of a riding horse - He's a nice 16.2 with sturdy muscular legs with a nice amount of bone, and very equal in this proportions. 

But Georgie and I couldn't fault him so we're not disheartened. He was a perfect gentleman giving the judge a lovely ride, he went off beautifully and smooth in his transitions and wasn't pulling and was soft and buttery in his mouth. He was a pleasure to groom and get ready yesterday and was so affectionate and sweet (not sure it was just cause I had polo's in my pocket or not! haha) not tugging me around and being pushy! Such a good lad! 

Talking of grooming I got to use my Smart Grooming tools again - This time I used Coat Sheen. I've had this for a couple of weeks now and used it before but only now has it been sunny and dry when we've been out and I wanted to wait to show the true level of shine it creates!

Our class was the very last one yesterday so after a lovely lay in and giving Beanie a chance to chill out and graze on the grass, we got him in and due to the lovely warm weather he had a bath! He's a very water happy horse so loves them as you can see, covering Georgie in bubbles while washing his tail. Pesky flies!

After giving him a good clean with baby shampoo and getting the ingrained oil and dirt out of his coat he was squeaky clean!

We allowed him to dry naturally in the sun shine, meaning his coat dried nice and flat. Once he was fully dry I got my coat sheen and positioned the bottle about half a foot away from his body (so not to get too much in one place, but to make sure it evenly sprayed his coat) I sprayed the sheen directly onto his flat lying coat. Once he was evenly covered I brushed it in with a goat hair brush like this one. It gently works the coat sheen into the coat slightly under the top layer, allowing it to lift out the other colours in the coat.

This was taken just as we were leaving and wow, he is shiny huh!? He's a very copper orange chestnut as you can see, and coat sheen really makes his coat shine!

We worked hard to get B as beautiful and shiny as possible with perfect plaits and white legs. Smart Groomings products work together to compliment each other and have more than one use which is partly why I love using them so much! 

I was really excited to see another competitor with a tub of leg and body whitener out yesterday making her horses legs sparkly white! I hope these reviews have been helpful and if there is anything else you'd like me to try, so let me know! 

Until next time

S x

Katie Jerram ROR Show Preparation Clinic 2014

So this is from a little while back in March last year but I really wanted to share this as we had such a lovely day.

ROR and Katie Jerram held a grooming and prep clinic at her yard in March 2013 before the show season started, so Georgie and my mum Wendy and I booked in and attended. My mum grew up working at a well known hunt yard in Cambridge with Miss Pickard so she's very good at turning out horses for hunting, showing and everything else but it's always good to learn new things.
We learned the best way to plait to improve the neck shape and length, plus a different technique than we usually use to sew plaits in. Also the best technique and tools to use to pull a tail, how to do quarter marks, the best equipment to use etc.
Katie, as many will know, is a very successful show women and all the knowledge we learnt from her was absolutely invaluable!
She recommended we switch to a red and gold browband which she thought would suit Beanie's very copper chestnut coat, so we ditched his old navy and chick yellow. She also noted that the saddle Georgie was using back then covered a lot of B's withers and wasn't really showing him off in the best way. So recommended we try on one of her saddles, which we did and it made a big difference!

She really helped show us that even the littlest things made a big difference in how the overall appearance and picture to the judges.

I'm wondering if she'll hold another one this year, but if she does, I'd absolutely recommend going. Her family and grooms are such lovely people and are really friendly! It felt more like a day at a friends yard than it did a professionals show preperation clinic!

Here are some photos and a video of Katie giving Beanie a ride in the school.. Enjoy

All photos taken by Jo and copywrite to Katie Jerram

 Beanie look like a beautiful show horse after all the training prep and into the school. This is the borrowed equipment and he looks a million bucks.
We definitely did invest in a show saddle and it looks great! Oh and a new browband!

 Learning the new plaiting technique. And I made very good friends with Dunbeacon. I'd just love to take him home. Most lovely chap!

 Beanie was weighed by Spillers and was found to be a very good weight!

Beanies lovely bum having quarters marks demonstrated on