Jive Pony

Wisbech Country Fair

2011-08-18T18:15:00.000+01:00

The weekend after the Three Counties we were back on the road (minus Smugmore Ronan who was enjoying his time off!), and this time headed for Wisbech St Mary up in Cambridgeshire for a one day duo. As Ronan was having time off Becca was going to be vaulting on Navvy, I had Tinker, and Amy and Tim were there doing their parts too. Having wiggled our way along the A14 to the site we were pleased to see some familiar faces - Martin from Xtreme Falconry who'd been with us at the Three Counties the week before, these bird men get everywhere! On meeting the organisers we were surprised to find out that the show was actually on for two days, and they might be requiring us to stay an extra night and perform on the Sunday too!

Having set everything up and settled the horses down it was time for bed, but it was very strange to look out of the window and see a black horse where there is usually a white one - quite disconcerting for a second! It rained and rained and rained throughout the night, and when I woke up in the morning it was to discover that the lorry roof had leaked and all my bedding from my knees down was sopping wet - again, quite disconcerting for a second until I realised why!!

It was in the morning that we realised we were missing two vital things for the show - treats for the horses and our schooling whips for the dances, eeek! So we sent Tim off to see if he could come up with anything. He didn't disappoint! He very quickly returned with two enormous carrots (kindly donated by the mysterious Pearl) and some very long birch sticks. Having chopped the carrots into titbit sized morsels he then set about whittling the birch down to make us some brilliant sticks! Well done that Timothy!! I think I might even prefer my new stick to my old one... I also managed to use some good sized twigs to beef up our ribbon sticks - we'll definitely be able to grab them easier now at the end of the show, hopefully no more fumbling around for them!

We also spent some time in the morning practising the Roman riding with Tink and Navvy as they'd not done it together before, and they were really good! We were hoping to do it in the show, but just in trot for the main part, then into canter at the end. Fingers crossed we'd all survive that far! Luckily it didn't rain throughout the day, but the wind was something else. We were warming up in the adjacent fields, and the wind was causing all the surrounding fencing, signs and everything else to bang and crash around a huge amount. Unfortunately it managed to wind both the horses up (they really did get the wind up their tails!), so we went into the first show with trepidation. Which proved unfortunately to be totally justified! In conjunction with the wind, the sound system didn't help with the boys' states of mind. There was one truck at the end of the arena with a massive bank of speakers on. As you came round the top end of the arena the music was so loud it was literally shaking the ground! Navvy spent the whole show whizzing round at a thousand miles an hour, and I'm amazed that Becca managed to do anything on him at all! Naughty Tinker (who by now is old enough and wise enough to know better) used Navvy as an excuse and also spent the whole show going as fast as he possibly could - I was having flash backs to his early seasons when that was a normal occurrence, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it! I pulled out all my superfast safe moves though, even if it was like vaulting on a motorbike around the corners! Needless to say we didn't attempt the Roman riding!!

NEEEEEEEEYYYYAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

The second show was a slight improvement in that we had requested fewer speakers be employed - the earth was no longer moving beneath our feet! Tinker slowed down (I think he'd worn himself out earlier!) so I was able to do a full show, but Navvy stayed at top speed meaning Becca had a very difficult time - and again no Roman riding! It was a real shame he was going so fast as he'd been brilliant the previous week at Malvern, but he was obviously having an off day!

Following the second show we still didn't know whether we were going to be packing up and heading home or staying on for an extra day. After talking to the organisers they decided not to have us stay on. Unfortunately due to the weather they'd had a smaller attendance than they'd hoped for and couldn't justify the extra expense. Although it was a great shame not to be staying I was actually quite pleased - I'd only packed enough knickers for the one day!

We'll definitely be practising the Roman riding again during the week as we've got quite a busy weekend coming up. There's a duo show on the Saturday at Pymoor followed by a drive up to Yorkshire for a solo show at Howden on Sunday - Navvy won't know what's hit him!

I'll let you know how we get on...

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Three Counties Show

2011-07-30T18:18:00.000+01:00

The Thursday after Bolesworth we were back on the road again and this time headed for the Three Counties Show. This is my absolute favourite show of the year so I was a happy thing to be on our way there again. In the lorry we had Becca, Amy, Tinker, Ronan, Navvy and myself - no boys yet, they were due to join us later on. So it was up to us girls to erect the tent on our own again, and we did a blinding job - no saggy corners on our watch!

We were there for a three day duo, and planning to have Becca vault on Ronan for the first show followed by Amy vaulting on Ronan for the second show on Friday (with me and Tink both times of course!), then over the weekend have Becca do the first show on Navvy whilst Amy did the second show on Ronan. However, unfortunately things didn't go to plan. Having done two shows during the day on Friday Ronan was unmistakeably lame in the evening. He'd been intermittently unsound for the last couple of weeks, but we thought he'd be ok due to having fancy new shoes with pads under his soles (at great expense to Becca!). He'd had an easy couple of weeks and was on every supplement, lotion and potion under the sun to try and get him right, but it wasn't to be. The following morning the vet prescribed three weeks rest, which had mixed reactions from us all: Becca, Amy and I horrified (how would we cope without him - lots of upcoming bookings, Navvy not ready to step into Ronan's shoes, double bookings looming?!); Navvy anxious (no pressure mate, but it's all up to you now!); but Ronan was nothing other than SMUG! 'Three weeks off you say, no work, don't mind if I do!' We even started referring to him as Smugmore Ronan instead of Strathmore Ronan! So whilst the rest of us toiled away for the weekend Ronan spent his time mooching about in his own specially constructed turn out paddock complete with gazebo to shelter under - all right for some!

So Navvy was chucked in at the deep end with two duos per day to perform. Luckily, he'd had some show experience the previous week at Bolesworth, but not yet attempted a duo show. The arena at The Three Counties is perfect for us though, it's just the right size, is lovely and flat, and has a warm up area at one end. It was at this show back in 2007 that Tinker made his debut, again in a duo show, so we were quietly confident Navvy would be just fine - and he was!! We introduced him as our newest member of the team and explained that he may be a bit wobbly and that anything could happen, but he was brilliant! Becca did all her freestyles, he did his dances well, and did either the vault off with Thunderhoof or clown volunteer depending on the show. The only thing that was a slight problem was that he'd cut across the ring to try and be as close to Tinker as possible - not helpful if you happen to be upside down! We missed out the Roman Riding as we haven't rehearsed Tinker and Navvy together, and didn't think it'd be wise to try it for the first time in front of a very large audience!!

All four of our shows went without a hitch, until the very last one on Sunday afternoon. I'd done my dance with Tinker and jumped back on him to set up for skipping. And that's when I smelt it. Dog poo. And far too close for comfort. I'd manage to step in a hound turd and had very limited time to sort the situation out. The last thing you want is to vault with turd on your foot. It gets all over the horse and pads, which in turn gets all over you. Becca had a very similar incident back in November when we were on tour, and it really isn't pleasant. Luckily, Tim was approaching with my skipping rope, and Tinker's catching cloth was nearby... It was over and above the call of duty for Tim to clean my shoe off with the cloth - but very very much appreciated! And that cloth made a rapid retreat to the nearest bin! So we'd reached the end of the final show with no major incidents, and then in the last five minutes the heavens opened and it poured with rain! We've got some lovely photos of Becca and I carrying on regardless, and all you can see in the background are people huddled under their umbrellas! Click here to see the photos of this and lots of others from the whole weekend.

Aside from the vaulting there was lots going on all weekend. On the Friday afternoon following our show Amy and I were asked to pop down to the lake to 'brighten up the fishermen's day'! So off we went, only to find ourselves five minutes later actually fishing! We sat there for about half an hour with the very friendly teachers and both managed to catch a few fish. I felt particularly guilty when I caught a goldfish, but just like the others he was unhooked before being put back in the water - hopefully not to make the same mistake again! The whole area was organised by the Young Anglers Project to try and promote fishing, and they provided coaching all weekend for a huge variety of people. It's the first time I've ever tried fishing, but I actually quite enjoyed it! Good job too because imagine my surprise when I arrived back at the lorry later in the evening (having been for a wander around) Tim informed me that one of the anglers had been round to say I'd won a rod in their competition! I didn't even realised I'd entered one!! So the next day I went back down to the lake with Amy and they very kindly presented us both with a four metre whip rod complete with rig and disgorger (??!) - first time I've won anything since I was about six I think...

We also found time to visit the countryside marquee where there was a lovely selection of pigs, goats, sheep and chickens - some of which were actually hatching out of their eggs whilst we watched them! Hatching is obviously very hard work - look how tired this little chick is!

After only an hour or so though look what there was!

Tim and Alex were delighted to discover the 'Potato Council' marquee one evening, and as we were planning to have sausage and mash in the evening for supper they drew faces on two of the doomed potatoes and took them off for some counselling! I'm not quite sure what the people in charge made of our boys and their depressed potatoes but they came back with a whole lot of stickers with various potato-ey slogans on which they then proceeded to stick everywhere (much to Becca's annoyance!).

We saw loads of different things over the weekend, met up with lots of friends (old and new!), and generally had a jolly good time! It was just unfortunate that we had to pack everything up soaking wet and it was once again a very bedraggled team who headed off in our separate ways on Sunday evening.

Next up is a one day duo show at Wisbech Country Fair, where Navvy will once again have to step up to the mark and perform two duo shows. We're going to practise Roman Riding with him and Tink this week so I'll let you know how we get on with it!!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Bolesworth Castle Showjumping Classic and Country Fair

2011-07-09T10:28:00.000+01:00

The first weekend in June saw us packing up and heading up to Bolesworth Castle in Cheshire for a four day duo show. We've not done a four day duo since way back in 2008 at the Royal Show - so it was going to be a bit of a shock to the system! We had Navvy on board too for his first show experience, so the lorry was fairly cosy on the way up! Having arrived and set up Becca, Amy and myself were soon joined by Alex and Bryn. No Tim this weekend as the lucky grease monkey was working with the vintage Bugattis at Le Mans (alright for some...).

The arena was massive with loads of very big jumps, a non-movable water jump, a few ferraris, a prizegiving summerhouse type structure and a large tree all making impressive obstacles. We spent quite a while marking out where we were going to put all our stands and ropes so best to avoid as much as we could. And then discovered we were only expected to use one small end of the arena up by the grandstand. Ooops. So, arena remarked (nice and small, no obstacles!) that was us done for the day.

Our first show went well although it being 11.30am on a Thursday afternoon there very very very few people actually there watching! Bryn debuted as the back of the pantomime horse, and as Amy was spare she did the music - it always feels safer when there's someone in charge of the music who knows the show! As we were trying to save Ronan a bit we opted to do a solo show in the afternoon with just me and Tinker, and we had a slightly bigger audience which is always nice!

Friday again was quite quiet - so it was time to bring out the Navvy! Him and Becca did a solo show and he went really well. We did it as a baby show and I kept him on the lunge, but he coped well with the slightly slopey arena and did his dance much better than expected! The only slight issue was that he has so much more movement than Ronan Becca had to adjust some of her moves - lots of oomph for swings and scissors though! In the afternoon we did a duo show with Tinker and Ronan which went really well. There was a whole bus load of school children who sat right at the front of the grandstand and were just brilliant - especially during Thunderhoof where they were on team Rebecca and made sure she won! They were also fantastic during the roman riding and the whole lot of them joined in with the grease arms! It really makes all the difference to have a good appreciative audience! However, later on in the afternoon we weren't quite so glad to see them... Becca and I were busy doing the washing up (round behind the toilets where there was a trough and tap). There we were, show make up off, scruffy clothes on, scrubbing away at our pots, pans, crockery and cutlery when all the children filed past the other side of the fence. 'Brilliant' we thought 'they haven't seen us!'. Then we caught the eye of one of the teachers who smiled and waved before announcing 'Look everybody - it's Rebecca and Rosie!' Cue the stares, waves and shouts! So, one minute you can be standing on the back of a cantering horses waving your ribbon stick to the admiration of everyone - next you're scrubbing pots behind the toilets with the same audience. Life is a great leveller.

That evening was Wild West Night in the main marquee so we all trooped off to see what was happening. There were a few people who'd got into the spirit of things and dressed up, and although Becca had a checked shirt on it was so cold she had a jumper on too so you couldn't see it, and Amy, Alex and I didn't realise it was supposed to be wild west so were in ordinary jeans and jumpers! Anyway, there was a good bar and disco so the marquee soon filled right up. We were standing right next to the rodeo bull watching people attempt to ride it and biding our time before having a go ourselves (we all love a bit of rodeo!) when we saw something that put me off ever riding one again. There was a lady riding the bull, and doing quite well, before she was flung of with a sneaky twist. As she fell, the bull swung around and managed to smack her in the face with it's bottom. The poor girl was crouched on the floor with her hands over her face and obviously bleeding. The paramedic arrived and it was then that we realised she had had one of her front teeth knocked out! The paramedic had the tooth and was trying to put it back in, but as we were looking at the mat around the bull we realised there were still bits of tooth lying there - it hadn't only knocked her tooth out but shattered it! We weren't quite sure what to do so I went to get a glass from the bar whilst Becca retrieved the bits of tooth. Becca then had to give the grisly contents to the girl's friend ('I'm not sure if she might need these...?'), before she was taken off to hospital. Not a nice way to end your evening but I hope she's ok by now! The atmosphere was understandably a bit subdued for a while but it soon picked up and we spent the rest of the evening dancing away, especially with Del, one of our friends from the Champions Tour, with her signature moves - tits and teeth baby, arse and smile!!

On Saturday we repeated the shows with Navvy doing a solo in the morning and Tinker and Ronan doing the duo in the afternoon. Navvy went off the lunge and went much better - although still very fast in comparison to Ronan! Saturday was also the Express Eventing day so there was some different things going on which was really good to watch. The cross country jumps looked beautiful but enormous, and I'm very glad Tinker views such jumps as barriers instead of obstacles to be jumped! I could have done with a few decent barriers for him though back at the lorry. We'd made the horses some good sized paddocks as we were in quite a large space, but by the afternoon Tinker had worked out how to escape from his (the grass is always greener on the other side), and I just couldn't keep him contained! The string keeping him in (or not) was a lot higher up than we usually have it, so the little monkey was simply ducking underneath it! I'd put him in, tell him to stay, walk into the lorry, look out of the window, and there he'd be wandering around free! So, stable only for the naughty Tinker!

Sunday was our final day, and it was a wet one! It absolutely poured with rain all day and we got soaked through. We did two duo shows, Becca and I did the first one and then Amy took Becca's place for the afternoon. Although I hate warming up in the rain (especially when you find out they're running forty-five minutes late and you've done it for nothing!) I actually quite like doing the shows in the rain. We take everything as steady as possible, but it's quite fun to be up there doing your thing and looking out at the audience who are all huddled beneath their umbrellas! Having said that, I MUCH prefer doing shows in the sunshine so hopefully the 'summer' will give us some soon! We finally packed everything up (still in the pouring rain) before heading home - once again a very bedraggled and tired team! You can click here to see some photos of our time at Bolesworth.

We've got the Three Counties Show next which is my absolute favourite show of the year - so hoping for some decent weather - I'll let you know soon!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Yorkshire Training Weekend and Sherbourne Castle Country Fair

2011-06-15T21:30:00.000+01:00

Well we had an absolute monster of a weekend at the end of May - I feel exhausted just writing about it! It started on the Friday afternoon when Becca and I set off with all four of the horses up to North Yorkshire. We were on our way to spend the weekend with Hannah Dawson, who I met back in September when she came down for a vaulting lesson with me and Tinker. Hannah is a very established clicker trainer and Becca and I were keen to learn more about this method of training - as we've always gone for the 'make it up as you go along' approach! However, setting off on the journey we had forgotten it was a Bank Holiday afternoon and consequently spent a looooonng time sitting in triffic traffic. Boring! I spend a lot of my time driving backwards and forwards to North Yorkshire as this is where Ben (my boyfriend) lives, so I sort of knew where we were heading which always makes a journey easier - not so for Becca who got quite irate with the whole thing! We finally made it up there and having settled the horses were treated to a very lovely meal cooked by Hannah and her boyfriend Dexter, all very civilised!

In the morning it was down to serious business. We started off talking through the theory of clicker training and how it could help each one of our horses, who are all very different, and what it was we wanted to achieve with each one. It was fascinating talking about all the different training methods and experiences we'd all had with our various horses - I'm more than sure we could have talked all day! But it was soon time to put it all into practise and see what the boys made of it all.

We started of with Casper. I wanted to work on him to be able to concentrate more and not be so easily distracted by everything going on around him. He does his tricks beautifully at home but as we discovered back in November if I take him out of his comfort zone away from other horses he gets very bad separation anxiety and cannot calm himself down enough to concentrate on what it is I'm asking of him. So, out of the paddock away from Tinker and into the barn with him! And he was not happy!! He ran around like a total mad brain and wouldn't settle at all. Tinker didn't help either by being an idiot and whinnying back at him - not conducive to calmness! After a little while he settled enough to start doing some basic work, and he picked everything up really quickly! We worked with him for a little while before putting him back out with Tink to think about what he'd just done.

Then it was Navvy's turn. At home Navvy is quite bargy and pushy, so Becca was wanting to work on manners with him and also how to progress with his tricks. Hannah recommended starting with the barrier (just a couple of rails) in between them to try and deflect the pushiness. However, Navvy totally surprised us by being very wary of the barrier, almost as if he couldn't believe we'd done such a thing to him! He was very quiet and a totally different horse from what we were expecting. Becca then did the work without the barrier and Navvy was very responsive - and the politest he's ever been!

We swapped backwards and forwards between Casper and Navvy for most of the day - and couldn't believe the change in them! Casper became more responsive and picked new things up ever so quickly, and Navvy also really concentrated and was polite for the whole day - result!! Although we both know our horses really well the work we did throughout the day seemed to amplify their personalities. Along with Hannah's insights we picked up aspects of their characteristics far stronger than either of us ever have before. By the evening all five of us were really tired - and then it was Tinker and Ronan's turn!

We bought them into Hannah's arena where we set up the 'Pony Playground'. This consisted of a lot of 'toys' to try and engage the boys a bit more. The problem we've been finding with both of them is that they lack enthusiasm (they've both been doing it a long time now!), so we were trying to encourage them to play and just enjoy themselves. The toys included a pedestal (Tinker's personal favourite - he kept just wandering off to go and stand on it!), a rug, a giant gym ball (football size for horses!), an umbrella, some tarpaulin and a little jump - all good fun for horses! Ronan thought the whole thing was wonderful and played with as much as he possibly could, chasing Becca around and generally having a whale of a time! Tinker is much more reserved and as a result I sometimes wonder if he's only doing what I ask him because he feels he has too rather than because he wants to, and that he really couldn't care less about the whole thing! However, Hannah had a different take on him and made me realise that he does engage totally with me, just in a very quiet understated way. I must be more considerate towards him! We had great fun playing with them with all the toys, and adding their tricks in as and when. Because they were enjoying themselves they really worked hard at their tricks - for the first time in a long time! Both Becca and I certainly have a lot of work to do to maintain their new found enthusiasm!!

By now it was really quite late, but Hannah bought out her pony Toby to show us what clicker training can achieve and what he can do. Coming down the yard he really didn't look very impressive - he's a twenty-one year old small cob, and looked like a little old man! However, as soon as he started working the transformation was amazing! Hannah was working him at liberty and before long she had him trotting around her on a circle, performing shoulder in, with a beautiful collected outline and really working up through his back - no more little old man!! All this was done with nothing but voice and body language, and was just beautiful to watch.

By now it really was very late, and as we hadn't let up all day we were all exhausted! It was pizza and chips before bedding down in the lorry again - tomorrow was a full vaulting day! We were due to have two three hour sessions, with six people in each class. First up were the more mature group - a bunch of lovely ladies who mostly wanted to work on their confidence and feeling more relaxed on the horse. We did lots of barrel and walk work with them all - and then came the canter work! Despite some of them saying they wouldn't be cantering (Hannah's mum Rachel included!), by the end of the session all of them had! The looks on their faces as they were cantering around on Ronan was brilliant - some of the grins were just huge! They all did fantastically well, and I gather that they are all keen for another go! After lunch we had the more confident group so we were able to push them a bit. Given that Hannah had already had a lesson we really pushed her and by the end of the session she was mounting and standing in canter on Tinker - no mean feat I can tell you! I also have to mention Elaine, who having tried a flank off on the barrel just went for it and did one off Tinker at canter - I hope I'm that active at 63!! We had a lovely day again and met some brilliant people, in fact the whole weekend was really interesting and we were hosted amazingly by Hannah and her parents - we will definitely be back!! (One slight issue though... The Yorkshire wind was really strong all day, and on the way back both our faces were just glowing red - we'd both got really bad wind burn! We both spent the next couple of days looking really embarrassed - which in itself was embarrassing!!).

No rest for the wicked though. No sooner had we finished the afternoon session than we were on the road home (along with a delicious packed lunch from Rachel - thank you!). The idea was to truck on home, hopefully arriving at about 11.30pm, then unload the horses. Ronan and Tinker to stay in the stables with Navvy and Casper going back out in the field. Unload the lorry, reload the lorry with all the show kit, snatch a few hours sleep before getting up again at 4.30am to load up and set off for Sherbourne Castle down in Dorset - phew! And that's exactly how it happened! Tim arrived at Becca's shortly after we did, and with his and Bryn (Becca's boyfriend's) help we soon had the lorry sorted. I slept really well although when my alarm went off again at 4.30am it felt like I'd only been asleep for a few minutes!

We arrived at Sherbourne to friendly faces but a very grey sky. Luckily the rain held off until we'd got the awning up and were able to get the horses under cover. I think they were just as tired as us and were quite happy to just stand munching away on their haynets. Then the rain set in. It was that horrible persistent drizzly rain that just seems to soak you right through and chill you to the bone - so much for a sunny May Bank Holiday! Nevertheless the show must go on - and on we went! Despite the horrible weather the show went through really well. We were quite concerned about the roman riding as not only was it raining but also the arena is on quite a slope - cantering down hill standing up on two horses in the rain is not much fun! We needn't have worried though, Tinker and Ronan looked after us so well, they just went beautifully steadily and the whole thing went without a hitch - they really are fantastic horses! We put into practice what we'd learnt over the weekend with trying to engage them before their dances - and the results were two very good performances from them! Happy days!

Unfortunately, for the first time ever, Ronan was unable to do the second show. A combination of the extremely hard ground we've had recently, a lot of different work and lots of travel had all combined to make him really stiff and slightly lame, so there was no way Becca could risk him by doing a show. So it was Tinker and me on our own! We hastily cobbled together a solo show with the available costume and music, added in the skipping, and hey presto a new show was born! The arena was quite large so I had to make everything even larger than usual, and in trying to make the strip fill the long duo track all on my own I got so carried away I actually ran out of music!! The arena was really slippery, I was skidding about all over the place, especially on my mounts and dismount-remounts, but good old Tink caught me on every one and I managed not to fall over! Same can't be said for Tim, who's body went one way and feet another doing a spectacular fall whilst carrying the pom-poms early on in the show - he looked like some sort of crazy pom-pom explosion as he went down! Despite the horrible weather the crowd were amazing during both our shows, cheering away from under their umbrellas, and it really does make all the difference. Thank you Sherbourne for keeping our spirits up!

