Caravan Club National Rally

We've just had a brilliant weekend up at Prestwold Hall, Leicestershire at the Caravan Club's National Rally. We were there for a two day duo show, which felt like a lot of hard work considering our last show was a one day solo! Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker, Alex and Tim (yes, we had not one but two glamourous assistants!!) travelled up on Friday, getting stuck in all the bank holiday traffic along with many many caravans!

It was an impressive sight when we arrived, with a sea of caravans for as far as the eye could see. One of the organisers later told me there were approximately three thousand vans, and around nine thousand people! The whole showground was like a town, it even had a Londis shop in the middle!

The arena itself was very long and thin with a bit of a slope on one side, which proved to be a bit more of a challenge than we had anticipated for the roman riding in the first show! However, we made some adjustments and the other three shows all went extremely well. The boys coped really well with the heat - far better than Rebbeca and I did, we were both sweating buckets!

Alex and Tim looked fantastic both dressed up in their costume, and as they were both wearing bowler hats it was really hard to tell them apart in the show, but every time either of us needed anything there was always a glamourous assistant to hand - we felt properly spoiled!

On Saturday evening Becca's friend Bryn came to stay too, so we had a full camp on Sunday! Bryn filmed our shows on Sunday so we'll be using some footage to put together our new show reel - keep your eyes on the website for that one!

There were lots of other things going on in the arena including shows by our old friends Cyril the Squirrel and the Cumberland Giants, but also a strongman competition that involved challenges like pulling a caravan and rolling tractor tyres - not what I'd fancy doing on a boiling hot day! There was also a really good marching band and a novice towing competition. This involved people towing and reversing their caravans through a series of bollards whilst being timed. I only watched for a little while but saw quite a few cones being squashed!! We managed to get a few photos of the weekend, just click here to have a look at them.

We're off to Suffolk (again!!) tomorrow for the Suffolk Show at Trinity Park, near Ipswich. We did this show last year so are very much looking forward to it as we know exactly what to expect! I'll let you know how it goes!

Hope you're all getting a chance to enjoy the sunshine,

Lots of love,

Rosie x

Hadleigh Show

We had a lovely day on Saturday at the Hadleigh Show. We were there for a one day solo show - our first this year! Rebecca, Ronan, Alex, Tinker and I travelled up on Friday afternoon, along the good old A14 which we'd driven just two weeks earlier! The journey was nice and easy until the final twenty miles, when the road turned into the wigglyest woo roads imaginable! All of the villages we passed through were beautiful, with gorgeous houses, thatched cottages and tiny little streets. However, tiny little streets are not so brilliant when you're driving an eleven tonne truck. Needless to say it took us longer than anticipated to get there!

Once there and set up we had to get absolutely everything ready for the morning - our first show was at 10.30 am! It was quite late by the time we'd done everything, but the massive funfair over the other side of the showground was still going, and looked lovely in the dark!

In the morning we were up bright and early and doing the first show before we knew it! It was the first time Alex had ever seen a solo show, let alone performed as the glamourous assistant in one, but he did fantastically well - just have a look at the photos to see how well he rode Thunderhoof! In between the shows Rebecca, Tinker and I did an interview for Radio Suffolk, although we didn't have much time as we were due on again at 12.30 - no rest for the wicked!! The second show was not only in a different ring from the first, but also quite a long way away and Alex and I had to drag all the props up there - and wrestling a giant toilet tent on a trolley through crowds of people is no easy task!

The arena for the second show was also on quite a steep slope - poor Ronan had to do his best not to slip and slide down one side, whilst struggling to make it up the other! As usual he was fantastic though, and really looked after both Rebecca and I whilst we were vaulting. The show went really well again, with Alex excelling himself as both clown and volunteer - you'd never have guessed it was his debut show!

The whole show was lovely, with loads of different things going on in five different rings, stewards in pinstripe suits and bowler hats, and masses of stalls and marquees. Although we would have loved to have stayed and had a good look around the show we packed down and got away as soon as we could - we wanted to get those wiggly woo roads out of the way as soon as possible!

Having arrived back at home we were just unloading the horses when the heavens opened and we got completely soaked. I turned Tinker out straight away and no sooner had I done so than he rolled in the muddy gateway. Typical. Then the sun came out and gave us the most beautiful rainbow - and Becca managed to get a photo of Casper standing at the end of the rainbow, like the little pot of gold that he is!!

We're off to Prestwold Park this weekend for a two day duo show, so I'll tell you all about it next week!

Love Rosie xx

Brighton Fringe Festival

Well it was a couple of weeks ago now but Rebecca, Ronan and I spent the last two days in April down at the Brighton Fringe Festival. We weren't there on usual Jive Pony business, but doing a walkabout act for the Parlure to advertise their show which was to run throughout the festival. We had a glorious two days, the weather was beautiful - luckily for us considering what we were wearing!

When we arrived we realised that not only was our lorry far bigger than they had anticipated but that there was also no room whatsoever for us to put the tent up! Not to be deterred the lovely Tom rearranged some tents and vans and before we knew it we were parked in our own little paddock! There still wasn't room to put the tent up so we were quite concerned as to where Ronan was going to stay the night. However, Tom once again solved the problem and we set up Ronan's stable under a garden gazebo! It was like his own little one horse tent, the sides were meshed so you couldn't really see him unless they were open, but he looked so funny in there!

On the first evening we paraded up and down the promenade in our sparkly bikinis, and definitely managed to attract attention! We were followed the entire way by a huge bunch of photographers, and the following morning we had made it into the local paper - now that's quick work! Having done the parade Rebecca and I went exploring, and went for a wander along the pier. It was quite late and almost completely deserted, and quite eerie. We had lots of fun though and obviously took the camera. We went through the arcade, posed in the photo boards, climbed on the carrousel and watched the moon in the mirror ball. Click here to look at all the photos!

We were so close to the sea that you could see it from our bedroom window (the luton of the lorry!), which was lovely to wake up to. Later in the day we did another few walkabout acts with lots of costume changes and entertained the crowds with some vaulting and Ronan's tricks - look at the video clip!

We're off to Hadleigh this afternoon for a one day solo show, only twenty miles down the road from Stonham Barns where we were a few weekends ago! Fingers crossed for sunshine and I'll let you know how we get on!

Lots of love

Rosie xx