Blakesley Show

On Friday afternoon Becca, Ronan, Alex, Tinker and myself set off for the fairly local Blakesley Show, where we were due to perform our duo shows on the Saturday. The show was only about forty miles away, so we didn't think it'd take us that long to get there. However, the route was the wiggliest wooest way imaginable, which is not good when you're in an eleven tonne HGV! We finally got there though, and set up with no problems - only to be told that we weren't on until 2.30pm the following day, so we could have travelled down in the morning!

Whilst we were setting up we turned Tinker and Ronan out into the main arena so they could get used to it. We normally try and do this anyway, but it was especially important at Blakesley as the arena was on quite a slope, and it just helps them to get used to the area in which they have to work. When the time came to get them in for the evening there was the most beautiful sky imaginable, as you can see from the photos above. Even though the photos came out quite well, they still don't quite capture how vivid the colours were, and over the course of the evening the sky changed from oranges and reds through to pinks, blues and purples. Added to the fact that the showground was practically deserted the whole evening had an almost eerie feel to it!

We had a bit of a lazy morning (tack cleaning and boot sewing!), but show time soon came around - and just before it did the heavens opened! We were lucky in the end as it rained before we warmed the horses up, but stopped whilst we were working them, then rained whilst we were getting into costume, but stopped just before the show - phew! We don't like getting wet! Unfortunately though, the rain had made the ground super slippery, and although it didn't seem to effect the horses much the same can't be said for me! At the end of the first section of vaulting I did a lovely big flank off, only for my feet to slip straight out from underneath me when I landed and I ended up sitting down abruptly on my bottom! Not very elegant!! Apart from that one incident both shows went really well. The roman riding wasn't quite as smooth as it can be but considering we were working on a slippery slope it couldn't have gone much better!

There was a lot of showing going on throughout the day; everything from sheep and cattle through to horses and pigs, plus some steam engines, driving horses and a parade of hounds. Unfortunately we completely neglected to take any photos - sorry! We did see quite a few people we knew, including Alice and Ingrid, two of the little girls we'd taught at Quainton Stud pony club camp last Wednesday, who were especially enthusiastic with the applause throughout the show - so thank you!

It was soon time to pack down and come home - although we left Alex behind! This was intentional, we didn't just forget him! There was a big Young Farmers party planned for the evening and a few of his friends from college were there - so we left him to it! I'm assuming he survived the night, but neither Becca nor I have heard from him since...

We're off to Cornwall tomorrow, ready to perform our solo shows at Camelford Show on Wednesday. We have been to Camelford before but it was way back in 2007, and before Tinker was out and about doing shows! We're going to try and get down nice and early so we can take the horses to the beach and swim them in the sea - something I'm really looking forward to and which we've not done since Emsworth Show, again back in 2007!

I'll let you know how we get on and make sure we take lots of photos this time!

Lots of love

Rosie xx