It was finally time for a very bedraggled and tired Jive Pony team to head home. Having eventually arrived back we all fell out of the lorry, sorted the horses out, before heading back to our respective homes and, finally, beds. It really was monster of a weekend, but a thoroughly enjoyable one! As we were so busy we hardly managed to get any photos, but please click here to see the ones Hannah took. (I'll add ours when we find the camera card!).

We've got another busy one next week as we're off to Bolesworth Castle up in Cheshire for a four day duo at the Bolesworth Show Jumping Classic and Country Fair. This is organised by the same team behind the Champion's Tour we did over the winter with Geoff Billington and Ollie Townend, so we're looking forward to catching up with a lot of familiar faces. I'll let you know how we get on soon!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Essex Young Farmers Annual Country Show

2011-06-08T00:08:00.000+01:00

A couple of Saturdays ago we all set off in the lorry for the Essex Young Farmers Annual Country Show. Having wiggled our way through a lot of very small lanes we finally arrived on site, and Amy was there to meet us again. We then spent the next ten minutes following various different young farmers around on their quad bikes before finally finding our pitch and being able to set up. We were right next to the main arena - which was absolutely HUGE!! Turns out is was 120 by 60 metres, which is far bigger than we usually work in - we were convinced we'd get totally lost in there and nobody would be able to see anything we were doing! However, having marked it all out later it didn't look too bad, still just massive! As Tinker has a history of picking up speed if he's got a lot of space to do so, I was feeling slightly apprehensive to say the least! The arena was also on a slight slope, with lots of little ruts all over it, and as the weather had been so dry the whole thing was as hard as concrete - not ideal!

Our first show was scheduled for 10.30am, so it was going to be an early one. It takes Becca and I about two hours to get ready for a show as we have to brush the horses, warm ourselves up, do our hair and make up (make up especially takes quite a while...), tack up the horses, warm up the horses, get changed into costume, then finally last minute adjustments - and away! It was during the getting changed into costume part that we realised a horrible error had been made... To set the scene: My long black boots are on their fourth season now and had been understandably looking a bit tired. So I'd spray painted them black to give them another lease of life. As I pulled the boots out of the boot bag I said to Becca 'Wow, since I sprayed these boots they look really new - almost as good as Amy's!' (Amy has a brand new pair). Then the realisation dawned. They were Amy's boots. Amy is a size four. I am a size six. Oh dear. I managed to squeeze one of the boots on and took a tentative step in it. Ouch. Becca then tried to put the other boot on to see if she could wear them instead, but couldn't get her foot past the ankle, so it was back to me. I got it on and then we all burst out laughing - I looked like one of those old fashioned Chinese ladies with bound feet, they looked far too small for my body! I could just about walk OK, but as for vaulting and roman riding - who knew? We'd just have to find out!!

Good old show adrenaline - I never noticed the boots once! The whole show went through quite well considering everything we had to contend with. Aside from the boots there was the hard ground (which turned out to be slippery too - Tink skidded a couple of times!), the wind, which was quite strong and nearly had me off during the shoulderstand in roman riding, and the fact that throughout the entire show we only had one microphone between the two of us. This was by far the biggest problem as the whole show is scripted for the commentary to bounce backwards and forwards between Becca and I - which we couldn't do! It was the start of the show that was the worst - I went to open it with the usual 'Good morning ladies and gentlemen', only to realise to my horror that nobody could hear a word I was saying! Becca then had to do the introduction, but as I always do it she doesn't really know the lines and if you're not expecting to have to do it you get completely thrown! Anyway, we managed throughout with just the one mic - but it wasn't easy and I think we were both quite glad when the show was over! As we exited the area I jumped of Tinker, only to realise with a massive jolt that my feet had just spent a very active thirty minutes in boots two sizes to small for them - they hurt!! Good job Alex is a farrier - I needed him to pull the buggers off me before spending the next half hour walking around in bare feet to try and get some life back into my toes!

Time for the second show soon came around, and Amy was going to be doing the show on Ronan. The wind had picked up and was literally blowing a gale through the arena - should be fun with the pom-poms! Although the pom-poms were difficult, they were nothing compared to our long skirts. The wind just picked the skirts up and made it virtually impossible to do the strip. Having finally got rid of the long skirts (which practically blew into the next county causing Tim and Alex to do much running and fetching!) the wind then spent the entire show doing a very concerted and highly successful attempt at keeping our skirts up around our ears, with our frilly knickers on view almost permanently! There was a large contingent of the audience who found this hilarious - and what could Amy and I do other than grin and bear it?! Thankfully we both had working microphones, but that was about the only thing that went right!

During the first section of vaulting I was in shoulderstand when a combination of a gust of wind, me momentarily losing my balance causing Tinker to loose his, and the skiddy ground caused me to fall out of the shoulderstand. There was a moment when I thought (as I was halfway down to the ground) I could get it back and throw in a dismount-remount (tricky on the outside of the horse but possible). Then my feet hit the ground and I lost it! I hit the deck with my knees and hands, skidded a bit, before looking up to see Tinker disappearing off into the distance without me. The crowd gasped, I jumped up and shouted 'well that's not in the script!' before running round to meet Tink who had stopped on the opposite side of the arena. I jumped on and carried on vaulting, but it's just so embarrassing - I hate falling off! It's the first time I've done it spectacularly in a show since the Cheshire Game Fair, way back in 2009, which was another show where everything seemed to go wrong! This show didn't get any better either! Towards the end of the roman riding Amy lost her balance (again, the wind was ridiculously strong) and fell down in between the horses as I was getting on. I don't know how she managed it but she fought it and fought it and somehow managed to scramble back up onto Tink. By this point we were way behind on the music so we had to miss out the final switch and finish on the opposite horse to usual. This meant Amy was up on Tinker instead of Ronan, but she coped really well and we finished in style! I think we were both really glad when that bit was over!! The rest of the show went through without incident and we both breathed a sigh of relief when it was all over!

We weren't the only ones affected by the wind. The Bolddog Motocross team, who had performed some amazing jumps and stunts in their earlier show, were unable to do anything in the afternoon as it was simply too dangerous for them to perform their jumps with the wind blowing as strongly as it was. This was a huge shame, but it made Amy and I feel justified for finding our show such a struggle! It was definitely one of the more difficult days - but at least it didn't rain which is always a massive bonus! After the show we were approached by Marie, who we'd met last summer up at the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre, where we spent a very hot day teaching! Marie was lovely and took a few photos of the shows which I've put up here, as we hardly managed to take any ourselves!

Next weekend we've got a bit of a monster. We're off up to North Yorkshire on Friday with all four of our horses for a clicker training day on Saturday with Hannah Dawson, which we're both really looking forward to. Then on the Sunday we've got a full day of teaching before heading home in the evening. Then we'll unpack the lorry, repack it with show kit, get a few hours sleep, before heading off down to Dorset and the Sherbourne Castle Country Fair on Monday. Phew! I'll let you know how we get on!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Yateley and District Lions Club May Fayre

2011-05-19T21:44:00.000+01:00

Our first outdoor show of the season is done!! On Sunday 1st May Rebecca, Tim, Alex, Tinker, Ronan and myself set off for Yateley for the Lions Club May Fayre to be held on the Monday, with Amy due to meet us there. After an easy journey down we arrived to find we couldn't get the lorry on to the site as our way was blocked by a big red Volvo. Enter the organiser who walked around the playing fields shouting 'anyone own the red Volvo?' and hey presto within five minutes we were in!

Having found our spot (sorry to the family we displaced) we then set up with no problems - we all remembered what to do with various poles, stakes and stable walls after all! We then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening running through scripts (quite a few changes), practising new sections (mostly Tim and Alex who have quite a bit more to do now), and generally knobbing about! Becca and I also took Ronan and Tinker for a lovely ride all through the woods, even managing to squeeze through a very un-horse shape gap at one point! Have a look at the video below to see the boys practising in the pantomime horse - can you guess who is which end...?

Come the morning the weather was glorious, so at least we didn't have to worry about rain! We were however all quite worried about the shows. Becca and I were going to be doing the first show and we'd changed things around quite a bit. Not only had we changed the roman ride music (to Wipeout - bad omen??) and not had a chance to practise it through on the horses, but we'd also introduced some new sections for Tim and Alex, including a pantomime horse and some unicorns for Thunderhoof. On top of this we had a whole new section of the show involving a real volunteer from the audience - and who knows how a member of the public would respond to being dragged out of the crowd, put on Ronan and be told to vault?! Amy was worried about the second show as she and I were going to be doing it - her first time doing a duo show and first time roman riding on grass! Both her and I were concerned about the new pom-poms, which although look fantastic are really difficult to hold and extremely noisy. Ronan actually has a fifth gear we found out when practising, frightening pom-pom gear - he even over took Tinker!! So all in all it's fair to say we were all quite nervous!

Thankfully the first show went really well. The roman riding to Wipeout worked and we managed not to be wiped out. The boys did their pantomime horse section brilliantly and the crowd loved it. The unicorns and Thunderhoof behaved. The volunteer (Simon) loved having a sit on Ronan, and bearing in mind it was the first time he had ever been on a horse he did fantastically by managing to let go with both hands - the grin on his face when he did so was huge! All in all it went very smoothly and Becca and I were both really pleased when we came out.

The second show went through well too. The only issues were with me and my props! At the start I was trying to stop Tinker, get my microphone out to do the introduction, and wave my pom-poms and I just didn't have enough hands! I dropped one of my pom-poms but luckily only about ten feet away from where I stopped so it was quickly recovered for me by Tim! And then at the end I went to pull my ribbon stick out, only to hear RRIIIPP, and then realise I was simply waving a stick in the air - no ribbons! Luckily the ribbons were hanging out of the top of the pocket so I managed to grab them and wave them after all - just with a slight delay! Aside from those problems everything went really smoothly. Amy really impressed Becca and I as she knew her script inside out and didn't falter with any of the quick changes at all. The roman riding which she was especially concerned about was no problem, neither was the vaulting, dancing or Thunderhoof section - so a big gold star for Amy!! Becca was doing the music for us, and I think she was as nervous about that as we were for the show, but no need as that all went well too. At the end of the second show we were all so relieved to have got both shows out of the way - onwards and upwards to the next one!

We're off to Essex on Saturday for a one day duo on the Sunday at Essex Young Farmers Club Annual County Show - fingers crossed it goes as well as Yateley did! You can see some photos of the day by clicking here, including things I haven't mentioned above such as Tim and Alex helping out Mighty Smith the Strong Man and Tim's bed roll man, to name a couple! Enjoy!

Love Rosie

East of England Equine Fair

2011-04-12T23:12:00.000+01:00

A day of firsts! Rebecca, Ronan, Alex, Casper and myself set off for Peterborough and the East of England Equine Fair. And Amy met us there! We were there to do our solo shows - Casper and I were planning to do the first show with Becca commentating, and Amy and Ronan were going to be performing the second show with me doing the commentary.

Having settled the horses in we went off and found the arena, which was thankfully an indoor one! It was a perfect size for the solo shows, round, at one end of the hall with the many trade stands taking up the rest of the space. The surface was Martin Collins, which is just perfect for vaulting on so all in all it looked like we'd have a good day! We spent the evening running through the script for the second show. It was all going to be rather odd as Becca wasn't going to be in the show at all - yet another first!!

The following morning I was up early to take Casper for a practise before the show opened. He was very on his toes as there was a lot going on around us, but he did settle well and performed his dance beautifully, even with all the distractions! Becca then came up and lunged him so I could have a vaulting practise too, which didn't go quite so well! He was very fast which I was expecting, so I used all my 'Super fast Tinker safe moves' and managed all of them ok. I was very nervous about the whole thing, but sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and go for it!

Show time came around quickly, and it felt very strange riding up to the arena on Casper instead of Tinker. I've always (and still do) think of him as my baby horse, but he's actually older than Tinker was when he did his first show - I just haven't had the same sense of urgency with Casper so have taken things much slower. I have done a lot of work with him at home though, and when he concentrates his dance is much better than Tinker's as he is more attentive. I've also been doing a lot of vaulting on him and there isn't a single move that I do on Tink that I can't do on him. However, being at a show is a whole different matter...

Things didn't get off to a very good start when he shuffled around a bit too much during the strip causing me to topple off from stand at a very inopportune moment - oops! I jumped straight back on and continued - albeit with a red face. Things didn't improve as we went into the vaulting, he was far too busy looking outside at the other horses and nearly ran through the ring rope to join them. We decided to put him on the lunge to carry on, and although it was a bit tricky for Becca to commentate and lunge at the same time, he did behave himself and I managed to do some freestyle. Not the most stylish of freestyles but freestyle nonetheless! Have a look at this little video to see our dicey start!!

Then it was onto the dancing and this was where I was hoping Casper would shine as he really can dance beautifully when he puts his mind to it. Unfortunately he was once again far too preoccupied with the whereabouts of the other horses outside the hall to concentrate on me, and although he did a lot of tricks (including a lovely Spanish walk and bow) he really didn't perform to the best of his ability at all.

Next came Thunderhoof. And Casper was perfect!! He was off the lunge and didn't put a hoof wrong throughout the whole section (good job too as all he really had to do was walk around and around the ring!). He does however walk quite quickly and I think there were a few times when Alex was struggling to keep on the opposite side of the circle to us - he had to keep trotting so Casper and I wouldn't catch him up!

Then it was the final section of the show and back onto the lunge for some canter work. Although he was quite fast I was pleased with him in the end and managed to get through my second freestyle - again, with more 'free' than 'style', but hey ho! I have to say I was very relieved when it was over. I felt disappointed in Casper as I felt he had let himself down, especially with the dancing, which in turn meant I felt like I'd let Jive Pony down by doing a half rate show. However, the amount of positive comments we got afterwards was unbelievable! People said how lovely it was to see a young horse performing something so different, and thought he'd done really well. I was gobsmacked! I think I had unrealistically high expectations of him (partly because Tinker was so good at his first show), but I STILL think he could have and should have done a bit better. Never mind, I shall be taking him to the Devil's Horsemen pantomime over Christmas so he can do some dancing then! He WILL perform eventually, whether he likes it or not!! Just click here to see a few photos of his debut show.

Having got one difficult show out of the way it was time for another one. This time it wasn't a new horse, but a new performer! Amy has a background in competitive vaulting, a circus skills degree, and is a performing aerial artist - so a Jive Pony show should be a breeze! She's been up for a few rehearsals with Rebecca and Ronan, but now it was time to put it all to the test!

The entrance and strip both went well, as did the safety announcement. And then we got into the first long section of vaulting. Although Amy did really well with all her moves she struggled to keep Ronan going as well as vault at the same time. Keeping Ronan cantering is no mean feat, and Rebecca (continuously) and I (when commentating) have to put in huge amounts of energy to encourage him throughout. As Amy was lacking here I had to double all my efforts and I spent the entire section cantering around the circle slightly behind Ronan, encouraging him with the lunge whip, to ensure he didn't break canter - not easy when you're commentating too! I think by the end I was more out of breath than either Ronan or Amy!!

Next was the dance which again was a bit steady and lacking in energy. It must have been very difficult for Amy though. Not only was she doing something completely new to her, but also trying to elicit tricks and movements from a horse who has only ever worked and performed with the person he's been trained by (Becca), whilst that person looks on, and all in front of a large crowd - no pressure then!! (As an aside - it was also very difficult for Rebecca to look on and see someone else trying to perform with Ronan. He is very much a one person horse and the two of them have an incredible bond, so I think she was struggling on the side lines as much as we were in the arena!).

Next comes the volunteer section. This went through really well which we were all very thankful for! Alex is a funny old thing up on the horse, I do genuinely have to try very hard not to laugh at him! We finished as usual with me vaulting freestyle on Ronan - and ensuring he cantered throughout! It was finally all over and we could breathe a huge sigh of relief. Again, the feedback was far better than we expected as we all thought the show had been a bit lacklustre, which was another massive relief! Phew!

After both the shows we all felt relaxed enough to have a wander around all the stalls. I managed to bump into Sean from Cyclo-Ssage, who had been on tour with us the previous week, and who very kindly gave me a go on one of the massage beds - definitely relaxed now!! I also bought Tinker a nice thick winter rug to keep him all toasty, and Becca bought some new travelling boots for Ronan - no more ridiculously small 'Cuddly Ponies' boots for him!

Having said goodbye to Amy we set off on the journey home, and did nothing but dissect both shows for the entire duration! Although neither show went as well as we had hoped, both have given us an awful lot of food for thought. Not only does working Casper make me appreciate Tinker all the more, it also brings home the fact that I haven't given him the same level of preparation I gave Tinker. And although he performs well at home he needs much more support when out in unknown situations. These are all things I can and will address though - so look out 2011, Casper's coming!! As for the second show with Amy, it just goes to show that what Rebecca and I do is not easy. People often tell us we make it look too easy and, without trying to be big headed, I'm starting to agree with them! Vaulting on a horse which is effectively loose, as well as performing intricate dances and smooth transitions between the sections of the show, whilst simultaneously engaging with an audience and commentating in a clear and easily understandable manner is downright hard! Becca and I have had many years practise now (and hopefully many more to come), but for Amy it's a lot to ask in one go. But, like Casper, she WILL do it!!

We have A LOT of rehearsal to do before we are really ready to bring out all our newbies again (not forgetting Navvy who is also waiting in the wings - that'll be another nerve wracking show!), but we'll get there - watch this space!!

Love Rosie xx

Champions Tour - Week One

2011-02-24T22:54:00.000Z

Phew - what an exhausting week that was! I now feel recovered enough to tackle the blog, good job too as we're off again tomorrow afternoon for another show!

Days One and Two: Todenham to Gleneagles. 370 miles.

Rebecca, Ronan, Tinker and myself set off early on Sunday morning for the 370 mile journey up to Gleneagles. Although the journey was long we just trucked on with no problems and arrived on site in the early evening. Having settled the horses into their enormous stables we tried to hook ourselves up to the electric, and that's when the fun began! First we plugged into an extension which turned out not to be plugged into the wall socket. Then we turned the lorry around so our extension cable would reach said wall socket. It then turned out that the wall socket didn't work anyway. We then had to move the lorry again, before using all three of our extension cables (30m + 18m + 5m) to reach a wall socket at the far end of the school. It was almost like 'if you get lost children, just follow the cable until you reach home'! By this time it was about 7.30pm and we were both so exhausted we went to bed!!

The following day we had a bit of a nightmare as it turned out that Becca (for the first time EVER) had forgotten some of our costume - eeek! We were missing a leotard and a waistcoat, and whilst we could easily manage without the waistcoat we desperately needed a leotard! So we went on the hunt up to the hotel's health club to see if we could buy a black swimming costume. We weren't exactly dressed for perusing Gleneagles boutiques (both in muddy boots, horsey clothes and woolly bobble hats) but we persisted none the less! The place is amazing and we found all sorts of incredibly expensive wares - my favourites being the pair of tights for £180 and the bottle of whiskey for £11,000. Yes, £11,000, for a bottle of whiskey.

Luckily, Geoff's girlfriend Sarah managed to buy us a more reasonably priced black body suit, so Becca did the first show in a lovely lacy number - very stylish! Unfortunately, the show didn't go too well for us. Tinker spent the whole time charging about at top speed, we managed to fall off in the roman riding, and then at the very end when I was standing up on Tink waving my ribbon stick he shied at a jump wing and dumped me on the floor. Not our best show! Never mind - on to the next venue!

Day Three: Gleneagles to Stainsby Grange. 221 miles.

We arrived at Stainsby Grange in the late afternoon, and got the horses settled in straight away. Our lovely new apprentice Amy arrived as she was going to be spending the next couple of days with us. It was such a coincidence, but it turned out that Amy's sister Thea was working with the official photographer, so was travelling around on the tour too!

Another welcome arrival was a package of costume from Bryn - we had the missing leotard and waistcoat! And some other vital necessities... Sweets!! Love foam bananas and fizzy cola bottles!

We managed a slight improvement on our previous night's performance (it couldn't have gone much worse to be fair!), although we did still have some issues! The spotlights were really low so as we were coming up the long side we were totally blinded! I couldn't see where to turn Tinker, he couldn't see where to turn himself, and Becca and Ronan were having exactly the same problems behind us! At one point Tink nearly ran straight into Alan sitting at his production table at the top of the arena - that really would have been a disaster! We managed to make it through without any major mishaps, although I think the most daring move I managed was prince sit!

Day Four: Stainsby Grange to Bishop Burton College. 77 miles.

It was a nice straightforward drive down to Bishop Burton on Wednesday, but I have to confess I slept most of the way! Seeing as we had plenty of time in the afternoon Becca had a bit of a training session with Amy on Ronan in the arena. She did really well and is so flexible she really puts Becca and I to shame!

The temperature really dropped in the evening and by the time we had to warm up it was absolutely freezing! For our second part in the show we weren't on until about 10.15pm, and as we were warming up (the only venue where we had to do this outside!) the sand in the arena was crunching with frost! Very brrr!

I was a happy girl for the evening as Ben had driven down to see us. Unfortunately he could only stay for a little while but he did bring us lots of treats - maltesers, yop and carrots for the horses! Both the performances went well, although I did have a few wobbles as Tink dodged various different jump wings!

Day Five: Bishop Burton College to Arena UK. 96 miles.

The fun started at the beginning of the journey when we were merrily driving down the dual carriageway only to have a phone call from Alan saying did we know where we were going as he'd just seen us on the wrong side of the road going in the opposite direction. Ooops - about turn!

Arena UK seems to be our nemesis venue. It was here, back in 2008 at the Miniature Horse of the Year Show, that I had the most mortifyingly humiliating experience of my life to date, so I was really hoping to put that behind me and perform with aplomb! However, from the moment we arrived things didn't go to plan. Having managed to park the lorry so that the jockey door steps were right next to an enormous dog poo, we unloaded the horses and took them around to the stables. Leading them through the yard there was a funny crunching noise, at which point we realised the floor was covered in broken glass - not the best of starts! Having settled the horses (and moved the lorry slightly!), we waved Amy off on her way back down to London before sneaking into the main kitchens and did all our weeks worth of accumulated washing up - very domesticated!

It was soon time for the first section of the show and disaster struck once again - but thankfully only in the warm up this time. Becca was working Ronan when all of a sudden she jumped off, and started looking at the soles of her boots. Unfortunately she'd managed to step in yet another dog turd, then stood on her pad, then sat back down. It was everywhere! We were due in imminently so I grabbed Ronan and Becca rushed off to the loos to clean herself up as best she could - I suppose we should just be grateful she hadn't done a shoulderstand! Thankfully from then on everything went well. The layout of the arena was far more suitable and both the boys performed brilliantly. I also had a surprise visit from Ben who'd been working nearby so I was a happy girl all round!

Everyday we'd been giving Ollie a vaulting lesson (whist wearing a purple tutu - brilliant!), and to be fair he was actually very good. Today we'd decided to get him flanking off Tinker at canter. So he'd done his warm up and a little bit of vaulting, then flank! He went flying through the air, landed on his feet before falling forwards, turning it into a somersault and ending up on his knees in a bow to the audience - very amusing! Our second section went smoothly, and we finally started to think we were all getting the hang of it!

Day Six: Arena UK to South View Equestrian Centre. 100 miles.

My turn to drive and typically it was the wigglyest wooyest journey imaginable! However, our drive was easy in comparison to some... The big blue articulated lorry carrying all the chairs, stages, lights etc etc had set off from Arena UK about half an hour before us, so we assumed they'd be well into their journey by the time we left. However, we'd gone about five miles or so when the road we needed to take had a low bridge sign at the turn off. So we checked - yes, we would fit under by a foot. Off we went down the narrow road only to come across the two boys and the big blue lorry attempting a very long, very awkward reverse. They'd totally missed the signs and couldn't get under the bridge! There was nothing we could do for them unfortunately so we just squeezed past and carried on - our turn for awkward reversing manoeuvres was yet to come...

We finally arrived at South View (about an hour and a half before the big blue lorry!) and settled the horses into their stables. One of the trade stands on the tour was a company called Cyclo-Ssage, who specialise in massage rugs for horses. Sean had very kindly offered for our boys to have a treatment each - which they loved. Tink looked a bit like a jelly when he was finished, and I'm not sure he was too keen on doing much work afterwards!

Unfortunately, the first section of the show didn't go very well (again!). The music messed up for the strip and when it finished Becca was still on Ronan with her trousers still on! Very hasty strip and dismount! We then set off for the vaulting. We both mounted to shoulderhang but unfortunately Tinker cut across the top of the arena making a beeline for Ronan, before cutting him right up. Ronan had to practically stop dead, nearly causing Becca to fall off - luckily she didn't! She was understandably quite upset when we came out but thankfully Thea had filmed the entire incident so I could prove I was also upsidedown at the time of collision so couldn't have steered out of it either! The other funny thing was that at one point I was flying round at warp speed, looked over to Ronan, and saw that he was trotting! Our two horses really do need morphing into one - the result would be perfect!!

Everything else went smoothly, apart from one tiny detail. Following Ollie's lesson Becca had to introduce Dave Clough (the singer) whist we did a quick costume change. She took a deep breath... 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I leave you with the amazing DAAAAVVE QUIGLEEEY!!!' Ooops. Dave Quigley is the guy who owns the yard where we'd been for rehearsal the previous week - who just happened to be in the audience! Becca was mortified but managed to cover it up well, and I don't think either Daves even noticed!

For the dances in the second half I was trying a new trick with Tinker - the catch. I've been very sporadic with his training on this one, and he's never been overly fond of holding things in his mouth, but I'd been practising more and more with him and had decided it was about time we gave it a go in public. When the time came I got him concentrating, threw the sash, and he caught it! Before dropping it so immediately it looked like he hadn't caught it in the first place. I had time with the music for one more attempt - and he caught again! This time he gave it a bit of a shake before dropping it so I was really happy with him and the crowd loved it! Then it was our final section of vaulting, which we managed with no further collisions - phew!

Day Seven. South View Equestrian Centre to Osbaldeston Riding Centre. 62 miles.

Although this was one of the easier journeys (initially!), it involved getting back on the M6 and heading North - away from home!! We stopped at the truck services on the way up for a shower and ended up going in the men's, as there were far more cubicles and they were cleaner! The token allows you eight minutes so the race was on to wash, shampoo, condition and rinse all in the allotted time span. We both just about managed but I have to say I usually take a lot longer than that in the shower at home!

We carried on trucking up to the final venue and managed to get within 400 yards before going wrong. We should have gone straight over but the silly Irish TomTom said left, so left we went. We managed a few yards before I stopped and looked at the verge. It looked like something very big had recently made a very big mess reversing - I had my suspicions as to who it may have been! Becca was adamant that we carried on so we did. And the road got narrower, and narrower, and narrower. I stopped again by a very narrow gateway and decided to reverse instead of attempting to turn around, at which point Becca insisted it would be easier to turn around and that she'd do it - big mistake! Having got the lorry wedged, then freed, then stuck in the soft grass inside the gateway we decided to get the horses off and call for help. Lee arrived to help but to her credit Becca managed to rock the lorry back out of the mud and onto hard standing. I watched them get the lorry wedged again before walking down to the venue with the horses - Jive Pony like to arrive in style! Becca arrived a short while after having had to reverse all the way back down the lane, but she managed and we were there with no harm done - at least to the lorry, I can't say the same about the verges!

The stables the horses were in were just lovely, they were really light and airy and tucked away looking straight into the woods - there was even a giant oak tree right outside their doors! Our final performances both went seamlessly - no crashes, good vaulting, smooth roman riding and Tinker caught again, so we were finally pleased with ourselves! Ollie did really well in his lesson too, he managed mount, full flare, free stand and a flank off - all in canter on Tinker which is no mean feat! At the end of the evening Becca and I were only too keen to fall into bed - made even cosier by lovely hot water bottles!

Day Eight: Osbaldeston Riding Centre to Todenham. 160 miles.

Our final leg was the journey home, which went without a hitch. We arrived back home at about 2pm, and turned the boys out straight away. I had thought Tinker tired, but within two minutes of being out in the field he was charging around like an absolute mad brain, bucking and farting, skidding to stops before turning around and charging off again! This perfomance carried on for a good ten minutes and all the other horses just stood and watched - sometimes it's all you can do with him!

All in all we had an interesting week. The whole concept of vaulting without guide ropes, in the dark with spot lights on us was far far harder than we had anticipated. However, we managed! If you'd like to have a look at some photos, click here to see a whole raft of them by the tour's official photographer Dave Thompson. Otherwise, click here to see a very small collection that Becca and I managed to take throughout the week.

Tinker's got a weekend off now - because it's Casper's turn!! We're off to the East of England Equine Fair, for a one day solo show. It's going to be a day of firsts - Casper's going to be doing the first show, and then Amy's going to be doing the second show. Keep your fingers crossed for us - I'll let you know how we all get on!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Champions Tour Rehearsal

2010-11-05T23:48:00.000Z

We had an interesting couple of days last week as we went up to Shropshire for rehearsal for the upcoming Champions Tour with Geoff Billington and Ollie Townend. Becca, Ronan, Tinker and myself set off for Dave Quigley's yard, and finally got there after our Irish sat nav took us right around the houses! On arrival we were immediately faced with lots of beautiful smart horseboxes, so we promptly drove around the back and hid with the tractors!

Having settled the horses we waited in the lorry to be called up for rehearsal - only to have a series of clothing malfunctions. Becca put on some lycra leggings for vaulting in only to realise that not only were they full of holes, but also indecently see through! So she put some more leggings on underneath and set about sewing up the lycra. I then went to start the generator and managed to catch my jogging bottoms on the door tearing a big hole across the bottom - good job Becca still had the needle and thread out! Add in the fact that it was so cold we were both wearing as many layers as is humanly possible, and you can imagine what we looked like by the time we went up for rehearsal! Ever tried vaulting in a bobble hat and scarf...?

We were a bit apprehensive about rehearsal as we were going to be asking a lot from the horses. Considering they're used to working in an empty arena within roped off areas and no other obstacles it was quite a change to ask them to canter around an indoor school littered with show jumps, fillers, stages, wires, speakers and people, all of their own accord whilst we vaulted on them - but they were brilliant! Once they'd got the hang of it they both cantered around beautifully. The only slight issue we had was that whichever one of them was at the back would try and catch the one in front up, sometimes cutting across the arena to do so! Not very helpful when you're upside down in shoulderstand!

The last thing we had to do that night was introduce the horses to the spotlights. Although we'd been working with the lights earlier it hadn't been totally dark, so we brought them back into the arena to see what they thought of them. It's quite difficult for horses to work in darkness with just spotlights, as you're effectively asking them to go where they can't see. Add to that the fact that as we have no reins we can't guide our boys at all, and there were plenty of obstacles for them to negotiate, and it's quite a big ask! Both Tinker and Ronan were a little bit wary of the bright spotlights to start with and weren't too keen on walking in the light pool, but once we'd got off and shown them that there was noting to worry about they were fine, and didn't let a little bit of light get in their way!

Having tucked the horses up for the night Becca and I retired to the lorry. Luckily we had electricity plug-in, which meant we could have our little oil radiator on the go. This was a real godsend, as we would have absolutely frozen without it! (Sorry to Bryn who had to work in his little office with no heat for a couple of days...!) We still went to bed dressed like arctic explorers - although not before warming our bed socks up on the radiator. And I have to confess to leaving my knickers on the radiator overnight so they were toasty toasty warm in the morning - lovely!!

The following morning we were due to rehearse again, but unfortunately Tinker had suffered an allergic reaction and all four of his legs were the size of elephant's! I spent a lot of the morning walking him up and down the surrounding lanes, and thankfully he quickly improved (and is now back on tip top form!) However, we still had Ronan so we ran through the teaching section we're going to be doing with Ollie. We didn't want to give him too much practice, as the whole point is to prove that you can't just jump on a horse and vault straight away, but he was really good! We had him doing all sorts of moves - and then out came the purple tutu! Yes, we actually had Ollie Townend vaulting on Ronan in a purple tutu. Brilliant. You can see the photos for yourself by clicking here.

It was a fun couple of days and we must say thank you to everyone for looking after us so well, and we can't wait to get cracking on the tour itself! We're starting off at Gleneagles in Scotland, which will bring back many memories as both Rebecca and I competed here a number of times back in the day. We're just not looking forward to the drive - four hundred miles in one go, eeek!

I'm hoping we'll have wifi at some of the venues, so I can do updates on our facebook page, but I'll definitely be doing a monster blog on our return!

Wish us luck....

Rosie xx

Southwell Ploughing Match and Team Photoshoot

2010-10-23T00:02:00.001+01:00

Our 2010 season is over! The outdoor shows at least... We spent the last Saturday in September at Southwell Ploughing Match, Nottinghamshire, for a one day duo show. It was a full wagon that set off on Friday afternoon with Rebecca, Ronan, Bryn, Tim, Alex, Tinker and myself on board. We'd left rather late in the afternoon due to the boys' work and college commitments, and that coupled with a road diversion meant by the time we arrived at Southwell it was dark. Not to worry, we donned our head torches and started the set up. Unfortunately Tim decided to go to the toilet without a head torch, and whilst he was trying to get his phone out of his pocket to give himself some light he managed to pull his camera out by mistake - which then promptly fell down the toilet - eeek! Now, although show toilets are never the nicest of places these ones weren't too bad (partly due to the fact that the show hadn't yet started!), so operation retrieve camera commenced. Tim armed himself with a head torch, plastic gloves, and the grabber (a prop used in the second solo show), and before we knew it he had returned with a very smelly camera! Having left us to finish setting up Bryn cooked a delicious meal of pasta, green beans and mushrooms with creme freche and pesto -yummy yummy yummy! I do love a big bowl of pasta...

The following morning we woke to realise the lorry and tent had been completely surrounded by cars. We were parked around the back of the produce tent and it appeared that every single resident of Nottinghamshire had turned up to exhibit their vegetables, cakes, chutney or preserves, and we were right slap bang in the middle of their car park! We had to make some hasty barricades up using a combination of bungee cords, dustbins and plastic tape, but even this didn't deter the more tenacious ones!

It was soon show time, although the first show wasn't flawless. During the first section of vaulting I was in the middle of my helicopter dismount remount when for some reason Tinker went right through the ring rope. I don't know whether he lost his balance due to my movement or tripped or what happened, but it's never happened before and I think he was as surprised as I was! We only stopped momentary though, and then it was back into canter to finish the section vaulting around no-mans-land! Because Tink was then using the outer rope as a guide to his right, and Ronan was working around the outer track using the rope as a guide on his left, Becca and I were virtually vaulting on top of each other! Thankfully the second show went much better with no impromptu ring exits!

The rest of the show was lovely. There were lots of beautiful heavy horses doing the ploughing, as well as a pair of coloured asses! There were also lots of tractors, including some very strange siamese twin type ones - the likes of which none of us had ever seen before! There were giant vegetables galore, lots of horses, sheep and cattle, and everyone was very friendly, so we had a fantastic day. Have a look at the photos here.

There was one slight issue which unfortunately we encounter quite regularly at shows; that of riding hats. All too frequently whilst we are warming Tinker and Ronan up we are asked by show stewards (or told by some of the more officious ones!) that we dismount from our horses because we are not wearing a hat. Becca was even told to leave the showground by one steward earlier this year - imagine explaining her absence to the organisers! I've recently been told that I'm setting a bad example to children by riding without a hat, how am I supposed to reply to that? The fact of the matter is that a) it is not a legal requirement for anyone over the age of fourteen (which unfortunately both Rebecca and I have been for quite some time!) to wear a riding hat, and even then children must only legally do so when riding on the road. b) we are vaulting, not riding, and as such a riding hat is actually a danger, as it can not only affect your balance and position within certain moves (such as shoulderstand) but can also get caught in the roller, side reins, mane etc. And c) we have already done our hair and don't want to ruin it by wearing a hat.

The other weekend I was tempted to return to warm Tinker up in the afternoon wearing my top hat, as whilst I was being berated by an angry parent I noticed a lady riding around in full side saddle regalia. She and her horse looked absolutely beautiful, and was receiving many admiring looks and comments. However, the hat she was wearing was only a top hat. No chin strap, no safety standards, no protection if she fell. So why the double standards? This is a difficult issue to address, as many people have very strong opinions about it. I agree that riding hats should be worn, but surely there are exceptions. Who hasn't jumped on their horse in the field in just a headcollar and cantered back up to the yard? Horses are there to be enjoyed, and sometimes health and safety can kill that joy. At a week long event once our stable block was shared by a group of ponies and their young riders. These children were not allowed to handle their ponies at all (leading, tying up, brushing etc) unless they were wearing a hat, gloves and boots. Before they were allowed to mount they had to put on a body protector. I can appreciate the need for safety, but surely all this equipment to even lead a pony is overkill? In my opinion it is simply teaching the child that horses ARE dangerous and that they WILL hurt you, so you'd better prepare yourself. Now, I have fallen off and hit my head before (might explain a few things!), I have had my finger bitten, and I have had my foot trodden on more than once (take a bow Casper!), but I have survived, and more importantly I've learnt from mistakes that are usually mine and not that of the horse in question (with the exception of Casper who has the agility of a dancer with his feet!). Finally, some of the most enjoyable rides I've ever had have been bareback without a hat, glove or boot in sight. There is no feeling in the world that beats cantering your horse, bareback, up a stubble field with the sun on your face and the wind in your hair, and if I ever have children I will make absolutely sure that it isn't an experience they'll miss out on. Rant over. Thank you.

As it was the official end of our season, on our return home we all went out for a meal at the village pub. This is just across the fields from the yard so we all jumped in the old jeep - Becca driving, me in the passenger seat, and the three boys standing up in the back, and bumped our way across the ridge and furrow - nearly dislodging Tim in the process! We had a really jolly evening, and although the food was delicious, it wasn't any better than Bryn's cuisine of the previous night!

The following morning we had decided to do a photo shoot to try and get some new team pictures for the posters and keyrings. Bryn was doing the photography, so him, Alex and Tim loaded up the clown bus with all sorts of lights, cameras and props and set off up the road for Mount Sorrell Farm, where Marilyn and Graham had very kindly said we could use their school. Becca and I followed behind with Tinker, Casper, Ronan and Navvy - so it really was a full compliment of Jive Ponies! Having spent ages trying to get the horses to all stand in a line with their ears pricked (a seemingly impossible task!) we did as many static shots as possible before we all froze to death. Then action shots to warm up! Whilst Becca and I were warming up the horses ready to vault Bryn was busy taking photos of Tim and Alex. They were doing lots of different poses, jumping around and generally being silly for the camera when RRRIIIIIIIPP!! In the middle of a very exuberant leapfrog Tim's trousers gave way! Amongst the ensuing hilarity Bryn carried on snapping away so needless to say we also have lots of photos of the unfortunate costume malfunction - it's just a very good job it didn't happen in a show!

Having done some action shots we decided to give Tim a go at roman riding (possible new angle to the show maybe...?), and he was absolutely fantastic! Tim is an ex-vaulter himself, so is quite au fait with standing on the back of a cantering horse, but he'd never done two before! Ronan and Tinker were really kind to him as well, they matched their strides absolutely perfectly for him, and he managed quite a few circuits of the school before doing a spring dismount off Tink - three cheers for Tim! Bryn got some fantastic photos of everything, just click here to see a selection. It was finally time to pack up and head home, but not before wrapping ourselves back up in as many layers as possible - why we didn't do a shoot in July...!

We're going to have to get used to the cold though, as we've been booked to appear alongside Geoff Billington and Ollie Townend in their Champions Tour this winter. This is very very exciting and we're off for rehearsal next week - I'll tell you more very soon!

Lots of love
Rosie xx

Penistone Show and Wormleighton Fun Ride

2010-09-23T22:41:00.000+01:00

Last Friday afternoon Becca, Ronan, Tim, Tinker and myself set off for Penistone Agricultural Show, South Yorkshire, for a one day duo show. Having finally arrived after horrible M1 traffic we had to be towed onto site by a tractor as the ground was already impossible to drive on - that's the second time this year now! Thankfully the rest of the day went without a hitch, although everything underfoot was very very wet, which didn't bode well for the show the following day.

Saturday morning dawned grey and overcast, although we weren't too worried as our performance times were not until 2pm and 4pm. So we passed the time in the morning cleaning tack, sewing and generally being very domesticated - as far as you can be in a lorry on a wet hillside! We also spent the morning waiting for Amy, our lovely new apprentice who was travelling up from London and getting stuck in even worse traffic than we did. Amy is another ex-vaulter, having competed in the British Team (although after mine and Becca's day!). She is now an aerialist, and is so incredibly flexible she puts Becca and I to shame! Thankfully she made it up before the first show, so we set about getting her into costume. Easier said than done when the costume in question was Alex's! So, finally, we were ready for the show! The horses were warmed up, we were warmed up, girths tight, on the horses - and then told the arena was running late and we wouldn't be on for another thirty minutes. So, off horses, back in stables, girths loosened, top hats off, and we waited. It was so funny, having put the horses back in their stables they both started being really active, performing tricks on their own accord and being very attention seeking. They'd obviously been totally ready to go and perform, and decided that they were still going to regardless of the fact that they were back in the tent!

Before long it was show time, and despite our trepidations about the ground (the arena was on a bit of a slope and there had been A LOT of rain) the show went really well. Both the boys looked after us brilliantly (as usual!), and considering Amy had been thrown in at the deep end clowning for a duo show having never even seen us perform before she did fantastically well! The only problem we had was music related - in that at one point we had none! It was for the strip - the part of the show most reliant on music of course! As per usual Becca asked for 'some music to cover our costume change' and was rewarded with a shake of the head from the music man! Eeek! Undeterred, I started off anyway, and people soon got the idea of what was going on! Thankfully the music came on just as we were finishing the strip, and stayed on for the rest of the show - it turned out that someone had tripped over a lead and unplugged it from the generator - oops! The rest of the show went well, with Tim On Fire doing a brilliant Thunderhoof - the crowd really got behind him and he definitely won the vault off!

Unfortunately the weather worsened after the first show and by the time our second performance was due the rain had really set in. By this time it was about 5pm, and most people had gone home already. We were warmed up, in costume, and ready to go despite the weather, but unfortunately the decision was made to pull the show. We were very disappointed, but it could have been quite dangerous vaulting with the ground conditions as they were, and all for a very small crowd huddled under umbrellas! The organisers did say they'd like to have us back, so hopefully next time we go the weather will be kinder to us!

The next day Becca and I had a Sunday off, so we decided to do something that 'normal' people do with their horses - a fun ride! So we set off for Wormleighton following our sat nav. She proceeded to take us the most unsuitable route imaginable, which involved three hills of over 12% in steepness and some very very wiggly roads! Having finally arrived who should we see in the lorry park but Alex! He was on board a very feisty looking horse, and had just finished the ride. Probably a good job as I don't think either Casper or Navvy would have kept up with them if we'd have gone round together! We had an absolutely lovely ride, and the weather was gorgeous. The route was beautiful and had lots of fantastic wide grass strips for cantering on and lots of jumps. Casper and Navvy both did really well on the jumping front, and both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Casper was brilliant popping over everything I asked him too and being very enthusiastic about the whole thing! We went around fields, alongside a canal, through farmyards, and up grassy tracks. Halfway around there was a refreshment stop where we were plied with orange squash (me), port (Becca!) and bourbon biscuits - who could ask for more! Unfortunately Navvy used the refreshment stop for different purposes, and did the longest wee imaginable! I haven't seen Becca blush so much for a long time!! On our return we were given rosettes (now hanging in the lorry!), and practised the horse's tricks. There was still quite a lot of activity going on around us but both the boys concentrated very well and performed their dances perfectly. All in all we had a fantastic day and hopefully we'll be able to go back next year - show dates permitting of course!

We're off to Southwell Ploughing Match at the weekend for a one day duo show. It's our last outdoor show of the season so finger's crossed for sunshine!! I'll tell you all about it soon but in the mean time have a look at the photos from Penistone Show and the Wormleighton Fun Ride to see what we've been up to!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Welsh Festival of the Horse

2010-09-09T09:34:00.003+01:00

Wow! Wales is windy! On Friday Rebecca, Ronan, Tinker and I set off for Margam Park, South Wales, for the Welsh Festival of the Horse, where we were to be performing our duo shows for the two day show. Tim and Alex were due to arrive in the evening, as work and college commitments meant they couldn't travel down with us. We were looking forward to the weekend as there were going to be a couple of other teams performing who we know: The Independent Horse Extreme Demo Team and The Knights of Arkley.

Saturday morning came around and before our show Tim headed off to help out with the Independent Horse show. He was going to be horseboarding, which he'd had a go at the previous time we'd met at last years Middlesex Show. This time there was a bit of a difference though. Tim would be boarding behind a pair of horses being roman ridden by the team leader Dan, whilst his brother Tom was boarding as well! You can see from the photo above how it all worked - it looked really good! Tim did really well considering he's only ever done it once before - I don't think he fell off once in all four shows he did for them! It was really good to see the trick riding as well, it's always good to see others perform - it gives you all kinds of ideas!

Our shows both went really well although the arena was quite difficult. Not only was it on a slope but also quite bumpy. Tinker and Ronan looked after us really really well though and didn't put a foot wrong - they really are super boys! The only problem we had was the wind. It was so strong at times it was just ridiculous. My hair was utterly wild to the point I felt like I may as well have done the show blindfold! It was across my face, in my eyes, I even swallowed some of it at one point - not ideal when you're trying to talk on a mic!

Having finished our last show we all stopped to watch the jousting show (Tinker and Ronan included!). They were very good with lots of action - their horses are fiery little things! We stood at the side shouting BOO and HOOZAH, until we nearly had our heads swiped off by one of the bad knights! Tinker was a funny thing watching them all - he was standing at the side of the arena with me watching everything going on with his ears pricked and really paying attention. I think he may fancy a change of career!

In the evening we all sat around the obligatory washing machine drum bonfire with the other teams, although the wind was again very unhelpful and by the time we went to bed we all smelt like we'd been on fire ourselves! The wind didn't let up all night and I've never known the lorry to rock so much! The tent spent the night doing it's best jellyfish impression despite Rebecca's 3am attempts at tying all the wallings down! Luckily none of this seems to worry the boys, although Tinker did spend most of Sunday morning fast asleep, possibly trying to catch up on sleep he'd missed during the night!

Sunday was even more blustery than Saturday, and I can honestly say I have never struggled so much in a show! During the first show there was also a really heavy shower just as we were doing the strip - not ideal weather for taking you clothes off in! We had to laugh as we were stripping whilst people were huddling around the arena in welly boots under their umbrellas! Thankfully it was just a shower and for the rest of the day we only had the wind to contend with. This was enough though and gave Tinker's skipping rope a life of it's own! Roman riding was also tricky as the horses were struggling to canter uphill into the wind, we were struggling to stand on them, and to top it all off we couldn't see because of our hair! Fun and games!!

Despite the unhelpful weather both shows went really well again, and all in all we had a lovely weekend. It was great to see so many old friends, as well as making some new ones, and everyone at the show was very friendly and helpful - especially Roger the sound man who did a superb job!

We're off to Penistone Show in South Yorkshire tomorrow for a one day duo on Saturday. It was going to be a solo show and I'd been gearing up to take Casper for his big debut. However, the organisers rang on Tuesday and asked if they could have the duo instead, so Casper has been relieved of duty and Tinker doesn't get a weekend off after all! I'll tell you all about it soon, but in the meantime you can see a few photos from our windy Welsh weekend here.

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Circus Workshop, Frogham Fair and Uffington White Horse Show

2010-08-31T19:36:00.003+01:00

Phew! We have had a busy week! On Wednesday Becca, Ronan, Tinker and I set off for Marlborough and Giffords Circus. Unlike our last visit, where we taught local school children, this time we were teaching the performers! Unfortunately it rained really heavily all day long, but that seemed to mean we had more people coming to have a go - nothing better to do on a wet Wednesday! Everybody took to it well, and it was really refreshing teaching people who are so aware of their bodies - some of them put Becca and I to shame on the flexibility front! Tinker also experienced a first - having his bottom somersaulted off! You can see it on the little video below - needless to say Tink won't have to get used to that happening!

Friday soon came around and Becca, Ronan, Tim, Tinker and I set off for Frogham Fair, in the New Forest, where we were due to perform our solo shows. This is such a beautiful area, although it's not really the best terrain for eleven tonne horseboxes! There is one particular hill called Blissford Hill (otherwise known to us as Wheelie-barrow Hill, but more on that later...) which is an exceptionally steep 25%, and which took the lorry two attempts to climb! We also had to stop at one point earlier on and get out to move a baby donkey which was quite happily sunbathing right in the middle of the road, and didn't want to get up!

On Saturday morning Becca and I took the boys out for a ride, although I set off a bit later as I was enjoying my book and bed far too much!! I'd not been riding long when we met Becca and Ronan on their way home - and Ronan was plastered in mud! They'd managed to go off piste slightly and Ronan had fallen into a bog right up to his stifle. Becca had had a very frightening few seconds having to jump off Ronan before he managed to extricate himself - luckily with nothing more serious than a black leg! Thankfully there was a little lake on the way home so Becca promptly took off her boots and socks, waded in and gave Ronan a bit of a scrub up! The scenery around Frogham is just beautiful (I actually have photos up on my wall from our last trip there back in 2007), and both Tinker and I loved the ride, as you can see from the little video below.

We went through streams, over bridges, through woods, across open meadows and heather moorland, all the time passing by free roaming cattle, ponies and donkeys. It really was stunning. However, I managed to get completely lost! I was merrily heading back the way I thought was home, when thankfully I checked with a dog walker who promptly informed me I was going in totally the opposite direction - oops! Tinker and I did an abrupt about turn and finally made it back to the show field - but about thirty minutes later than planned!!

Both our shows went really well, with lovely crowds and plenty of sunshine. And then it was time for the wheelbarrow race! Just to explain - competitors have to race up the aforementioned Blissford Hill (25%) whilst pushing a wheelbarrow containing a straw stuffed dummy. No mean feat. Last time we were at Frogham Duncan entered the race and finished in second place, so this year it was Tim (On Fire)'s turn. We got to the hill in plenty of time to see all the other competitors racing and had an agonising wait until, finally, it was Tim's turn. As he was part of the Jive Pony contingent Tim was wearing his JP vest, red braces, red show socks, and the all important black bowler hat. He looked brilliant as he walked down to the bottom of the hill alongside his opponent. And then - they're off!! They were neck and neck to start with but as the hill got steeper Tim pulled away before before finishing in convincing style at a very impressive pace - he'd won his heat! And was top of the leader board! Now we just had to wait for a couple more races to see if his time was fast enough to stay in first place - it was!! Our very own Timothy Carter is the current Blissford Hill Wheelbarrow Challenge Champion! Not only did Tim win a medal, but also a sizeable cup and a bottle of bubbly rose - well worth the effort! Have a look at the video below to see Tim racing to victory!

Having left Frogham we drove up to Uffington for the White Horse Show where we were going to be performing our duo shows on Sunday and Monday. By the time we got there it was pitch black dark, but luckily Alex was on site to meet us and show us where to park the wagon. Having set up in record time we were tired things by the time we crawled into bed! Show time soon came around on Sunday and once again they both went really well. We managed to pull a big crowd who were very enthusiastic - and who helped out a lot by clapping a rhythm for us when the sound system failed and we had no music! It was exceptionally windy though, I have never ever struggled as much with Tinker's skipping rope! It was like a giant unwieldy kite, and I managed to wrap Tink's tail up a couple of times as a result - oops!

In between our shows Alex helped out with the racing pigs; having to wear a very becoming costume whilst chasing a group of pigs up a track and over hurdles! This was really funny until we realised that Alex would obviously then smell of pig, which Tinker absolutely hates. Despite Alex's best effort with the baby wipes Tink still regarded him very suspiciously for the rest of the day - including during our show!

We were all very excited during the day (some of us more than others...) about the performance taking place in the bar that evening. The boys went off down the road to the local beer festival, but with strict instructions to be back for 8pm. Becca and I whiled away the evening in anticipation, went to meet the Devils Horsemen crew in the bar - and then it was time. For Elvis!! And not just any old Elvis - the 2010 World Champion Elvis! He was really really good and in no time at all Becca and I were up dancing - the only ones in the whole marquee to do so! The boys came back from their beer festival after a while to join us, but slightly worse for wear - one exchange went like this:

Alex to me: Timothy's REALLY drunk...

Me to Tim: Timothy. Are you REALLY drunk?

Tim to me: PROOOOVE IIIIITT!!

Point proven I think. Not to be deterred Becca and I soon played catch up (over take and lap several times!), and we all spent most of the evening dancing away to Elvis. However, soon we were doing a bit more than just dancing. Elvis (otherwise known as Ben Portsmouth) got Becca and I up onto the stage and told us we were going to be singing with him! EEEKK! No amount of Jack Daniels is ever going to make me a good singer, especially when I realised I'd never even heard of the song let alone knew the words! Becca was in the same boat as me, but we somehow managed to get through it before escaping back to our table, hoping the embarrassment would ease off! It soon did and we were soon back on our feet (and a table - until it broke!) dancing away for the rest of the night! We all had a fantastic evening, so a big thank you to Ben for entertaining (and putting up with) us!

Needless to say the following morning was quite a difficult one. However, despite our trepidations both shows went fantastically well! The horses were absolutely superb, we had no music problems, the wind had eased so I could handle the skipping rope, the vaulting felt easy and the crowds were brilliant - hooray! Bryn (Becca's boyfriend) had come down to see us for the day and took some brilliant panoramic photos of the arena. Some look quite odd as we were obviously moving at speed when he took them so we appear twice each - four horse show anyone?! Thanks must also go to Gordon for taking huge amounts of photos during the two shows - really not sure about some of our facial expressions though! We really enjoyed Uffington Show, and they obviously enjoyed us - they booked us for next year before we'd even left the site!!

All in all we had a brilliant weekend, probably my favourite of the whole season. You can see the photos by clicking on the links below:

Circus Workshop

Frogham Fair

Uffington White Horse Show.

We're off to Wales on Friday for the Welsh Festival of the Horse where we'll be performing the duo shows on Saturday and Sunday - I'll let you know how we get on next week!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Camelford Show

2010-08-18T22:40:00.004+01:00

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

Blakesley Show

2010-08-09T14:40:00.003+01:00

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

Wayland Show

2010-08-05T22:34:00.004+01:00

We ventured into Norfolk for the very first time on Saturday for the Wayland Show, where we were due to perform our duo shows on the Sunday. Becca, Ronan, Tinker, Alex and myself arrived safe and sound, but when we unloaded the horses Becca had a very nasty surprise waiting for her. Ronan had managed to make the most disgusting mess of himself, and most definitely wasn't as white as he had been when he was loaded up! Having set up (and cleaned up in Becca's case) Alex and I marked out the arena, which was a good width but very long. We decided that as we were missing Tim we'd have a gap in the outer ring (instead of a gate) which would mean less running around for Alex. However, this was to prove a big mistake - more on that later...

When the time came for the first show on Sunday Becca and I helped Alex set up half the arena, before leaving him to finish it and dashing back to the tent to put our costume on, grab the horses and get back to the arena. We did this in record time, and were just about to go into the arena when Becca said 'Rosie - your trousers are on back to front!' EEEEEEEKK! They were!! I had no time to change them so just had to go in smiling and hoping they'd come off ok when it came to the strip! I felt (and looked!) such an idiot, but thankfully they came off without any problems, although it's not an experiment I plan to repeat any time soon! Aside from that, the first show went really well - although in such a long arena catching the horses back up in the roman riding section practically gave us both a heart attack!

The second show came around quickly but didn't go entirely smoothly. Ronan went off on the wrong leg for the roman riding and try as I might I couldn't get him to change! As Becca approached she pulled him back to a trot which pulled me and Tinker around and I very nearly fell off! Luckily it was just a little wobble, Ronan corrected himself, Becca got on and off we went again - TA DAH! The show then went fantastically well until the very final vaulting part. Tink and I had done one lap of the arena and were just approaching the gap for the second time. I was backwards on the neck and picked up the outside rein to try and guide him past the gap but I was slightly too late and he managed to duck inside the rope. This meant we were now in nomansland - not a good place to be! Tink then managed to confuse himself, and nearly ran into the inner ring rope. As his canter became uneven I got stuck on his neck as I was unable to let go - not very elegant! We then did a lap around the outside of the inner ring ('Hello Becca!') whilst I sorted myself out, before getting back onto the outside track and finishing the show! So although both shows had some dicey bits on the whole the both went well!

Aside from performing we had a lovely time at the show. There were lots of people there we knew including David and Jemma from Syers Shires, Paul from Cyril the Squirrel with his son Ollie, Bob Hogg with his dogs and ducks (and chickens!), and Richard from the Sheep Show. Having packed down on Sunday afternoon (thank you Paul and Ollie for the help!) we went across for a chat with David and Jemma, and their gorgeous puppy Alfie. Alex managed to wangle a little ride on Pie, one of their lovely Shires have a look at the video below to see him and Jemma in action!

We did manage to get some photos from the weekend, just click here to have a look at them. There are also loads and loads from the whole show on the Caston Camera Club website (we're in the trade stands and display teams section) - some of them are quite up close and personal!

As well as the shows we've been doing quite a bit of teaching lately, and have spent the last two Wednesdays at Quainton Stud teaching Pony Club children. We've been taking Casper and Navvy (and Ronan once), and they've been brilliantly behaved. I haven't managed to get any photos of these days yet but as soon as I do I'll put them up.

We're of to Blakesley Show tomorrow for a one day duo on Saturday, so I'll tell you all about that next week!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

CLA Game Fair

2010-07-27T22:37:00.006+01:00

We had a fantastic weekend at the Game Fair, but we definitely worked hard over the three days with three duo shows, six solo shows and a parade - phew! Becca, Ronan, Tinker and I set off on Thursday for Ragley Hall, a nice easy drive of only twenty-five miles. Alex was going to meet us there, and Tim and Rachael were due in the morning, so there was going to be plenty of us! As soon as we arrived on site we turned the boys out into a nearby small arena whilst we waited to be sited before setting the tent and stables up. We’d nearly finished our set up when we were approached by a very officious steward (with a golf buggy and walkie talkie no less!) and told that we needed to move our horses ‘within three minutes’! So we leisurely finished what we were doing before wandering up to collect our horses, who both had the audacity to be quietly grazing! Luckily we'd been sited right next to an area which had been fenced off with 'Danger - Overhead Power Lines - DO NOT ENTER' signs, which made an ideal turn out paddock for the boys over the whole weekend!!

Friday was fairly hectic as we had a duo show in the main arena at 12.30pm, followed by Tinker’s solo show in the smaller hooked on horses arena at 2.05pm, then Ronan’s solo at 4.30pm and finally a parade and demo with Tinker in the main arena at 6pm – busy busy busy! All the shows went really well – although not completely flawless! For our very first show of the 2010 CLA Game Fair in the main arena we went in waving and smiling before I came to introduce the show – only my mic wouldn’t work! There followed an embarrassing few seconds of confusion before my mic was whisked away to be sorted out. Next thing I know I have both Tim and Alex racing towards me (both with a hilarious comedy run!) and both thrusting mics at me – so I went from no mic to two in the space of a few seconds, not the best start! The show then went really well until the roman riding section, where Tinker set off like a speeding bullet with Ronan doing his best to keep up. The start was very dicey but about half way through Ronan’s anchor kicked in and they both slowed to a much more manageable pace. Things went well again until the final part of the show when Tinker definitely engaged his turbo boost! I don’t think he physically could have gone any faster, he was flat out galloping with me hanging on as best I could doing my nice safe moves (including a shoulderhang though!!). I secretly love it when he goes fast – but not quite as much as he does! Both the solo shows and the evening parade went smoothly, but by the time the day was over we were absolutely exhausted, and I’m afraid to say Becca and I were in bed by about 9pm, and asleep not long after!

Saturday was a bit steadier as we had slightly longer between the duo show and the first solo, as well as there being no evening parade. We were very lucky in the morning as Katherin (Becca’s Mum) came over and gave both Becca and I, and the horses, a shiatsu treatment – which really helped all our achy bodies! All the shows went really well and we had an especially fantastic crowd in the grandstand of the main arena for the duo show. It gave us a real buzz as we whizzed past during the roman riding (not at quite such a speed as on Friday thankfully!) and saw everyone joining in with the ‘Greased Lightning’ arms! As we weren’t so tired in the evening Becca and I decided to go for a wander down to one of the main bars, and ended up sharing a jug of Pimms’ in the company of Chris Green and all the other BASC guys! We had a lovely evening chatting to them all, but it was way past our show day bed time by the time we eventually went to bed!

Sunday was our final day – and it seemed the day for everyone we knew to come and see us! Whilst waiting in the collecting area before going in for the duo show I saw at least thirteen people who’d come up to the main arena specially to see us. Although we love a big audience it makes you feel far more nervous than usual when there are people you know watching! Thankfully the show went without a hitch, and everyone was very complimentary afterwards! Both our solo shows went well too, and before we knew it we were packing up to come home! All in all we had a fantastic weekend, the weather was beautiful, our horses and glamourous assistants were brilliant, and the crowds were fantastic - so thank you if you were there cheering us on! We saw too many people to mention, but special hellos go to Paul and Sean, our most enthusiastic fans, Riva, our smallest fan, Stuart, an avid blog follower, Mike, who always brings Tink and Ronan treats, and of course the two Robins and Willow who always look after us so well - THANK YOU!! (And apologies to anyone else I've forgotten!) I must also make a special thank you to Justin from Hornets Hats, who not only sponsors Becca and I our gorgeous Top Hats, but this year has also sponsored the boys their fantastic Bowlers, which they are both over the moon with!

We've a busy day tomorrow as we're off down to Quainton Stud to teach at a Pony Club camp. We're going to be taking Navvy and Casper as it's high time they contributed to the whole earning effort! I'll let you know how we got on soon, but in the mean time you can see loads of photos from our time at the CLA here.

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Todenham Village Fete

2010-07-20T21:04:00.004+01:00

We had a lovely afternoon on Saturday at our local village fete in Todenham, although it didn't quite go according to plan! We had initially thought we'd use the fete as a debut for Navvy and Casper, it being nice and local (we could hack there in ten minutes) as well as fairly small. However, Becca and I went up for a site visit on Saturday morning which unfortunately made us change our minds. As per last weekend at Kingham Commotion there was no arena, just our ring set up, meaning that the audience would all be very close. There were also marquees very close to two sides of the arena, and rattly gazebos with fluttering bunting on a third. We were still umming and ahhing about whether to use the babies or not when the organiser came over and said 'Is it OK girls? We're going to have the bouncy castle here...' whilst pointing at the only open side of the square! This made our minds up and we decided the show was going to have to be done by the old faithful - Ronan.

After Becca had bathed Ronan I put a crest plait down his mane with red ribbon threaded through - he looked like a real princess! Him and Becca (in full costume and make up) then set off across the fields for the fete, looking a bit over dressed for a hack! Having arrived on site we were relieved to see we'd made the right decision by not bringing Casper and Navvy. The circle we had to work in was too enclosed and intense, there were people packed in tightly all around the ring, and it just would have been too much for them. Even Ronan played up, which is unheard of! Whilst Tim was doing his little kazoo strip routine Ronan stood in the middle, bucked and farted and then set off at a trot around the ring in the wrong direction! Very bizarre! Having got that out of his system he did the rest of the show well, despite the arena being fairly uneven. The whole show went well without any mishaps, the crowd was really responsive and obviously loved it. It's quite strange performing in front of so many people we know, but it definitely went down well! Katherin (Becca's mum) was our photographer for the day - have a look at her handiwork here.

We're off to the CLA Gamefair on Thursday for a three day show. We love this show, but it's hard work! We do one duo show plus two solo shows a day, as well as a parade on Friday evening - phew! I just hope our arrival on site goes smoother than it did last year! I'll tell you all about it when we get back.

Love Rosie xx

Kingham Commotion and Northcote Heavy Horse Centre Vaulting Training Day

2010-07-16T22:07:00.003+01:00

We had a busy weekend last weekend with two very long but very fun and useful days. Saturday morning started bright and early as usual with our vaulting group. Our girls are all really coming on now and I will write a post dedicated to them just as soon as everything else settles down! Having arrived back it was time to bath Tinker, Casper and Navvy and head off to Kingham for the local Commotion Festival. We'd rushed about getting everything done and ready, got there in record time (with me doing show makeup in the back of the wagon on the journey!), I'd tacked up Tink and warmed him up, and was just getting changed when we were told they'd changed the timetable and we weren't on for another hour and a quarter! So, tack and costume off - find food and eat! Show time soon came around though and having repeated the earlier processes again we were ready to go. We were only performing once so we'd chosen to do the second solo show, with Becca doing all the commentary as her ankle was still too painful to vault on (unfortunately Navvy had tripped over whilst being ridden the previous week landing on her - luckily nothing broken though!). There wasn't an arena for us to work in so we just set up our circle and used that, although it did mean people were in very close proximity to us - despite telling everyone to keep back they were soon practically on top of the ring rope! Tinker was fantastic though and just put himself on a slightly smaller circle - so everyone's toes were safe! The show went really well, and the crowd was huge - I think everyone at the festival came down to see what was going on!

Having done the show it was now time for pony rides. We'd decided to use Casper and Navvy for this, to try and ease them into a show situation. However, getting them into the designated area was far from easy! We had to walk through a barrier with fluttery decorations right next to the main stage with banks of speakers and very loud music, before leading them through a wood which was like a giant art installation, with hanging mirrors, statues, sculptures and paintings - and all surrounded by a lot of people! It was like the ultimate handy pony class! Both of them coped amazingly well - there's nothing like throwing them in at the deep end! We then proceeded to put child after child after child up on them and lead them backwards and forwards through the wood, something which they did remarkably well! It was a brilliant training exercise for them both which will hopefully stand us in good stead for tomorrow - more on that later!

Sunday came and it was another early start for a three hour drive up to Spilsby in Lincolnshire and the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre. We were there for the day to teach and were going to use their horses, so at least all our boys could have the day off! We had a mixed group, some complete beginners and some who had been vaulting a while. We played loads of warm up games putting them all through their paces before moving onto the barrel - and then the giant horses! The horses we were using were Samson, an 18.2hh Shire and Bosun, a 17.2hh Percheron. Not small! Unfortunately neither of the horses work in canter, but we still managed to give everyone a good workout in walk. We had a fantastic day and the weather was just beautiful - so much so that both Becca and I managed to get a real farmer's tan from our vest tops! Everyone vaulted really well, especially the five girls who had never tried it before. They seemed to take to it like ducks to water and despite some initial misgivings I had them all doing split leg dismounts, roll around the handle, leap frog off and australian dismounts before the end of the day - only on the barrel though, the horses were a bit too big! The team vaulters all did really well too, with Becca working on their freestyles with them, improving current moves as well as adding some new ones in. Special thanks must go to Terena and Maria who organised the whole day - and fingers crossed we'll be going back one day, possibly with Tinker and Ronan (or Casper and Navvy!)!

Speaking of Casper and Navvy, it's their debut tomorrow. We're doing a little show at our local village fete, and are planning on using both the babies to perform the second solo show. Becca and Navvy are going to be doing the vaulting parts whilst Casper and I do the dancing. We're really hoping that the weather is nice, the crowds not too scary and that the boys behave - not much to wish for then! I'll let you know how we get on, but in the meantime you can look at all the photos from last weekend by clicking here (plus lots of extra ones from Sunday here).

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Ware Carnival

2010-07-04T21:25:00.006+01:00

We had a lovely day at Ware Carnival yesterday, although when we arrived on Friday night we'd never have guessed it! Tim, Alex, Tinker, Casper and myself set off on Friday evening - without Becca! We were later leaving than originally planned as Tim had been working at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (his 'normal' job is working with vintage Buggatti racing cars), and having been held up there due to a crash had had to beast his little car back to Oxfordshire - apparently imitating much of the driving he'd been watching all day! All this meant that by the time we reached Ware it was about 9pm, and as we pulled up alongside the playing fields where the show was to be held the following day we were greeted with a rather unnerving sight - a police officer leading a young man down the road in handcuffs! What kind of place was this we wondered!!

Our first hurdle was manouvering our lorry into the playing fields. Easier said than done! Having squeezed through one gate I then had to turn and reverse through another, even smaller, gateway. I managed it without too much shuffling, but there's one hedge in Ware that looks slightly different to how it did last week! We managed to set up without any further problems and went to bed wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Saturday dawned hot and sunny, and before long the show ground began to take shape. The show wasn't due to open until 2pm, so we had plenty of time to sort everything out. As soon as they'd set up the arena I took Casper out to have a training session with him. Casper has never been to a show before, so I took the opportunity to bring him along - and I'm so glad I did! We did quite a bit of work in the arena with everybody setting stalls up and busying around, and none of it bothered him at all. He was a bit clingy in the direction of our tent and called for Tinker a few times, but did everything I asked him without fuss. We did a lot of walk vaulting, and a bit of canter. I would have done more canter but the ground was very hard and the circle quite small so didn't want to push him. I also ran through his full dance routine with him which he performed perfectly! This was especially pleasing as he is due to dance in public at our local village fete in a couple of weeks and I really don't want to be embarrassed by him!

To warm Tinker up before the first show I took him for a lovely long ride through the town, over the bridge on the canal past the lock, along the tow path through the trees and past all the decorated narrow boats, before crossing another bridge and arriving back in the car park next to the show field. However, I couldn't get back into the show field as the main carnival parade was just about to start coming past and the pavements were lined with people! Having explained why I couldn't turn around and ride all the way back to an official I was allowed through the people before joining the parade between the majorettes and the first float! I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, but it's not easy on a 16.1hh coloured horse! I only had to go about five metres before ducking back through the people and into the show field, but we still got a ripple of applause! It wouldn't have been too bad if I was in costume, but unfortunately I was bare foot in just shorts and a vest top - oops!!

As soon as the parade arrived into the show field it was time for our show - and Tim's commentating debut! He did really well, despite the radio mic being a bit intermittent, and took us through the show with only a couple of stumbles. The crowd we had was absolutely huge - I think practically every single resident of Ware was there! Tinker was fabulous, and loads of people came back with us after the show to have their photo taken with him - he even pricked his ears for some of them! The second show came around quite quickly, and although Tim seemed cool, calm and collected he's since admitted he was absolutely bricking it! He needn't have been though, his commentary was much smoother throughout the second show with only a few prompts needed from me! Alex did the volunteer part of the show really well, having only had one brief practice on Tink at the Three Counties Show, and I managed to stay on until I was supposed to fall off, unlike last week!

After the second show we went for a wander around the rest of the festival site (on a hunt for an ice cream van!), and there was loads going on. There were about eighty stalls all together, as well as fairground rides, the decorated narrow boats and all sorts. It was a really lovely festival and we had a fantastic time there - which just goes to show that first impressions aren't always correct! We were really well looked after throughout the day by Ros, but especially by Shirley. It wasn't until later in the day when we were chatting to Shirley's husband Stuart that we found out Shirley used to be on the British Women's Basketball Team and has represented Britain in international tournaments numerous times! We were very impressed, and then found out that Stuart himself has competed in the Olympics - what a pair! Stuart now commentates for a lot of sporting events for the BBC, at which point Tim was keen to get some advice on commentating techniques!

Before we knew it it was time to pack down, and whilst we did so I turned my boys out into little makeshift pens were the arena had been. This was mainly for Casper's benefit as I wanted him out and about as much as possible. He was really good as there was still lots of flappy red and white tape strung about, stall holders tidying up, a big bunch of white balloons and endless people fussing over him. He took it all in like an old pro, and spent most of the time wandering between different people to see where he could get the most attention! Having wriggled the lorry back out of the playing fields (sorry hedge!) we trucked on home without incident. All in all we had a lovely day, even after the dodgy start on Friday night! The shows both went really well with Tink being fantastic, Tim coped brilliantly with his new role (and actually quite enjoyed it I think!), Casper had a lovely first show experience, and Alex was his usual glamourous self! There are quite a few photos from the day, just click here to see them all. You can also see the Town Council's official photo galleries from the entire day by clicking here and here - and see just how much was going on!

We've got a very local show on Saturday, at the Kingham Commotion, so I'm sure they'll be lots of familiar faces in the audience! I'll tell you all about it next week.

Love Rosie xx

Broughton Game Show

2010-06-29T21:02:00.009+01:00

We spent last weekend up in Yorkshire, for a one day solo show at Broughton Game Show. Rebecca, Ronan, Tim, Tinker and myself made the four hour trip up on Saturday afternoon with no problems at all. When we arrived on site the first thing we noticed was the arena, which was on a huge slope. On closer inspection it turned out that not only was it very steep, but also extremely uneven - not conducive to good vaulting! We joked about it to David, the organiser, who just said 'Well Girls, it'll be a challenge!'. He wasn't wrong!

We hadn't long been set up when Ben (my boyfriend) arrived, along with Stanley, his four week old Goshawk. Stanley is just starting to be quite mobile and spent a lot of the evening whizzing up and down the ramp of the lorry, before attacking rolled up tail bandages and travelling boots - much to our amusement!

Before we knew it it was Sunday - showtime! In preparation for this weekend coming, Becca and I were swapping shows - for the first time ever! In we went for the first show, in the blazing midday sun. The crowd was huge, but as I tried to welcome them and introduce the show I realised my mic wasn't working! After some confusion with batteries I got handed a head mic. This worked well but it meant I couldn't give Ronan any vocal encouragement to make it up the slope - and he definitely needed it! Unfortunately Ronan didn't cope with the arena and was being quite difficult, but Becca did amazingly well to vault on him and pulled of all the moves regardless! It felt quite strange just commentating and not vaulting, but it'll make up for next week when I'll be just vaulting and not commentating at all!

Next it was my turn for the second show. Whilst warming Tinker up there was a display by an acrobatic plane. Some of the moves he was doing were amazing - loop the loops, corkscrews, and all sorts! Luckily Tink doesn't mind anything like this - we had the Red Arrows flying over us at Eye Show last year! I was a bit nervous going into the show as I'd never done 'the full strip on the back of a cantering horse' in front of an audience before! I fumbled a little bit, and took a bit too long to get the final piece of the frou-frou skirt off, but managed it in the end! Tinker coped with the arena slope really well, and properly looked after me throughout. He also didn't mind the volunteer bit which he's only done once before, although I managed to fall off slightly earlier than expected! At the end of the show it was Becca's turn to vault on him, which she was slightly apprehensive about as he's so different to Ronan. No bother though, Tink cantered well and Becca vaulted really well! I was spying from the toilet tent and trying to take photos of her vaulting - so much so that I nearly missed my cue to come back out and get back on!

After the shows we were offered a go on the Rodeo Bull which was set up next to us. We'd been eyeing it up all day watching people fall off (some in spectacular fashion!), so were really glad to get a go! The last time we did something like this was at the Mid Suffolk Show last April, where Becca, myself, Alex and Simon rode a rodeo pig! This time I was up first, and managed to fall off fairly promptly! Becca followed and stayed on for about five seconds longer, before doing an amazing somersault right over the bull's head! Finally it was Tim's turn, whose time was somewhere in between ours - not bad for a funny man! Have a look at the little video below to see our attempts! We also managed to get a few photos from the rest of the weekend, just click here to have a look at them.

Next weekend we're off to Ware Town Carnival for a one day solo show on Saturday. However - Becca isn't coming!! Eeeek!! I'm going to be doing both shows on Tinker, with Tim commentating and Alex being our glamourous assistant. This is quite a big change for us so fingers (and hooves!) crossed it will all go to plan! I'm also going to take Casper along, just so he gets to see a bit of show atmosphere and experience the whole thing without any pressure to perform. I'll let you know how we get on next week!

Rosie xxx

The Three Counties Show

2010-06-24T16:28:00.005+01:00

We've just had a fantastic long weekend at the Three Counties Show, one of our very favourite shows of the year. Thursday afternoon and Rebecca, Ronan, Tinker and myself set off in the lorry for Malvern, with Bryn (Becca's boyfriend) following behind in his classic red fire truck (aptly christened 'the clown bus'!), and Tim due to meet us on site. As Alex is now busy being an apprentice farrier over in Wales he wasn't going to be able to join us until Friday night, which meant Bryn was being thrown in at the deep end to glamourously assist us!

On arrival the first thing we did was to turn the boys out into the collecting ring, right next to the arena where Doug had turned out his two mares Ella and Diamond. Despite the fact that Ella is twenty-two years old, and Diamond is thirty-six, Tinker (who has just celebrated his eighth birthday!) spent the entire evening flirting outrageously with the pair of them, and having his amourous feelings enthusiastically reciprocated! The romance lasted all weekend with both the girls and Tink whinnying for each other whenever they were taken out of sight of one another!

Friday came around quickly and it was soon time for Bryn's debut! As he is (among other things!) a commentator by trade, Becca had decided he was going to do some mic work. So for the first time we had a full introduction - '...they've made it all the way over Fish Hill to be here... They're the ninth wonder of the Cotswolds....Ladies and Gentlemen - JIVE PONY!!' All credit to Bryn though, being a glamourous assistant is no easy task, but he took to it like a duck to water! Now we have another boy in our clown cupboard - I think that's five now... Alex arrived in the evening and we bade farewell to Bryn and the clown bus - although I'm sure they'll return before too long!

In between the shows on Saturday we rushed up to the main arena to see the King's Troop perform. They certainly filled the arena - they had six World War One gun carriages, each pulled by a team of six horses, plus another thirty-four ridden horses. That's seventy horses all together!! They did a beautifully choreographed high speed display to music, before setting all the guns off. The guns were so loud, wherever we were on the site throughout the weekend you could literally feel the ground shake! I managed to get a little video of some of their ride, have a look below.

Saturday also found both Tim and Alex, followed by Becca and I, volunteering to take part in the Adams Axemen display. This involved sawing through a fifteen inch log with a cross-cut saw, something which the axemen can do in a record time of 9.7 seconds! Needless to say it took us quite a bit longer! The boys were actually quite good at it, whereas it took Becca and I a good few minutes! And it really really makes your arms ache! It was good fun though, and the crowd cheered us on - no doubt helped by the fact that we were both still in costume!

On Sunday the main arena had harness racing, where the horses perform a special gait called pacing. Although it's only a two beat gait those horses can seriously shift! There was a super fast grey, who despite being quite heavily handicapped still managed to overtake everything else on the outside of the bends and go on to win! Have a look at the video below to see how fast he was!

All in all we had a fantastic weekend, and between us we managed to get quite a few photos - just click here to have a look at them. All of our shows went well without a single hitch, Tinker and Ronan were their usual fantastic selves, we are so so lucky to have them! The sun shone and the crowds were brilliant for every single show - about seven or eight deep around the arena sometimes! Quite a few people came to see us over the course of the weekend, including one of our girls from our vaulting group, Felicity. Hopefully she was paying attention as the reason we're teaching them all is so that we can retire one day! It was lovely to see some old friends again, as well as making some new ones - shows are never short of interesting people! Special thanks must go, as always, to Robin McKenzie, Robin Gee and Willowe, who always look after us so well, and who we're looking forward to seeing again at the CLA Gamefair next month!

We're off up to Yorkshire on Saturday, for a one day solo show at Broughton Game Show on Sunday. We're swapping our shows around with Becca and Ronan doing the first show, and Tinker and I trying our hand at the second show. We've never done it like this before, and lets just say today's rehearsal was interesting!! I'll let you know how we got on soon...

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Circus Workshop

2010-06-16T17:08:00.003+01:00

We've just spent the day at the circus! Becca, Ronan, Navvy, Casper and I set off this morning for Broadway, to run a circus skills workshop for some local school children on behalf of Gifford's Circus. The day went brilliantly well, aside from the fact that I'm writing this with my foot wrapped in ice - more on that later! Having arrived we took all the horses into the ring to show them what it was all about, and whilst Becca and Ronan were in there Nell bought one of her twins, five month old Cecil, in to see what was going on. He'd never been on a horse before but after only a few minutes he was standing up on Ronan's back - nothing like starting them young!

The idea was to use Casper and Navvy to demonstrate some tricks and the methods we use to train them, then run through some basics with the children on the barrel, before getting them on Ronan to have a little go themselves, then finally showing them some canter work. And that's almost exactly what we did! For the first group, Casper and I started off by showing them some tricks. Casper did really well - he worked in the ring inside the tent, with the children clapping him when he did a trick, and concentrated on me throughout. I was very pleased with him as the last time we tried performing in front of the public (at the Devil's Horsemen Christmas Pantomime) he didn't concentrate on me at all and did virtually nothing I asked him!

When Casper had finished I took him back and swapped him for Ronan, whist Becca led the ten children through some basic warm up and stretching. I then took each of them through some simple moves on the barrel before sending them to Becca who helped them have a go at everything on Ronan. The only problems we had we the fact that they were all wearing their school uniform. The poor girls, they had a much harder time than the boys - summer dresses are not ideal vaulting wear! Once everyone had had a go, it was time to go outside and show them some canter work. Just in time the second group arrived, so they were all able to watch as I did a bit of freestyle on Ronan. At the end I finished with a big flank off, and managed to land funnily on the hard ground. It hurt my foot a bit, but not too badly so we just carried on.

It was now time for the second group, and as Becca had Ronan out already she decided to use him for the trick training demo. I think she just wanted to do some more performing with Ronan in the ring - it was at the circus that they met and fell in love after all! Ronan did some lovely tricks as usual, and then it was my turn to lead the warm up - and that's exactly what it was! By this time it was about midday, and the tent had heated up quite a lot - I can't imagine how hot it must get performing a show in there all dressed up in costume and make up! We then followed the same pattern with me taking them through the basics on the barrel before Becca took them on the horse. The second group had a few members who were quite nervous of Ronan, but by the end of the session every single one had had a sit on him, with most going up to knees and doing a flare leg - brilliant! As they'd already seen the canter work we finished off with them all giving Ronan a treat and a big thank you pat - I'm not sure they wanted to leave at the end! Once all the children had left, we got Kelly and Niomi (who do a fantastic job in the Circus office) up on Ronan. Kelly is especially nervous of horses, but had managed to sit on Ronan at the last workshop we did, back in January. So this time we had her doing mill! There was one point when she was sitting backwards with no hands - we'll have her up in stand next time!

As Navvy hadn't yet been used Becca bought him in to the ring for some practice - shutting him in the dark chute on the way! He was very good and performed all his tricks well, making Becca proud. Both him and Casper behaved impeccably so they will definitely be at a show soon! We did manage to get quite a few pictures - just click here to see them. Before we knew it it was time to go home, so we said our goodbyes, loaded up and trundled home. However, by the time we got back my foot was hurting quite a lot, so I was hobbling around as we were unloading the boys. I took Tink out for a little ride, but couldn't even manage rising trot - and then had to drive all the way home in third gear because I couldn't press the clutch down!

We're off to the Three Counties Show tomorrow for a three day duo, and are all really looking forward to it. We love the Three Counties, it was Tinker's first ever show (as a four year old stallion!) back in 2007, but we haven't performed there since 2008. I only hope my foot recovers in time for the first show on Friday! I'll let you know how we get on!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Hearing Dogs Summer Fair

2010-06-07T21:36:00.007+01:00

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post, but unfortunately that's how long it's been since our last show! However, this weekend we were finally back in action with a duo show at The Hearing Dogs Summer Fair in Princes Risborough. It was the first time we'd done a duo since the Midland Gamefair in September, so Rebecca and I were both feeling a bit rusty to say the least! Having done quite a bit of rehearsal on foot we decided we really ought to take the boys for some Roman Riding practice. We took them up to the big school up the road (huge thank yous to Marilyn and Graham!) and just went for it! Much to our relief they were absolutely foot perfect - and Becca and I weren't too bad either! Bryn (Becca's boyfriend) came up too and took some photos - more on those later! Having done a couple of sessions of Roman Riding, and trying out some new vaulting moves we felt ready for the show, although we did get some last minute props and costumes which we didn't get a chance to rehearse with...

So, Saturday afternoon came and Rebecca, Ronan, Tim, Alex, Tinker and myself set off for Princes Risborough. It was a lovely hot day and the drive down was uneventful. However, we'd literally just arrived at the showground and put the ramp down when the heavens opened and it absolutely poured with rain. Hoping it was a passing shower we left the boys on board (much to their bemusement!), and thankfully after about ten minutes it eased off enough for us to get on with setting up. We passed the evening by running through both shows, endless sewing (which I HATE!) and playing Aerobie until it was too dark to see it until it whizzed past your head! Soon enough it was time for bed, at which point Tim and Alex enquired as to where the base for their bed was. The seating in the lorry converts into a large bed which they normally share, but unfortunately the one and only thing that Becca had forgotten to pack was the necessary piece of wood to make the bed - oops! They ended up sleeping just on the cushions on the floor, but as there wasn't enough floor space for both of them Tim had to sleep in the back where the horses travel!

Soon enough it was showtime on Sunday, and Rebecca and I were feeling very nervous! We'd changed some costume and music since last year, and we were also hoping that we remembered our lines and cues in all the right places. The audience were really keen and were about six deep around the entire arena - no pressure then! We needn't have worried - the show went well! Becca had a really good show with Ronan performing really well throughout. I wasn't quite so lucky with Tinker, but through no fault of his own. As we went to our corner of the arena for our dance we were mobbed by strange flying beetles. They were bright red and about the size of my thumbnail, and drove poor Tink mad! I actually had to stop the dance about half way through and rake my hands through his mane - there were about fifteen of them all over his neck, mane and face - needless to say he wasn't really concentrating on his tricks! After that he just spent the rest of the show whizzing about - but I don't really mind, secretly I love it when he goes fast! The really strange thing about the beetles was that not a single one went near Becca and Ronan over the other side of the arena - very bizarre!

We didn't have much time between shows and before we knew it we were back on with our second performance. This time we had our new blue and black costume, which I'd already worn at Bexley Heath Easter Show, but which Becca had never worn. We had made some changes since Easter though - mainly four bright blue pom-poms each! We'd not tried them with the horses before but were fairly confident they wouldn't mind them - if they can ignore things like the Red Arrows and White Headed Vultures flying over them surely they wouldn't mind pom-poms? We were right not to worry about the horses - it was us who struggled with them! Try having two pom-poms in each hand, whilst steering a horse and then finding your microphone and talking! Eeek! We just about managed, although we're definitely going to have a rethink before the next show! I'd also drenched Tinker in fly spray to try and deter the beetles, as well as dancing in a different part of the arena, and didn't see a single one throughout the whole show - all very peculiar! It was Becca's turn to have an interesting show - when it came to the roman riding her vaulting shoes were too worn out to give her any grip on our nice new pad covers, so that whole section was a bit dicey! At least she managed to keep both shoes on this time though...

After our whirlwind of shows during the afternoon it was time to pack down and head home - but not before we'd learnt the sign language for 'Jive Pony'! There were some amazing signers throughout the day - and a special thank you to Tom who had the unenviable task of trying to sign our shows! All in all we had a lovely weekend, and were very well looked after by Ruth and the team. We managed to get a few pictures over the weekend (and also some from our rehearsals...), just click here to have a look.

We're off to Giffords Circus for a day next Wednesday! Rebecca has very strong ties with the circus as she performed with them for three seasons before leaving to set up Jive Pony, so is very much looking forward to getting back inside the big top! We're going to be taking Ronan, who started his career there as a four year old with Becca, and who hasn't seen the circus since we did the Newbury Parade back in 2008. We're also going to take Casper and Navvy - it'll be their first official Jive Pony outing! Fingers crossed they behave - I'll tell you all about it next week!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Bexley Heath Easter Show

2010-04-06T20:43:00.006+01:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but March really was a very quiet month in the Jive Pony camp. We've just been slogging away with training and working the horses, teaching our vaulting group, and getting ready for our first show. We did have an interesting corporate day teaching a group of hairdressers, but as yet haven't got any photos - as soon as I get some I'll tell you more about it.

But... Our 2010 season is underway! We had our first show this weekend, and it was really great to get back into it. Rebecca, Ronan, Tim, Tinker and I set off on Saturday afternoon for Bexley Heath in Kent for an Oakleigh run show. We were really looking forward to seeing everyone again, as our last show for Charlie and Emma was back in August at the Danson Summer Show. We arrived in good time and set up with no problems. We'd turned the boys out in the arena whilst setting up, which we usually do as it keeps them out of the way and lets them get used to the space. However, the ground was still quite wet and muddy, and by the time I came to get Tinker back in he'd done his best hippopotamus impression and had covered as much of himself as possible in lovely black mud. And he'd only had a bath that afternoon! The rest of the evening went without a hitch - apart from the case of the exploding herrings. An unopened tin of them accidentally got left under the grill, and as we were eating supper - BANG! The mess and smell was unbelievable!! The herrings wern't the only explosion of the night either, Becca was suffering from a very large, very angry ulcer on the roof of her mouth, which was causing her lots of pain. So... self surgery! She heated up a pin and POP! It was almost comparable to the herrings!! Hats off to Becca, there's no way I'd have been brave enough to do that to myself. But it did the job and she didn't have any more grief from it!

Sunday dawned grey and miserable, and we were fully expecting it to rain all day. However, apart from a bit of drizzle here and there it really wasn't too bad. It was very very windy though, and quite cold - not ideal when you're standing on the back of a horse trying to take your clothes off! Not only was it our first show but it was the first outing for our new costume - think Grease/cheerleader! Although we're both going to be wearing the costume for the duo shows, it was just me wearing it for the first time this weekend, and despite some initial trepidations it actually worked really well! The only thing wrong with it was that the collar is round neck, meaning I couldn't keep any 'titbits' for Tinker in their usual place (my bra!) - but we worked around it and will do some alterations for the next show. The second show also went really well, although it took Ronan a while to get up to speed! After the first section of the show I'm not sure who was more out of breath - Becca from vaulting or me from chasing Ronan round and round!

Monday's shows also both went really well, the weather was slightly brighter although the wind was soooo cold - early April is a bit to soon to go running around in a leotard! Tim had an unexpected change of costume when in between our shows he was abducted from our tent and press ganged into becoming a medical porter for the Officers of the Confederate State! We went to watch him doing his bit and although he was very good his medical expertise wasn't - the poor soldier he was treating died! The little video below (shot by Tilly Spielberg) shows Tim doing what he does best - being a naughty glamourous assistant!

All in all we had a lovely weekend. It was really good to catch up with everyone who we've not seen for while, such as Richard (from The Sheep Show, doing both a shearing demonstration and the very funny sheep racing), and Randal and Jeff Carey of Countrywide Falconry (who gave me a falcon to hold just before the first show for an impromptu photoshoot!). I did manage to get quite a few photos over the weekend of various different things - just click here to have a look at them. Tinker and Ronan were both their usual superb selves all weekend - they really do look after us very well and we couldn't do any of it without them! Thankyou boys!

Unfortunately we've not got another show until 6th June, so until then it'll just be more of the same. We do have our coaching exams at the end of the month so wish us luck and I'll let you know how we get on!

Lots of love Rosie xx

Vaulting Training Day

2010-02-19T12:57:00.008Z

Monday morning bright and early and we were off to Moulton College in Northamptonshire for a vaulting training day. Becca and I have been attending a coaching course, which so far has mostly been theoretical. However, as it was half term this week the organisers had planned for each of the participating coaches to bring two members of their club to join in a training day with the British Team, which meant both the vaulters and coaches would gain more practical and hands on experience. We had also decided to take Navvy (Becca's youngster) for him to get some more vaulting practice in a different environment. So it was Becca, myself, Navvy, Gemma and Livvy that set off in the lorry on Monday morning. The journey was going really well until we were about twelve miles away from the college, whizzing along the dual carriageway, when BANG! We had a blow out. Now, this is the fourth time we've had a blow out, but the very first time it's happened when Becca's been driving. I'm so glad she was because now she can't blame them happening on my driving! The three other times have been at Wolsingham, Dumfries, and the CLA Gamefair, so we're very well practised with them! Thankfully it was one of the rear tyres, and as there are two on each side we were able to carry on steadily until we got to the college. As we'd limped on I'd rung the breakdown people (Hello, it's Jive Pony again...), so it was all arranged for the tyre man to come and sort us out during the day.

So, having arrived it was down to business. We were first of all due to do a forty-five minute warm up with a visiting German trainer, Steffi Burkhart. Steffi is a former rhythmic gymnast and has been training the British Team for the past two months, and she really worked us! The exercises were all very straightforward, but they completely reduced my legs to jelly! (Stairs have been agony all week as a result!) Anyway, just as we were about to start the warm up the tyre man arrived, so sneaky Becca managed to get out of the majority of it! Both Gemma and Livvy did really well, although I'm hoping for their sakes they didn't feel the after effects as much as I did!

After the warm up Livvy, Gemma and I stayed working in the gym, whilst Rebecca went with the horse group and worked Navvy. By all accounts he was really good, but after lunch he had to do it all over again! Having swapped the groups around in the afternoon all four of us, plus Navvy, were working in the school. Navvy did fantastically well, as it was only the third time he'd been lunged for vaulting. Not only did he have two up in canter doing baby freestyle moves, but he had different people lunging him and another horse working near him throughout. We managed to take quite a few photos of him, just click here to see them and others from the day. I also managed to take a little video of him, have a look below to see him in action.

The highlight of the day for me was having a little vault on Go Fast, the British Team horse. She's a lovely big girl, all 18hh of her, and it was just fantastic to be able to vault on a big horse again and as she was being lunged not have to worry about her at all (as we vault at liberty on our boys we have to be constantly aware of what both ourselves and they are doing). I did find her very different to Tinker though, as I'm so used to him anything else just feels a bit strange! I couldn't get my balance on her in stand properly, but I did do some good big swings - she certainly gives you plenty of lift! Having said all of that I wouldn't swap my Tink for the world, even if he is smaller with less lift! Both Livvy and Gemma also got to have a go on Go Fast, which was really good as both of them have only been vaulting since the beginning of January and the biggest horse they've been on so far is Tink. They both did well and managed bench, flare leg, and leg over the neck, all in canter - so both Becca and I were really pleased with them. Have a look at the video below to see Gemma in action.

At the end of the day we were shown the full British Team freestyle. Although only on the barrel you could see how well it will work on the horse. All the transitions were smooth and it was put beautifully to some Tango music. The team have got until October to perfect it when they're flying out to Kentucky to represent Britain at the World Equestrian Games. You can read more about the team and their WEG aspirations in a previously written post.

I did take a little video of Livvy vaulting on Go Fast too, and that's up on our facebook group. Anyone can join the group - just log in to facebook and search for Jive Pony. We've got about 200 members at the moment - but the more the merrier! I'm trying to keep the page quite up to date, and you can also comment on things, ask us questions etc etc - we always do our best to answer!

We've got the vaulting group again tomorrow, and this week I'm going to take Casper. He's very good on the lunge and I've spent a fair bit of time working on the transition commands with him, but he does have a bit of an issue with being approached, especially at the canter, so I'm hoping having ten girls in a row approach him will make him realise that it's not so bad after all! It will also be really good fitness work for all the girls, as I think he might be quite quick!! I'll take the camera with me and let you know how we get on!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Jive Pony Vaulting Group

2010-01-24T16:50:00.003Z

We did our second vaulting session yesterday, and once again it was a huge success! The first one was a few weeks ago, but what with all the snow we had to cancel a couple of Saturdays unfortunately - but now we're back in business!

We're running the group at a local riding school, Durham's Farm, and have had a group of about nine/ten girls come along, all of whom are really lovely and enthusiastic - and all seem to have boundless energy! We generally split them into two groups, with Rebecca taking one group to work on Ronan, whilst I teach the other group on the barrel. Barrel work is really important as a starting point in order to give a feel for how to move you body around in the space you will have available on the horse. It means I can teach the girls where their bodies should be in relation to the roller, how to use techniques to stay light and soft, and how to move about without getting off balance. I can then send them over to Rebecca so they can put all they've learnt into practise on Ronan! It's obviously completely different on a moving horse, so they take what they've learnt on the barrel and Rebecca builds on the techniques and helps them understand what they should be aiming for.

Ronan has been his usual wonderful self with all the girls, really looking after them. However, all the canter work has been a bit of a shock to his system - he was a hot sweaty thing even after having all his belly fluff clipped off! However, he wasn't nearly as hot or sweaty as Becca, who was cantering around next to him with each of the girls - she did have a huge amount of clothes on to keep warm but after all the running she definitely didn't need them and looked like she was going to have a heart attack! It's good to remind the horses what work is though (and us - I nearly died after leading a warm up for the girls!), as the show season will be upon us in no time so if we're vaulting regularly hopefully we'll remember what to do when we get to the first one! We're going to take Tinker to do the group next week, so the girls can try a different horse and also so Tinker can remind himself about vaulting!

Becca and I are also going to be embarking on a training course in order to become Level Two Vaulting Coaches. This will hopefully give us more ideas about how to structure the lessons and also improve our teaching skills. The course is one day a week for six weeks, starting next Wednesday in Northampton - it'll be a bit like going back to school! I must dig out my pencil case...

We did manage to get some photos of the group this time, just click here to have I look at them, and I'll let you know how we both get on the training course next week!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Horse Hero Filming

2010-01-19T16:19:00.003Z

I spent yesterday doing something very familiar to me but at the same quite different, as I was involved in some trick training filming for Horse Hero. In case you've not come across it, Horse Hero is a website described as 'a paradise for horse lovers', where you can watch an almost infinite number of videos on everything equestrian you can possibly imagine. Amongst others, there is also a section where many equestrian celebrities write blogs, a couple of which I read regularly such as the fantastic trainer Tanya Larrigan (whose book 'New Sensations for Horse and Rider' is a must read!), and Jo Eccles, the Scottish vaulter who is now European Champion. (Special mention for the lovely John Eccles who very kindly let me compete on his fantastic horses more than once, back in the day!).

Fiona and Lucy arrived in the morning, and got straight down to business by telling me I didn't look smart enough - and I'd even put clean jeans on! Admittedly, my coat is pretty grubby, but as I spend most of my time with muddy horses and muck heaps it's hardly surprising! Anyway, I soon raided Becca's clothes and found something that met their requirements, and I have to agree I did look better! Having relayed this story to Becca she burst out laughing and said its definitely the first time anyone has ever borrowed her clothes to smarten up!!

Spruced up and ready it was time to start filming. We started off with Aristo, who has never had any trick training. Aristo is a four year old stallion, and although he is broken in he hasn't done any work for the past six months. Come spring he will be off to learn polo before hopefully becoming a polo stud - lucky him! However, today was his big day - and having never really even handled him I was a bit apprehensive about how he was going to behave. I needn't have worried - he was fantastic! Considering all he's done since the summer is wander around the field, and then all of a sudden he got brought in, brushed and then spent the best part of an hour being trick trained, he couldn't have done better. I started with the head shake, which he did perfectly a couple of times, before getting wise to me tickling him and just ignoring me! We then moved on to the leg cross, which he took to really well, even balancing himself enough to bring his leg back rather than fall out of it after just a few attempts - very impressive. Finally we started the kiss, which he also worked out very quickly, and unlike Casper refrained from licking my face! I was so impressed with him, he is a clever little thing and I'm sure if I were to carry on the training with him he'd pick everything up super fast - I'm now a big fan of his!

Having shown how to start a novice horse off with some basic tricks, it was then time to demonstrate the finished tricks with my two boys. We all trudged through the muddy field to the school (which was still half covered in snow!), and started the filming with Tinker. I introduced him as 'my professional horse who I can take anywhere and I know he'll perform', which was a big mistake! To be fair to him he did do all his dancing, but it was sooooo lack lustre he looked like he was about to die of boredom. It was almost as if he was saying 'Where's the audience? Where's the music? Where's my applause? I'm not going to bother unless it's worth it.' Just like a true artiste!!

Thankfully Casper saved the day. He is the most enthusiastic little horse - I think he's stolen Tinker's quota too! He did all his tricks really well, although some were quite over zealous - the Spanish walk was more like a speedy Spanish stomp, and the kiss was definitely a dirty great snog! I was really pleased with him, he kept focused on me throughout the session, managing to ignore both the camera and Tinker in the background - a definite improvement from the pantomime! Having finished the filming he then did more tricks for the camera, you can see the snaps Fiona took of us by clicking here. (Or see some in the Horse Hero gallery by clicking here - we're right at the bottom).

I really enjoyed doing the filming, although I did find it quite difficult sometimes - I never realised how much I say 'umm' - must try and stop that! It was also hard to give a running commentary as to what I was doing. The reactions you need to give to reward the horse when you get the desired behaviour are far quicker than I can talk, so I think I may have stumbled over my words a bit. Afterwards, I also thought of loads of things I should have said but didn't - typical! It was good fun though, and I hope very much I get to do it again one day!

Hopefully the finished videos will be up on the site early to mid February, and as soon as they are I'll put a link up so you can watch them (unless I'm horrific in which case I won't tell anyone!!).

We're doing our vaulting group again on Saturday, so I'll take some more photos and tell you how we got on next week.

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Snow, Snow, Snow!

2010-01-14T17:21:00.006Z

I was going to tell you all about our little vaulting group we started up last Saturday, but as I didn't manage to get many photos I thought I'd wait another week, get some more shots, and then write about it. And then the snow came.

The snow quite literally put a stop to everything for me. I couldn't get my car out of my road (parallel parked nice and tight on a very steep hill!) so was completely stranded. Thankfully the horses live with Becca, and she managed to squeeze looking after them into her busy schedule - for which I am eternally grateful!! Having not seen them for about five days and getting very bored Becca again came to my rescue and drove the ten miles to pick me up, take me to see them (and muck out!), before bringing me home again - oh for a four wheel drive truck!

I finally managed to dig my car out on Monday and make it over to my boys under my own steam, although the journey did take me 45 minutes instead of the usual fifteen! Having got back home I left the car at the bottom of the hill, which was a good decision as following the further two inches we had that night had I not I would have been stuck again! I took my camera over to the horses when I went today and took quite a few photos of them, despite the fact that everything is starting to look quite dirty now! On my way home I was amazed to see the hounds being exercised along the main road - it was a wonderful sight and just goes to show how quiet the roads are at the moment, they don't do that normally! Just click here to have a look at the photos.

The snow really has been exquisitely beautiful; I'm especially drawn to the icicles which have been absolutely stunning - I've even seen one which must have been about eight foot long! (Wouldn't want that one falling on my head though!) Aside from the beauty of it, one of my favourite things about the snow is that it makes the horses so lovely and clean! Although I turn them out covered in stable stains, by the time they come back in they have lovely white legs and feet again! They also have fluffy faces and clean manes! Self cleaning horses - brilliant! If only that happened in the summer when I need them to look smart...

Speaking of smart I will have to spruce them up a bit for Monday, as we're due to be doing some filming for Horse Hero. Fiona and the team are going to be making a short film on trick training, featuring Tinker, Casper and myself, as well as a novice horse completely new to the idea. This last part is in order to demonstrate how to start your very first session, and I will be using Aristo, a very sweet little stallion who also lives at our yard, but is unbroken and out of work - hopefully he'll enjoy doing something different and won't embarrass me on film! I'm also going to use Casper as much as possible, as after the panto debacle he needs as much 'atmosphere and distraction' training as possible. And of course Tinker, the professional, who will show us all how it's done (hopefully - he does pick his moments to embarrass me and this would be an ideal opportunity!!). I'll let you know how I get on!

Unfortunately we had to cancel our vaulting group both last week and this Saturday due to the snow, but as soon as we do the next one and get some photos I promise I'll tell you all about that too.

Becca is off to Paris again in the morning for more Annie Oakley, so is going to miss the filming on Monday, but will hopefully be having much better weather than us - fingers crossed she brings it back with her next week!

In the meantime I hope everyone is coping with the snow - and the thaw!

Love Rosie xx

Pantomime on Horseback

2010-01-01T11:26:00.005Z

My boys and I have just had a very busy week, as we were taking part in The Devil's Horsemen Christmas Pantomime. Tinker, Casper and I set off on Boxing day morning for their Buckinghamshire base, and were thrown straight into rehearsals. We rehearsed all the acts and all the horses all afternoon, but before we knew it it was 6pm and the doors were opening for people arriving for the first show!

For the past two years we have done Cinderella on Horseback, but this year we had an all new show - Christmas in Fantasia. The basic story was Father Christmas being kidnapped at the beginning, and his two elves (Cam and Karina complete with bells on their costumes!) travelling through various different panto lands to rescue him. This meant we all had lots and lots of costume changes as the acts we had included Dickens, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Snow White, Cinderella and Harry Potter - all complemented by fairy godmothers, wicked stepmothers and of course the ugly sisters! Phew!

For my part I had a vaulting act on Tinker as part of the Wizard of Oz section. We did a walk section and then quite a long canter section, where I pieced together both my normal show freestyles into one - I was certainly out of breath by the end! Tinker was absolutely fabulous, and didn't let me down once. Although he'd never been in the shed before he took to it really well and wasn't at all phased by the proximity of the audience - he is a proper professional! He did get quite tired towards the end of the run, but after seven shows plus initial rehearsals all in four days I can't say I blamed him! He's back out in the field now seeing 2010 in with a well earned rest- and mud bath! As well as our vaulting act Tinker and I also performed a dance during the Cinderella act. This went down really well, and as per usual after his performance I got asked plenty of times how I train him. The answer is basically bribery, although there is slightly more to it than that!

Seeing as how I'd bought Casper along for the ride (he's still not at the stage where I can do a complete vaulting act on him - much to Tinker's disgust!), I'd decided that the least he could do was some dancing to ease Tinker's load. I'd been working him in the shed to get him used to the surroundings every day, and he'd been going really well - he was really settled in there and didn't seem too bothered by anything that was going on. So, on Monday I decided it was time to put him to the test. The afternoon show had about one hundred and sixty people booked, and Casper was ready to make his debut! I'd already worked and danced him in the shed in the morning, which had gone really well - he'd danced a perfect dance and performed his catch four times in a row without mishap, even with people bustling about and providing possible distractions. So.... showtime!!

As we were backstage waiting for our turn to go on Casper was quite jumpy, the atmosphere of a show is very different to that of a practice, and one that you simply cannot create. However, he settled down far quicker than I was expecting and really concentrated on me for a few warm up tricks - including another perfect catch! Next the curtain came back and we were out in front of the 160 strong audience! Bless Casper, his eyes went out on stalks, his head went up in the air and all thoughts of concentration went completely out of his head! I managed to get him into the middle of the arena, stop, and get his concentration for a kiss. However, as soon as we did this the audience clapped, which completely threw him and he just spun around me. I then got him back and he managed a leg cross each way, but then more applause, more spinning and less concentration! We carried on like this for the duration - concentrate, trick, applause, panic - for the entire dance - if you could call it that! Despite this I was really pleased with him. In the end he did manage a nice kiss, leg crosses both ways, spanish walk in two directions, and finished with a lovely bow - you just had to pick the tricks out from all the messing around in between! Although his repertoire is far far wider, the fact that he managed to concentrate enough to do anything is quite an achievement for him - he is far higher strung than Tinker and I always knew he'd be harder to focus. Hopefully when he's in an outdoor arena the atmosphere will be less intense and he'll be more able to concentrate - he'd better because he WILL be in the shows this year, whether he likes it or not!

The other acts I took part in were the opening Dickensian street scene (complete with a milk yoke!); Snow White, where I was fed a poisoned apple before waking up to dance with Dan and Dante; the ridden Can-Can as Cinderella, and; the comedy vaulting on the gorgeous Percheron Daffodil, also as Cinders. We also had ridden pas-de-quatres, a roman riding race, carriages, Laura's impressive hoop act, Caesar the donkey, Gerard and his black horse, smokey joe and of course trick riding. The two hour show was definitely full of action! Although I've not managed to get any pictures yet, people have been posting videos up on YouTube, a couple of which you can see below - have a little watch to see what we got up to!

Becca and I have an exciting day tomorrow - we're trying to start a little vaulting group at a nearby village's riding school. Becca did a taster day back in December, but it's the first official session tomorrow, so I promise to take lots of photos and tell you all about it next week!

Lastly, a very happy new year from all of us at Jive Pony, and we look forward to seeing you at a show in 2010!

Love Rosie xx

Website Update

2009-12-30T18:31:00.003Z

Our website has been given a makeover in preparation for the 2010 season! It's looks really good, and has loads of new photos and information on it. Our lovely website man Scott has been a busy boy and done a brilliant job, we're both really pleased with it! Click here to have a proper browse and see for yourself! If only Becca and I could both have a makeover too - since the frosts have thawed everything is so muddy we seem to both just be constantly filthy! I can't imagine even trying to look slightly glamourous at the moment - wading around in my wellies and stamping on muck heaps is as good as it gets, so it's a relief to know that our first show is quite a long way off!

Despite the weather I have donned the false lashes in the past week - I've been busy working over at The Devil's Horsemen Buckinghamshire base performing in their Christmas Pantomime on Horseback. I'm currently trying to get my hands on some photos so as soon as I do I will be writing all about that - however I can tell you that Tinker was his usual fantastic self, and Casper made his debut performance! Not quite so fantastic though.....

I'll tell you more soon!

Hope you and your horses all had a lovely Christmas, myself and mine certainly did!

Rosie xx

Cirque du Cheval

2009-12-12T21:16:00.012Z

I had a lovely week in Dublin last week performing at the Cirque du Cheval with the Devil's Horsemen. We left on Wednesday morning (more the middle of the night - I had to be up at 4.15am!), got the ferry from Holyhead (quite a rough crossing) and arrived at the venue at about 7pm (in the rain) - so not a very glamourous start to the week! We were the headline act at the show, and were topping the bill on all the posters and programmes - along with a big photo of yours truly!

The entire show was a couple of hours long and had loads of different acts in. There were miniature horses, a Western riding display, a fantastic Cossack trick rider - and some vaulters! There were two female vaulters from France (one of whom was half Irish), but also our very own Team GB - based just up the road in Warwickshire. Team GB are trained and organised by a lovely lady called Julie, who was one of the very first vaulting coaches in this country (along with Becca's Mum Katherin) and set up one of the original clubs. I have known Julie since I started vaulting (at the age of eleven - nearly sixteen years ago now - eeek!), but unfortunately I have only seen her a handful of times since I retired from competition in 2004. It was therefore a real treat to see her again, along with her beautiful horse Go Fast. Julie's team have been selected to represent Great Britain at the 2010 World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Kentucky next September. However, in order for them to be able to compete the squad needs to raise a massive £35 thousand - so it's all hands on deck for fundraising! If you'd like to find out more about Julie's vaulting group just visit her website, or to find out about Team GB and WEG and how to contribute to the fundraising effort click here. Julie's team will also be performing at Olympia next week so if you're lucky enough to have tickets make sure to see their display - if you've never seen team vaulting before (and even if you have) it'll be a real treat!

Back in Dublin and our act was the final one of the show, and thirty minutes long. We certainly filled our half hour slot - we had me in the standing saddle, all the boys doing a big fight with lots of falls, full drags and a horse fall, Dan and I dancing, a roman ride race, Dan performing Garrocha, and finally some trick riding and a finale - phew! The audiences were fantastic for every show, and were so positive and enthusiastic with their comments afterwards - they made us feel very special! After the show we went out to meet and greet everybody and had to sign loads of autographs, which always amuses me but hey ho! I had a different horse again for the standing saddle (Bolero the old faithful was busy filming in Cardiff and Cuthbert who did HOYS wasn't very well); one who I'd never even ridden before let alone stood on! Prince is a six year old Friesian stallion - and I am now his biggest fan! He looks really impressive, has loads of presence - and a mane about a metre long! The only problem I had was keeping him cantering for the full five laps of the arena for the entrance and the chase. He much prefers trot, and as I am unable to use my legs whilst standing on him there was very little I could do to keep him going. However, being a Freisian he can trot at about the same speed the others canter so it wasn't too much of a problem - it just didn't make for a very convincing chase scene!!

When we weren't busy with the shows we spent much of our time playing cards - there were no trade stands or shops about, and the venue was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and we had no transport so there was very little else to do! Despite this we managed to entertain ourselves! All the organisers were lovely, and looked after us really well. The show was put on by Irelands Horse and Pony Magazine, so keep an eye on their website for a full report. Judging by the success of the show I think they may be putting on a summer one next year - fingers crossed we get to go back! I've managed to collect quite a few photos from our week in Dublin, just click here to have a look at them. I've also found a video on YouTube - have a watch to see what we got up to!

Becca and I are currently trying to get our hands on some tickets for Olympia, not only is Julie there but also our old friends the Metropolitan Police with their Activity Ride. We first met them at the Suffolk Show back in May 2008, and ended up stealing shavings from their stables before they'd even arrived - oops! Jean-Francois Pignon is there too, and I could never ever tire of watching him and his beautiful horses, his liberty act is just incredible! I'll let you know if we manage to get here, and if we do who we manage to see!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Trick Training

2009-11-29T17:12:00.008Z

Well it's been a little while since I've last written, but as all is fairly quiet in the Jive Pony camp at the moment there's been very little to write about! Rebecca and I are currently spending a lot of time training our baby horses, Casper and Navvy, and as we often get asked how we train them I thought I'd share a few of our secrets!

Trick training is really very simple once you learn the basics. I have run a couple of clinics now and it's really gratifying to see that, without exception, every single horse/pony has left having learnt the basics of at least two tricks. After I start them all off at the clinic it's then up to the owner to carry on with their education, but judging from the follow up emails, phone calls and texts I have received everyone is doing really well and the horses are learning fast! I also have a couple of people who were unable to attend a clinic but who I have gone and taught on a one to one basis, again with rewarding results.

So, for all of you who ask how, here is a summary of the four basic components to trick training - consistency, patience, repetition and reward - follow these and you won't go far wrong!

Consistency

It is vital to decide on a suitable cue before you start training any trick, and once chosen the cue must be stuck to consistently throughout the training. This is necessary to prevent your horse from becoming confused. There are numerous types of cue:

* touch, in the form of a tickle or nudge

* sound, either words or noises

* visual, using body language or props.

Cues can be used on their own or in conjunction with other cues. You can choose your own cues for each trick, but careful thought needs to be given whilst choosing, as once training has commenced the cue must not be altered. Consistency is absolutely essential!

Patience

The saying 'Patience is a Virtue' is never more true than when it comes to trick training. Your horse must remain comfortable throughout the training session and confident in what he is learning. This can take time and is something that must not be rushed. If your horse becomes confused or distressed during a training session it is imperative you take him back to a stage where he is comfortable and feels safe in his knowledge. Remember that you want your horse to be successful, so take very small training steps and raise your expectations slowly. Some tricks take longer to learn than others and you must judge by your horse's behaviour how much you can do during each session. Pushing trick training will just result in poorly trained, unreliable tricks and a stressed horse. Trying to do too much too fast will always cause trouble!

Repetition

Repeating each stage of every trick numerous times is necessary to ensure your horse learns the trick thoroughly. Each stage must be repeated until your horse produces the required behaviour without fail every time he is asked. You cannot ask for something and expect to get it on a consistent basis unless you have gone through a thorough and successful teaching process with him. Only when the desired behaviour is being produced on demand should you move onto the next stage. If your horse becomes confused you will have to take him back a step to where he is comfortable and repeat the lesson over and over until you are sure he is ready to move on to the next stage. The smaller each stage is the more confident your horse will be with the finished trick.

Reward

Correct rewarding is crucial to trick training. Your horse must be rewarded immediately when he performs the desired behaviour, be this a finished trick or an attempt to please during training. When starting a new trick this is especially important, and timing is everything. You must learn to recognise, and reward, even the smallest 'tries' on your horse's part. However, the reward must not be given until the horse tries to give the desired behaviour, otherwise the reward is for 'free', and he has not had to work for it. To start with the desired behaviour may only be a tiny movement in the correct direction but it must be rewarded immediately. Immediate reward allows the horse to associate the cue with the performed behaviour, and reassures him that he is doing the right thing. Failure to reward your horse correctly when he performs the desired behaviour will result in a horse that soon looses interest. The most effective way to reward your horse is with a food based treat of some kind. This can be apple, carrot or other feed or treat. However, each treat must be small, as you should leave your horse wanting more in order for him to carry on trying to please you! It is also important to accompany the reward with verbal praise, and remember to always sound as if you mean it - mumbling 'good boy' will mean nothing to him, you need to exclaim it!

It is the combination of consistency, patience, repetition and reward that leads to successful trick training. All are of equal importance and none can be discarded! The clearer and more specific you are about what you want your horse to do, the easier it is for him to learn. You cannot expect your horse to understand something you haven't taught him, so begin by asking a little and rewarding a lot, build on stages slowly to avoid confusion, and before you know it you'll be there!

Once your horse has mastered a trick you can be very proud of both him and yourself. However, the work doesn't stop there! Correct rewarding remains of great importance. Every time you ask him for a trick you must ensure it is performed correctly before rewarding him. If he only puts a bit of effort in, doesn't get it quite right, but still gets rewarded his tricks will become careless, and all the effort you both put into learning will be wasted! This applies to both of you though! You must still be consistent with your cues, explain to him clearly what it is that you want, and reward him correctly when he carries out the desired behaviour - sloppy training leads to sloppy tricks!

Trick training is a never ending journey. No matter how many tricks your horse knows, there will always be more out there that he doesn't. Use your imagination, use your horse's imagination, and the possibilities are endless! Each horse has his own personality, and therefore his own imagination. For example, Tinker ALWAYS yawns whenever he has either his headcollar or bridle on or off, so I simply put a cue to him every time he did it, rewarded him, and can now get him to yawn on demand! I applied the same process to Casper, who is forever curling his top lip up, and now he can 'smile' on cue!

I hope this has shed some light on the methods we both use to train our boys - we certainly don't just sit around twiddling our thumbs all winter!

I'm off to Dublin on Tuesday with The Devil's Horsemen for a week. We're doing a big show out there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so I'll take lots of pictures and tell you all about it when I get back next week. In the meantime I hope all of you and your horses and ponies are well and happy and wrapped up against the horrible November weather - Tinker and Casper certainly are!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

What Tim did next...

2009-11-08T11:50:00.004Z

It's not only Rebecca and I who have to find other means of entertaining and supporting ourselves now our season is over - Tim and Alex found themselves at a bit of a loose end come Monday 21st September ( the day after our last show, the Midland Gamefair). But neither of them hung around for long, and here's what Tim has been getting up to...

As the Jive Pony season only lasts so long a glamourous assistant must find other thing to occupy his time and feed his belly. Of late I have been working for a company called Tula Engineering, building and restoring vintage Buggatti racing cars. My new boss has very strong links with Nick Mason (the drummer from Pink Floyd) and had been asked to take his son racing for the weekend in their 1923 Buggatti Brescia. Unfortunately his son had an exam and couldn't make it. I was only to happy to step into his place and found myself on Friday heading across to Prestene in Wales for the VSCC hill climbing trial. The event entails driving up the steepest, muddiest hills the organisers can find. The driver must negotiate his car up the hill gaining points all the way to the top, where you get a maximum of 25 points for completing the course. I was going to be the passenger throughout the event - affectionately known as a Bouncer! It's the bouncer's job to try and create as much traction as possible by bouncing up and down, wiggling and leaning - not so different from my role as a glamourous assistant!

Saturday morning I was dragged out of bed at dawn to bump start the car for its 100 mile test. Not necessarily a good omen but pretty ordinary for cars that are nearly ninety years old. A few hours later we were given our score cards and drove through the town on the way to the first hill. We let the tyres down and blasted all the way up to the top spraying mud everywhere! The trickier hills were yet to come, but we'd made a good start to the weekend - only 2 points behind the leader by the end of the day! The only thing left to do was go to the pub.

Sunday was the main day and we had 12 hills to complete. We were in one of the best cars at the event worth £140,000 and my driver Charles (also my boss) has been doing this for 20 years. We were the bookies favorite at 4 to 1 and were keen to win yet anther pewter cup for the trophy shelf. First hill 25 points, second hill 25 points, third hill... 5. We drifted a little off line onto some wet grass and lost all traction, nothing I could do would help and we ground to a halt. A little embarrassed (pride does come before a fall) we drove off before our friends waiting at the top could come down and laugh. At the next hill we took off from the line and didn't slow down all the way to the top, but no matter what we did now we couldn't win, so instead of breaking the car we drove a little more cautiously from there on in. At the end all the old Bentleys, Austins, Rileys, Fords etc parked up in a field covered in mud, and all the old men in wax jackets and woolly jumpers stood around eating jacket potatoes and talking cars. We weren't too disappointed not to have won, and the fresh air and wind in your face driving in an open top car always makes me grin.

Bugatti hill climb photos.

Showman's Show, Trick Training Clinic and Fun Ride

2009-10-26T22:25:00.003Z

It's been a busy week in the Jive Pony camp this week. Becca and I went down to the Newbury Showground for the Showman's Show on Thursday, although only for a couple of hours this year - last year we spent two whole days there! We didn't have a stand this year as we hadn't decided we are definitely going out next year until last week, but as it's full steam ahead for 2010 now we thought we'd better show our faces and try to chat up some show organisers! We had a really fun day, and caught up with lots of friends including Dingle Fingle, Michael Murty, Felix and Felix, and Karina, as well as meeting lots of new ones such as Queen Victoria and Lady Charlotte Ponsonby, and Bjorn the Polar Bear! Have a look at the videos below to see Bjorn, he's fantastic and so realistic - although I can't begin to imagine how hot it must be for the poor person inside him! Bjorn is produced by the same company as Felix and Felix (who taught us some stunt penny farthing riding last year), have a look at their website to see all the amazing things they do - and make sure you check out their videos! I also managed to take a few photos during the day, just click here to have a look at them.

Saturday was the day for my very first Trick Training Clinic, and to say I was nervous was an understatement! It had come around so quickly I couldn't believe it, and before I knew it people were turning up with their horses and it was time to go. Despite being worried I wouldn't have much interest I ended up with ten people and horses, three people on a waiting list and two paying spectators - happy days! Unfortunately the weather was miserable, and rained almost continuously throughout the whole day. However, everybody stuck at it, and by the end of the day there wasn't a single horse (or pony!) that hadn't learnt at least one trick! There were a couple of little girls with their ponies who impressed me so much, one in particular was doing leg crosses, kisses, cuddles, saying no (head shake) and starting to paw on command all by the end of one afternoon! There were also a couple of Arabs who picked things up really quickly too - far quicker than either of my boys! All the horses did really well, concentrating far more than any of their owners expected, especially given the appalling weather!

I had real fun teaching people, although at times I found it difficult because I could see the horse nearly had it but wasn't being corrected or rewarded properly, and I had to resist the urge to step in and take over. Teaching people to teach their own horses is far harder than just teaching the horses themselves! It was also quite strange watching groups of people doing the same thing that I do so often, and doing it so well!

I'd taken both my boys along in order to do little demonstrations, and neither of them let me down. It was the first time Casper had ever done anything to an audience before, so I was quite nervous, especially as it was blowing a gale and really raining. However, he was brilliant and did all his tricks perfectly - he's definitely going to be in our shows next year! Tinker was also fabulous, doing a beautiful dance to music at the end of the day to round things off - he even got a round of applause!

I was really busy throughout the whole day, and consequently forgot to take a single photo! I was really annoyed with myself when I realised, but I'll definitely take some next time. Due to the amount of interest I've had I'm organising another one for the 21st November. Book quickly to avoid disappointment - I've already got three people booked in! Lastly a huge thankyou to Rich for letting me use his school (and apologies for Casper eating a rail!), and for setting up a brilliant little marquee for people to shelter under - not sure what we'd have done without it! Also thanks to Tor for providing delicious cakes and hot drinks for everyone - and yes, I did take the leftover cakes home!

Sunday was busy too, as Becca and I took our baby boys, Casper and Navvy, to Cotswold Farm Park for a fun ride. We'd taken them to one back in June, but they're such good education for them we decided to go to another! Although the weather wasn't quite as nice as it was in June we had a brilliant day. Both the boys managed to jump (scramble over!) far more than either of them ever have before, and both really tried for us - although Casper was more trying at some points! It was lovely to be out and about in the park, it really is quite beautiful. All the trees were amazing colours, and being as we'd arrived so late and set off last we had nobody else around us - it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! They run the rides throughout the year, so we may well go back again soon - although next time I think I may take Tinker, he definitely isn't impressed when the lorry goes off without him!

Having had such a busy few days it's back to the regular normality (if you can ever call it that!) of training the horses and sorting things out for next year. We're going to be spicing the show up quite a bit for next year, we've got so many ideas and possibilities - so watch this space!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Horse of the Year Show

2009-10-15T10:17:00.006+01:00

I had a brilliant week last week up at the NEC for the Horse of the Year Show. I was there with the Devil's Horsemen, as part of their Phantom of the Opera display. I was really looking forward to the show, it's an amazing feeling performing in such a perfect arena, with lights, music, special effects and of course the huge audience!

We arrived on the Monday for two days packed full of rehearsals, before the show started on Wednesday. Unfortunately, we realised in our final rehearsal on Tuesday night that what we had planned wasn't quite working as well as we needed it to, so come Wednesday morning (with no more rehearsals to go) we completely rewrote the show and changed virtually everything we had practised! Thankfully my part was very straightforward and all things I had done before so the changes didn't really affect me!

Our first show on Wednesday went without hitch, and the audience loved it. The main part of the show involved Dan performing Garrocha with Dante, whist Natasha (the aerial artist) performed a beautiful routine on the silks. There were also opera singers on a podium in the centre of the arena - no CD's for us! Our display also had me in the standing saddle, full drags, horse falls and trick riding - we packed a lot into 15 minutes! Watch the video below to get an idea of what we got up to!

We also had plenty of time to ourselves during the week, as Wednesday to Friday we only had one performance in the evening, so ended up with about twelve hours to kill everyday! I wasted plenty of time wandering around the retail halls, watching the showjumping, showing and other displays, as well as sleeping and eating lots! There were also many people I knew there, so it was nice to catch up (and probably annoy by never going away!) with everyone, including Paul the lovely fudge man (New Cottage Fudge - his crumbly butter is amazing!); Terri and Colin Kirkwood, who are always so friendly, Terri's paintings are always so beautiful - it's one of my ambitions to one day be able to afford one of her originals! Also Tom, Abi and Emily from Dubarry, and the various massage demonstration stands where Laura and I spent A LOT of time! (My back's never felt so loose!). So sorry if we annoyed you all but thankyou for entertaining us!

Becca came up to see the show on the Saturday evening, but due to timings I didn't really get to see much of her! I think she enjoyed it though... Saturday night was also puissance night. That wall is just so huge, anyone who even contemplates jumping it instead of walking round it is mad as far as I'm concerned! (But then I do stand on and hang off horses for a living so hey ho, each to their own!). There were quite a few crashes though, I think the whole thing came down about three or four times, and at least two people fell off - all very exciting! Ellen Whitaker won in the end, riding one of the most superb rounds. Her horse was being so difficult it was incredible that she stayed on let alone got it to jump. As Becca said, she was 'the mutts nuts!'

The rest of the weekend went well and before we knew it it was Sunday night and we were in the finale. This was a bit different to the other displays and I had to sit behind Dan on Dante's bottom for the duration. This normally isn't a problem, but Dante wasn't in a very cooperative mood this time! He was full of himself and kept whizzing around, making it very difficult to sit there looking elegant! He'd also had coat shine put on him all week (thanks Karina!), and I had my shiny tights on, so all in all it was VERY difficult! We were positioned right by the Sky box in the corner of the arena, and although I've not seen their broadcast, apparently all you can see behind the presenters is Dan, Dante and me, and Laura on Benz, doing anything but standing still - very embarrassing! Once everyone was in the arena we all sung Auld Lang Syne and the National Anthem (except me who was too busy hanging on and Dan who was too busy swearing at Dante in Spanish!). They then had the reading of the Ode to the Horse, which is so beautiful and really captures how lucky we are to have horses in our lives. It never fails to make me cry! It was finally time to leave the arena, and after everyone had filed out the final spectacle of the 2009 Horse of the Year Show was Dante rearing in the spotlight. Beautiful. Except that he did such an enormous rear, he was practically vertical. Both Dan and I thought he was going to come over backwards on top of us at one point, and I honestly have no idea how I stayed on. If he'd have stayed up for another fraction of a second I'd have been gone, and that would have easily been the most embarrassing moment of my life (second only to the episode at last years mini HOYS!). Thankfully I stayed on, and even managed to let go on the way out! And at least it looked impressive!!

All in all it was a fantastic week, and I managed to get a lot of photos, just click here to see them. I'm now in full preparation mode for my first Trick Training Clinic, which is taking place next Saturday. Despite being worried that it wouldn't be very popular, I've managed to fill all nine places, have a waiting list and have paying spectators coming! I'd better make it good! Wish me luck and I'll let you know how I get on!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Ode to the Horse

Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy or beauty without vanity?

Here, where grace is laced with muscle, and strength by gentleness confined.
He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity.

There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.

There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient.
England’s past has been borne on his back. All our history is his industry; we are his heirs, he our inheritance.
The Horse!

By Ronald Duncan

Becca's Annie Oakley

2009-10-04T15:21:00.005+01:00

Becca spent last week in Paris as Annie Oakley and has written all about it for the blog - enjoy!

As for me, I'm off to the NEC for a week tomorrow to be part of the Devil's Horsemen display at Horse of the Year Show - so I'll tell you all about that next week!

So with the Jive Pony season finished I had one day to get the lorry cleaned out, the costumes washed and stored and then it was back off to Disneyland Paris to reprise my part time role as the gun toting Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show! I was really excited to go back and see everyone I had met in April, however I was a little apprehensive as I hadn't fired a gun since then let alone fired one whilst whizzing around on horse back, all the time hoping the horse remembers the show better than me!

The early morning start was interesting as I realised I had forgotten my phone halfway to Oxford but didn't have enough time to go back and get it, a mistake that I was to find out later in the week was far more than inconvenient! But anyway the rest of the journey was smooth apart from the fact that I had packed so much stuff I was a little worried I may have to buy another ticket for my bag! However, thankfully I arrived unscathed and got down to work straight away. The first day back was a refresher with the two 38 millimeter pistols and the Winchester rifle that Annie is so famous for. We shot a lot of shells, in fact so many that the Winchester got hot and we had to have a little break, but it was a great feeling to fire the guns again. Over the next few days we went over the script and rode horses, tried out hair and make up, and did research on Annie.

It really is pretty cool over there. There is someone to groom and tack up your horse, do your hair and make up and help you get dressed. A far cry from sticking your slap on in the back of the Jive Pony lorry and having to do all your own mucking out!! Anyway Friday was my first show day and I couldn't wait. However, I'd been to a BBQ on the Thursday evening and I think I must have eaten a dodgy sausage because Friday morning I was really really not at all well. I'm not going into detail, but trust me it was not good! So I had to phone in sick, but guess what, that's right - I had no phone. I therefore had to drag myself out of bed and go and figure out the french phone card system, which at the best of times is confusing but when you're ill it's horrendous!! I got to the point of wanting to stick a fork in my eye for some light relief! Anyway to cut a long story short another Annie was brought in (thanks Elana!). I woke up on Saturday morning with trepidation hoping I was OK, and........I was, phew! I had a great time doing the shows on Saturday to a completely packed arena, the atmosphere was awesome and the shows went really well. I shot a few "gofers" which is when your gun goes off by mistake (whoops!) but other than that it was great. The Buffalo Bill I worked with this time was called Geoffrey and he was so wonderful, he made me laugh all the time. We had a little session of singing some show tunes and doing some musical theatre dancing in the corridor, very amusing! I also got to see the inside of Buffalo Bill's Dressing room, but no pictures, top secret!

I stayed an extra day on Sunday to make up for missing Friday and was really glad I did as we had another couple of very fun shows, with the cowboys playing some very funny tricks in the show as it was one of their birthdays! I managed to take a few pictures of training and back stage to show you a sneaky peak of what goes on, just click here to see them - hope you like them!

I'm back home now and training the new boy Navvy who is coming along great, and I'm going to watch Rosie perform at HOYS on Friday, can't wait!

So until the next installment, lots of love, Rebecca aka Annie Oakley! XX

Midland Gamefair

2009-09-21T11:08:00.005+01:00

Our 2009 season is over! We finished it off with one of our very favourite shows, the Midland Gamefair at Weston Park in Shropshire. Last year we had a fantastic time at this show, so we were really looking forward to going back. We were there for a two day duo so on Friday Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker, Tim and Alex set off on the relatively short journey (only 70 miles this time!) and arrived a couple of hours later with no mishaps on the way - hooray!

One of the main reasons we love this show is that we get to see so many friends, and sure enough the first person to greet us when we arrived was the lovely Robin Gee! Last time we saw Robin was at the CLA Gamefair back in July, when he was our knight in fluorescent armour after the lorry blow out! We caught up with loads of other people too, including: Willowe, who always looks after us so well; Paul (Cyril the Squirrel); Gus Dermody, who is retiring from the show circuit to concentrate more on trialling, and will be much missed along with his fantastic dogs; John Lamb, the main ring commentator, who along with promoting my blog by describing it as 'a wonderful dissertation' also managed to embarrass me by announcing I would be signing on at the Job Centre after this weekend! And not forgetting Tom and the rest of the Dubarry team for their excellent customer service and free champagne! Becca and I both have a shiny new pair of boots now, so big thankyous to Dubarry for Becca's and Becca for mine!

There were also lots of other things going on in the ring including displays by some gorgeous heavy horses and some tiny miniature horses, falconry, terrier racing and the fantastic Ghurka Band who always impress us with their style and precision. There's quite a few photos from the weekend (lots taken by John Lamb - thankyou!), just click here to have a look at them.

As per last year the weather was glorious all weekend, and all our shows went well. We did have one slight problem though - we managed to forget our roman riding strap - oops! Luckily we realised before the first show otherwise it would have been a disaster! We used my belt in the end - not ideal but a good substitute! The boys were fantastic (apart from Tinker deciding to engage his turbo boost gear at the end of the first show - soooo fast!!). The crowds were also amazing, especially Chris and Mike, who had a clothing stall next to the arena and stood on the tables during our strip and ROARED their encouragement!! We also saw a lot of Grease arms which always makes us smile, so if you were there - thankyou for making our last shows so memorable!

When we came out of the arena for the final time on Sunday afternoon both Becca and I felt quite emotional. We've had an eventful year this year starting right back in April at the Mid Suffolk Show, and some days have been harder than others. Overall though it has been fantastic. Becca and I are so lucky to have Tim and Alex, who work together so well and really are far more than just our glamourous assistants - monkeys we salute you! And of course Tinker and Ronan. They are just the most fabulous horses and we really couldn't do any of it without them. They keep us sane when things are crazy and always try their utmost and give their all, even after spending hours on the lorry being driven for miles around the country. They make us laugh, and sometimes cry, but they are always there, always willing, calm and patient, and I cannot express how much we love them both, they really mean the world to us. Boys - thankyou.

Whilst Tinker and Ronan are having a well earned rest, Becca and I will still be keeping busy. We both have young horses, Casper and Navvy, who are learning the ropes. They should both be ready for next year so hopefully not only will the show be able to grow, but Tinker and Ronan may be able to have a weekend off! However, it will be scary bringing out a novice horse - neither of us have done it for quite a while now, as Tinker and Ronan are both such old hands!

Becca is off to Paris tomorrow to reprise her role as Annie Oakley in Disneyland's Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and will be back and forth there throughout the winter. She also has our 2010 season to organise - which looks like it could be very very busy! Whilst I am officially unemployed (but won't be signing on, thankyou John!) I have a number of things to keep me busy. I am now qualified as a massage therapist so will be trying to pick up a few more clients over the winter - so if you'd like any treatments get in touch! I'll also be doing a bit of work for the Devil's Horsemen, and possibly Tinker will too - just so he doesn't forget everything! On top of that I'm planning to run some trick training clinics, to teach people how to teach their horses some of the things our boys can do. The first one will hopefully be at the end of October, in North Oxfordshire so, again, if you're interested get in touch!

So, although Jive Pony may have packed up it's kit for 2009, Rebecca and I certainly haven't. We're going to turn the blog into a 'Rebecca and Rosie Blog' for the winter, so you can still see what we're up to and how we're getting on.

All that remains to be said is a great big thankyou to everyone who has supported us over the season - you make it what it is. Thankyou!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Moreton Show

2009-09-07T11:23:00.005+01:00

Moreton Show - tick, done it! (Finally!) And what a brilliant day it was! It started a little unconventionally though. We were told on Friday that we either had to have the lorry on site before 5pm that day, or before 7am in the morning - and as we didn't fancy getting up at 5.30 to wash the horses and get everything ready when we weren't performing until 1.45pm, we decided to set up on Friday afternoon and then ride the horses there in the morning. So, come Saturday morning, Rebecca, Ronan, Tinker and I set off for the three mile hack to the showground! The boys seemed a little confused as to what was happening - they don't normally have a full bath just to go for a ride! Realisation dawned on them though as we approached the showground - they're not stupid those two! It was reminiscent of our approach to the CLA Gamefair, although this time wasn't quite so stressful! Both Tim and Alex were there to meet us, so we had the full team present! Have a look at the video below to see us arriving in style!

We'd been there about five minutes before we bumped into the first people we knew - and it didn't stop there! Everywhere we turned there were friends, family and acquaintances - all wanting to know what time we were on and saying they couldn't wait to see us perform! So, needless to say we were very nervous! The first show couldn't have gone better, the crowd were about four or five people deep around the entire arena, and they really got behind us - clapping, cheering, whistling, and doing the Grease arms alongside us during the roman riding! I can't describe the buzz we all get from having the support of a large audience, it really does make you feel amazing! Practically everywhere we looked around the arena there were smiling faces we recognised, so if you were there - THANKYOU!

The second show didn't go quite so well, but it was good fun nonetheless! My microphone didn't work for the initial introduction, so Tim raced over with Rebecca's but managed to spook Tinker nearly making me fall off - now that would have been embarrassing! Next Alex did manage to fall off during the volunteer part, and then Ronan had the longest wee just before the final vaulting part of the show! However, we had a good laugh at it all and the crowd reactions were still fantastic - so I don't think any of the hiccups mattered in the end! And it turns out we weren't the only ones with problems. The Kangaroo Kid managed to misjudge one of his jumps and land on one of the Mitsubishis, winding himself and damaging the roof of the truck - oops! It did make him one of the main talking points of the show though so it's not all bad!

We had such good feedback from everybody, it really made it worthwhile. We've worked very hard to get Moreton Show and the overall feeling we got was that people couldn't understand why it has taken so long. We also had two of my most favourite comments from organisers all season: 'Whatever, they're paying you, it isn't enough', and; 'When can we book you again?' In answer to the last one - NEXT YEAR!!

I can't believe it but our season has nearly come to an end. We've got one more show left - a two day duo at the Midland Gamefair, in a fortnights time. This is a lovely show that we really enjoyed last year, so it'll hopefully be a good one to finish on! I'll let you know how we get on, but in the meantime have a look at the photos from Moreton by clicking here.

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Eye Show

2009-09-02T15:15:00.011+01:00

We've just had a fantastic bank holiday weekend at the Eye Show - our fourth one of the year in Suffolk! Rebecca, Ronan, Tinker and myself set off on Saturday for the journey up the A14, and met Tim at one of the junctions. However, Tim had been standing on the windy motorway bridge waiting for us for a while, and his hair is quite long at the moment, so by the time we met him his hair was exceptionally big - as you can see from the photo above he truly looked like a mad professor! We arrived and set up with no problems at all, except that the ground was so hard we could barely get the stakes for the tent in!

We were really looking forward to the show as their arena programme was packed with loads of different acts, some we'd seen before such as the Sheep Show and the Vander Brothers Wheel of Death Extreme, and some we hadn't such as the Red Arrows and Icelandic Beer Racing. There were also dog and duck displays, dressage displays, rugby demonstrations, tree felling competitions and all sorts - we were in for a busy weekend!

Sunday was a lovely day and both our shows went really well with no mishaps - which was a nice change from our last attempts at Tysoe and Cheshire! Having turned the boys out in the arena for the evening we entertained ourselves playing bat and ball and juggling - all with limited success! We'd been warned that there was going to be a 'rather noisy' party in one of the marquees in the evening so off we all went to investigate..... and found out that it was a foam party! When they started the foam machine everybody crowded around and was soon immersed in it, before coming out looking rather bedraggled! However, because of the warning signs saying the foam could cause damage to skin and clothes, and should be showered off as soon as possible we decided to avoid it - as although our lorry does have a shower we haven't worked out how to use it yet!

Monday was another gorgeous day, and as we weren't on until 1.45 we spent the morning wandering around the showground. We watched the Vander Brother's act, and instead of being scared of the wheel we just wanted a go ourselves! Maybe if we could teach the horses to do it.... We also saw the Icelandic Beer Racing which was quite amusing. The ponies have their own special gait, called Tölting, and to demonstrate how smooth the gait is they race around holding glasses of beer (or cold tea!) - whoever has the most left at the end wins! Have a look at the little video below to see some racing!

Monday was also the day for the Red Arrows - which we were really looking forward to! I'd just got on Tinker to start warming him up when all of a sudden WHOOSH!! They appeared as if from nowhere, nine of them and extremely loud! I needn't have worried though, Tink didn't even bat an eyelid - I think they made me jump more than him! They proceeded to do the most amazing display of air acrobatics, twisting and turning, doing tight formations, and painting the sky with their coloured smoke trails. I think every single person at the show had their eyes trained to the sky for there whole performance, it really was amazing. Have a look at the videos below to see what I mean - I couldn't decide which I liked best so I've put them all up! We also took some pictures over the weekend - though unfortunately we didn't manage to get any of our shows! Click here to have a look at them.

Our shows went well again, and then it was back down the A14 and home. We're doing a duo show at Moreton Show on Saturday which we're very nervous about. It's the biggest one day agricultural show in our area and we've been trying to get it for five years, with no luck until now! So we really want it to go well, and lots of our friends and family are coming too - more pressure! I'll let you know how we get on!

Love Rosie xx

Tysoe Flower Show and Cheshire Gamefair

2009-08-17T14:10:00.007+01:00

We've just had one of the most amusing weekends of the entire season - like an extended comedy of errors! Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker and Alex set off for Tysoe Flower Show (just 15 miles down the road) on Saturday morning. Although Tim was supposed to come with us, problems with the trains meant he was going to have to cycle to the show ground from the station - not a major issue but just the first thing to go wrong during the course of the two days!

Having arrived at Tysoe we decided to set up the tent as the weather looked a bit changeable, and we didn't want a repeat of the soaking we got there a couple of years ago! We had the horses wandering about whilst we set up which was fine - until the Alpacas arrived. Now, neither Tinker nor Ronan have ever come across Alpacas before, and the Alpacas had never met horses, so all of them spent the next fifteen minutes (and the rest of the day on Tinker's part) snorting, jumping, and eyeing each other up - much to our amusement! The Alpacas were actually very sweet, and quite friendly. They had been shorn and their fleeces were incredibly soft, as were the clothes that had been produced from their yarn. The only problem I had was after I had been stroking them Tinker didn't want anything to do with me until I had washed my hands!

The first show went without incident, other than the fact I ripped a hole in my tights - annoying at £10 per pair! Although I had thought Tinker would be difficult and on his toes (because of the petrifying Alpacas) he was fantastic and did a brilliant show - hooray! However, the second show didn't run quite so smoothly... The first problem came as Rebecca ran along behind Ronan - and realised his tail was still plaited up! This isn't like a show plait, but instead just a loose plait down his entire tail in order to keep his tail clean - and none of us noticed it was still in until it was too late - oops! Rebecca managed to get most of it undone, and then carried on with the strip, which was when the problems with the music stated. The strip to the music is very choreographed but the track kept jumping all over the place, starting again at the beginning, then skipping to the end, and back to the middle. It sounded awful but Rebecca just had to carry on regardless! Thankfully we reached the end of the show without any more mishaps, we'd had enough for one day already!

Tysoe is a lovely little show and they have all sorts of things going on. There were vegetable, flower and baking classes, robot making competitions, a fun dog show, an aunt sally alley, and lots of people taking part in all of them! Katherin (Rebbecca's mum) came to see us and bought Rebecca's cousin Simeon with her. Simeon is David's brother, who came to see us at the Middlesex Show back in June, and also seem quite amused to find out what we were up to! We also met up with our friend Mike from Fuller's who we see at quite a few shows with his pair of beautiful Shires, Griffin and Pride. Tinker and Ronan especially love Mike as he always has a treat or two in his pocket for them! It's Mike's birthday on Friday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mike from all of us at Jive Pony!

Having packed the tent down it was time to set off for Knutsford, and the Cheshire Gamefair. We arrived and set up the tent (for the second time of the day), marked out the arena and settled in for the night. In the morning Alex was up bright and early as he had been invited out on hound exercise with the kennels, so whilst the rest of us were snoozing he was cycling around the countryside for two hours. Much as we all love Alex, it was a peaceful change without him in the morning!

The first show went really well. Until the very end that is. The arena was quite tricky as it was very uneven and on a bit of a slope, but had not been as difficult as we had anticipated. We'd reached the very very end of the show and were merrily waving our ribbon sticks when disaster struck. Tinker had sped up when I pulled out my ribbon stick and was going around the very edge of the arena. I was sitting on his neck with my legs crossed up by his ears when he came across a big dip in the arena, baulked at it and then jumped it! I didn't stand a chance and before I knew it I was in a big heap on the ground watching him canter off without me! I was more surprised than anything as it all happened so quickly, but I jumped up and started dancing to the music! (Probably not the best reaction but hey ho!) Tinker carried on until the other side of the arena where he stopped stock still, until I ran over and jumped back on him, pulled out my mic and closed the show with Becca. Very embarrassing but very very funny!

So, two shows and two pairs of tights down, we went into the second show praying things would go better. But it was not to be! We entered the arena with our music jumping all over the place as it had done at Tysoe (diferent CD, same problem!), and before we'd even gone down one side of the arena there was a loose dog chasing Ronan's heels. Great. So, CD reset and dog caught we carried on, with things going smoothly. Until the roman riding. I started off well, but as Becca approached for the first time things took a comedy turn for the worst. Ronan somehow managed to stand on her heel just as she jumped up, and pulled her boot clean off!! She mounted anyway and we did the opening 'Grease' arms in hysterics - it was hard to concentrate we were laughing so hard! After I had jumped off Becca then had to step over to Tinker with just a stocking clad foot (very slippery) and ram her foot under my roller to keep herself on - no mean feat (pardon the pun) when you're standing over two cantering horses on a bumpy, slopey arena! She did brilliantly though and once I'd got back on she got off, ran across the arena, retrieved her boot and put it back on, before joining me back on the horses - and we were still in time with the music! It was then my turn (again) for a mishap. During the final 'Grease' arms I had a slow motion losing of balance. I could feel myself going but there didn't seem to be anything I could do about it! At the last minute Becca grabbed my arm, just as I grabbed the handles on my roller, managed to right myself, and we finished perfectly! But it was easily the most amusing roman ride we've ever done - and I am giggling away to myself as I'm writing from the memory of it!!

Thankfully the rest of the show went without a hitch - I don't think we could have coped with much more! We then packed down and set off for home. We've not got any shows this weekend, so I'm off to do a Wild West show with the Devil's Horsemen - no rest for the wicked! Our next show is over the bank holiday weekend at Goodrich Park, so I'll tell you all about that when we get back. In the mean time, click here to see the photos from the weekend - and see if you can spot some of the things I've told you about! (And just to mention some of the other things I haven't told you about: Tim nearly crashing Ronan into us during the safety announcement; Ronan's roller slipping just before I had to vault on him; Becca slipping a bit too much when Tim knocked her off Ronan during the volunteer part; Rebecca and I jumping the boys over some cross country jumps in our vaulting tack, and; the daddylonglegs that nearly made me fall off the lorry roof! All in all, a funny weekend!!)

Lots of love

Rosie xx

H Factor Competition and Danson Fair

2009-08-11T14:46:00.005+01:00

We've just had another busy weekend, although this one was slightly different to what we're used to! On Saturday the whole team (Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker, Tim and Alex) set off for Addington Manor Equestrian Centre to take part in the H Factor competition. It was a bit strange when we arrived as there were lots of people we sort of knew but, as it was a competition, everyone seemed to be sizing one another up and we all felt a bit awkward! It's been quite a few years since either Rebecca, Tim or I have competed, but the memories came flooding back - along with the nerves! I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time I felt so nervous. Not only were we to perform in front of five judges but also, as there was no public involved, to an audience consisting of purely horsey people involved in the same sphere as us!

There were nine acts there, and we knew three of them, so we eventually plucked up the courage to go and talk to them. It turned out everybody was just as nervous, so we all decided to just go for it and have as much fun as possible - easier said than done when you're as anxious as we were! Our turn came around just before lunchtime, so we had everybody else watching us, and before we knew it we were on! The boys were brilliant and in general it all went really well. There were a few bits that didn't go as smoothly as usual because we'd cut the show to fit into the twenty minute slot, but all in all we felt good about it. The one thing that took us by surprise was that by the end of the roman riding we were miles in front of the music - because we were doing it in an arena the area we were covering was much smaller, so our running and swapping over had taken far less time than usual, but better that way round than running out of time! My favourite part was right at the end (!!) when we were both standing up waving our ribbon sticks with Tinker cantering about two lengths behind Ronan - I could have practically reached forwards and caught Becca's ribbons!

We managed to watch a few of the other acts, and saw some amazing trick riding, some beautifully trained horses and dogs, jousting, and some crazy pony driving carriage jumping! I only managed to take a few photos as cameras were forbidden, but click here to see them. Then we had to wait for the results. The plan was that three acts were going to be chosen to go through to the final to perform again with the winners being announced at the end of the evening. So we all sat around nervously with our fingers crossed hoping for good news. But, unfortunately it was not to be. Alex had heard the result whilst the rest of us were back at the lorry, and just walked towards us shaking his head. We were gutted. They had also changed the plans, and had selected four acts. They were going to amalgamate two of the acts and have the final resulting three perform at the British Open in April with the public deciding who should go on to perform at Horse of the Year Show the following October.

The acts they had chosen were the two trick riding acts, a quadrille act of twenty horses and riders, and the jousting. Whilst we were congratulating everyone on getting through we were gratified to be told by many people how surprised they were that we hadn't been selected - not quite the same as being chosen but pleasing none the less! Following the announcement we went to see the judges for some feedback, which turned out to be very positive and very constructive. The main problem they had had with us was that our act simply wasn't fast enough. Whereas trick riding is performed at a gallop, vaulting is better suited to a collected canter, something which both Rebecca and I have worked very hard at training our horses to achieve (especially Tinker!). Also, whilst comparable, trick riding and vaulting are two very different disciplines, as are, for example, cross country and show jumping, so to try and increase our speed to that similar to trick riding would go against the very ethos of vaulting. However, speed was what they wanted so unfortunately we couldn't deliver. But never mind, hopefully one day we'll get there - just not this year! They also gave us some other helpful pointers about flow and focus, which we've taken on board and are working on!

On Sunday morning we once again set off bright and early, this time on our way to Danson Park for a one day solo show. This is a lovely little show, and one we had done a couple of years ago - albeit with a much smaller team! We had a lovely day catching up with lots of friends we hadn't seen since last year, especially Charlie, Emma, Tilly, Izzy, Randall and Geoff! Although our shows went well we did have some trouble with the microphone. In the first show it kept cutting in and out, and for the second show it refused to work at all unless I was standing in the corner of the arena facing the music tent! It's not easy commentating a show with your back to the arena! The weather was glorious though and we had a brilliant time. We saw the Horkesley Park Suffolk Punches, along with their beautiful new arrival - a fourteen week foal, who already weighed 190 kilos! And at the end of the day we got to play on the giant selection of inflatables! Have a look at the video below to see us on the slide - brilliant fun until you realised how many friction burns it gave you!

This weekend is busy again, with solo shows at Tysoe Flower Show (very local to us) on Saturday, before driving up to Knutsford for the Cheshire Game Fair where we're performing our duo shows on Sunday. I'll let you know how we got on next week!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Thornton le Dale Show

2009-08-07T12:21:00.003+01:00

We had a lovely day on Wednesday at the Thornton le Dale Show - and managed the journey there and back without incident! Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker and Alex set off on Tuesday morning for the 190 mile five hour journey to Yorkshire - we're really putting in the miles this week! Having arrived and set up (with help from the lovely Jack!), we went off to explore the village (and pub!) for the evening. On our return who should we see wondering around in the dark outside the tent but Tinker! It's very rare that we leave the tent and horses by themselves, and Tinker has never escaped before (its usually Ronan's speciality!), but the naughty little monkey had apparently been running amok around the showground refusing to be caught by anyone! Having successfully returned the miscreant to his stable we were then sorting them out for the night only for Tinker to walk straight out of his stable again! He obviously had the taste for freedom and Yorkshire grass - Tinker by name...!

There was loads to see at the show and as our first performance wasn't until 1.30pm we had time to walk around and enjoy everything. We saw goats, sheep, cattle, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, pigeons and pigs. One of the pigs, a British Saddleback was soooo enormous - I've never seen a pig so big, she looked like a beached whale! Another of the pigs was so exhausted by her hectic day she had fallen fast asleep, and was snoring so loudly you could hear her from miles away - I'm sure we heard her before we saw her! And I had to take a video of her...

There was also lots of different horse classes, including: ridden fancy dress; heavy horse with foal at foot (gorgeous shire babies); decorated horse (shires covered with lots of flowers and brasses - they looked amazing); authentic driving (a lovely little butchers cart, and the most gorgeous coloured driving horse - I would have taken him home if I could!). There were also falconry demonstrations, terrier racing, and displays by the Kangaroo Gymnastic team - who were very very bouncy! To see all the photos from the day just click here - there's quite a few!

Although the day had started off rainy by the time our performances came around it was gloriously sunny - and very hot in all our costumes! Both our shows went really well and although the boys were still quite tired they definitely enjoyed themselves. The crowds were brilliant and really got behind us - and we saw some grease arms going alongside us!

We're doing something a bit different tomorrow, taking part in a competition called the H Factor (!). It's for Grandstand Media who organise lots of big shows such as Horse of the Year Show and the British Open. It's our dream to get into the big indoor shows like these - to perform under the lights with a bit of production behind us would be really special - so we're going to be trying our hardest to impress them! Wish us luck and keep you fingers crossed for us! Then on Sunday we're off down to Danson Park for a day of solo shows. We've done this show before and are really looking forwards to catching up with some old friends who we've not seen for a while. So, it's another busy weekend for us, and I'll tell you all about it next week!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Dumfries Agricultural Show and Gower Show

2009-08-03T15:42:00.005+01:00

Phew! We made it! This weekend was one of the hardest we had lined up for the whole season, as it involved driving over 800 miles! So, on Friday morning Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker and Alex set off for Dumfries, Scotland. We'd been driving for about two and a half hours when all of a sudden BANG! We'd had another blow out. We'd only just had one the previous week on our way to the CLA Gamefair, but now we still had 180 miles to go - too far to ride the horses this time!

Having rung the road rescue people again (we're now practically on first name terms with them!) we managed to limp off at the next junction and find a place to park, unloaded the horses and waited. Not for long though! Becca barely had time to clean Ronan up (who had managed to make an incredible mess of himself - his best yet!) before the lovely tyre man, Scott, came and sorted us out. We were back on the road again within an hour of the blow out - a new record for us!

So we trucked on and finally arrived at Dumfries, eight hours after we set off! Having set up we went to investigate our arena, and couldn't believe the size of it! It was easily the biggest we have ever come across, even larger that the one at Oswestry last year - and we'd thought that was huge! Thankfully, the organisers agreed to rope off one third of it for our performance - but it was still quite large! Saturday morning dawned wet and miserable, and we were convinced we were going to get absolutely soaking during the two duo shows. However, it wasn't as bad as we'd anticipated, we managed to only have a couple of showers during our performances - and we learnt we can roman ride in the rain! Although there was lots of other things going on at the show we didn't really get time to look around, as we were too busy trying to get everything ready for a rapid departure after our second show. But we did see some amazing heavy horse driving pairs and teams - the sun shone for them too and they looked absolutely beautiful, really impressive!

We managed a quick getaway and were on the road for the 380 miles down to Gower. Thankfully the trip was mostly motorway, the journey passed without incident, and we arrived on site at about 2.30am, nine hours of journey time behind us. However, that was when our troubles started. They had had nothing but rain for the past fortnight and the ground was too soft for us to drive onto our pitch. After trying various different approaches for a while (and nearly burning our clutch out in the process!) we realised the only option was to go and wake the tractor man so he could tow us on. So there we were, at 3am in the morning, having the lorry towed backwards onto our pitch. Have a look at the video below to see our stylish arrival at the Gower Show!

Having finally stopped in the right place it was time to set up, but despite appearances to the contrary the ground was actually really hard - those stakes took a lot of knocking in! Thankfully it wasn't raining, and the sky was just beautiful - I can't remember the last time I saw so many stars! At last we'd set up and settled the horses and it was time for bed - 4.30am and not a moment too soon.

Luckily our first show wasn't until 12 noon, so we had a bit of time to recover in the morning. One of the first people to come and see us was the tractor man from the middle of the night, turns out he was actually the show director - oops!! He (John) was lovely though - and promised to come and tow us back out at the end of the day! We weren't the only ones with problems with the ground though. The Rockwood Dog Display team's lorry got stuck up the slope to it's pitch, as did the tractor towing it, as did the second tractor also towing it! In the end they decided to leave it at the bottom of the slope, so then had to tow it backwards, but also keep a tractor on the front to keep it straight - it looked like a giant tractor tug of war!

The weather was glorious and both our solo shows went really well. Tinker and Ronan were both very tired, but tried their hearts out during the shows and both did brilliantly. We really are so so lucky to both have such incredible horses. We love you boys! Unfortunately we only managed to get photos of the second solo show (thankyou Claire for taking so many!), but you can see them and others from the weekend by clicking here. Having been towed off the site, we travelled the 150 mile journey home, arriving back after four hours.

So there you have it - three days, 800 miles, three countries, two shows, four performances, twenty-one hours driving and one very tired Jive Pony team! We've got today off but then tomorrow we're off up to Thornton le Dale (only 190 miles away - easy!) for a one day duo show on Wednesday. I'll let you know how we got on later in the week!

Love Rosie xx

CLA Gamefair

2009-07-27T13:55:00.007+01:00

We've just had an absolutely fantastic weekend at the CLA Gamefair, a show that we always look forward to and love being part of. However, not everything went smoothly! Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker, Alex and Rachel set off on Thursday for Belvoir Castle, with Tim due to meet us there. We had almost reached the site (we could see the castle) when BANG! We had a blow out on the lorry! Alex took one of the bikes on a reconnaissance mission and reported back that we were only a few miles away, so having rung the road rescue people (they know us quite well by now!) Rebecca and I decided the best course of action was to ride the horses the rest of the way.

So we set off, bareback, leaving the stranded lorry behind us! Although we had directions from Alex we had only gone a hundred yards or so when I spotted a bridleway signposted Belvoir. Do we take a risk and hope it's a shortcut, or do we follow the road the way we've been told? We decided on the bridleway, and it was gorgeous! We ended up riding through some beautiful woods, open fields and farm tracks before rejoining the road - and the gamefair traffic! Riding along the road we spotted a helicopter, which decided to start up and take off just as we were going past - good job the boys had had helicopter training last weekend at the Chilterns Show, they weren't fazed at all! We finally arrived at the site in true style, as you can see from the video below!

But then we had to try and find out where to go! By following our little site map and asking stewards we finally found the stables, put the horses in a couple of empty ones, and then tried to find a lift back to the lorry. Luckily the first people we saw were lovely Robin Gee and Willowe, who always look after us at the gamefair, and Robin became our knight in fluorescent armour and offered us a lift. Unfortunately, because we'd taken the bridleway we weren't too sure whereabouts the lorry was in relation to the roads! Thankfully Robin knew the area well and having described where we had stopped we soon found it - and it turned out our shortcut had cut off a good two miles of road - brilliant!

We arrived back at the lorry just as the tyre man was starting work, and a few minutes later - new tyre!! The old tyre had a massive hole in it, explaining why it had sounded like a small explosion when it blew! Olly the tyre man was brilliant, he got us back on the road (with air in our other tyres too) really quickly, so huge thanks to him! So it was back to the site for a second time, but this time we knew the way! We managed to set up in record time, with the boys and Rachel putting the tent and stables up whilst Rebecca and I marked the arenas out - and all before it got dark! Due to all the drama we were exhausted by the time we got to bed - and we had ten shows to do over the next three days!

Friday was our busiest day, with the duo show in the main arena in the morning, then the two solo shows one after another in the mini ring in the afternoon, and then a parade in the main arena in the evening - it was non-stop all day! Everything went really well and although we were tired we ended up spending much of the night at the Dubarry party - something I regretted the following morning! Saturday was a gorgeous day, and once again all our shows went really well. As we were waiting to go into the main arena for the duo show in the morning the main commentator for the show, John Lamb, started telling the crowds all about Jive Pony. Nothing unusual there. But then he told them about the website, and then about my blog! I was gobsmacked and delighted! John went on to say how he never misses it and keeps up to date with all our antics every week! So a special hello to John and thankyou!

Saturday evening was lovely and warm, and as we were enjoying sitting outside eating our supper (head chef Tim excelled himself again) a series of hot air balloons took off from the grounds and flew overhead. The evening was really idyllic and bought home to us how lucky we are to live the life that we do. The horses were grazing nearby, all around us people were laughing and having a good time and the sun was shining - who could ask for more!

Sunday came around all too quickly and, having done three more shows, before we knew it it was time to pack up and go home! Unfortunately Rebecca and I were too busy throughout the days to have a look around the show, but Tim and Alex managed to go for a bit of a wander - and took the camera with them! Have a look at all their photos and loads of others from the weekend by clicking here. Our good weather luck also held and over the whole weekend, which was forecast to be VERY rainy, we only got slightly rained on a couple of times, and never very much. The same couldn't be said for our old friends Doug and Ella, who got caught out in an enormous thunderstorm during one of their displays, and got completely soaked through!

All in all we had a brilliant weekend. Not only were we visited by lots of lovely friends but we caught up with many people we haven't seen in ages. Special thankyous to the wonderful Robin Mackenzie, who always looks after us so well, Robin Gee and Willowe, Darby and Matilda, and John and Mark, plus anyone else I've forgotten - THANKYOU! (And hope to see you soon!) Also a big thankyou to anyone who watched one of our shows, as all our audiences were fantastic. