Camelford Show

It was over a week ago now but we had a lovely time down in Cornwall for the Camelford Show. We were there to perform our solo shows and drove the five hours down with no problems at all - until we tried getting onto the show field! As there had been so much rain the ground was very muddy, so the lorry got stuck in the gateway. This is the first time this has happened this year though so our luck isn't too bad! We unloaded the horses before the tractor came to pull us out, and from then on in everything went smoothly - well, almost!

Bryn (Becca's boyfriend) had followed us down in his car, which promptly managed to breakdown just after he'd arrived on site and parked next to us! Good old AA though soon had him sorted out the following day. We also arrived at the same time as Paul and Ollie (Cyril the Squirrel), who we'd only seen a few days earlier at the Wayland Show. Although we started our set up at the same time, they'd finished after about ten minutes whereas we take a little bit longer! As there was quite a few of us there we'd decided to have a barbeque. Bryn excelled himself on the shopping and cooking front, and we all sat down to a veritable feast whilst watching the sun set over the sea - idyllic! After a while some old friend's of Bryn's arrived for the evening, and joined us around the amazing washing machine drum fire. This is a fantastic idea which we pilfered from Jemma and David (Syers Shires), again at the Wayland Show.

Show time soon came around on Wednesday, and despite some very ominous black clouds the weather held for us. Tinker was brilliant for the first show, cantering beautifully so I didn't even have to think about him - I wish he was like that more often! Ronan also went well, although the end of the show didn't quite go to plan. Just before our show the Grand Parade had been through the arena, and quite a few of the cows had left pats dotted about. I'd managed to avoid them through the whole show, but as I was running out to Ronan to get on him I stood in a giant one! I didn't realise I'd done it until I was on Ronan, by which time it was far too late! Ronan had started the show beautifully white, but by the time I'd finished vaulting on him he had great big green smears all over him - oops! I then embarrassed myself further by finishing the show with 'Thank you ladies and gentlemen! My name's Rebecca! No it isn't - she's Rebecca - I'm Rosie!' Ooops again!! Never mind, a bit of humility is good for the soul. Apparently.

All in all we had a lovely day. We also saw some polocrosse, lots of fantastic vintage tractors, and some gorgeous heavy horses - just click here to see the photos. Although we've not got any shows until the bank holiday weekend (only four days away as I'm writing this now), we've been keeping busy. I performed at Dunster Show with the Devil's Horsemen on Friday (my first trick riding outing since the same show last year - I ached on Saturday!!). We also taught our usual group of girls for an open day at Durham's Farm, where newcomers were then invited to have a go. And tomorrow we're back to Giffords Circus to do yet more teaching (it's the performers this time, not schoolchildren, so they'll put Becca and I to shame on the flexibility front!). As for shows, we're off to Frogham Fair on Friday for solo shows on Saturday, followed by a drive up to the Uffington White Horse Show for duo shows on Sunday and Monday. Phew! I'll tell you how everything goes next week!

Lots of love

Rosie

xx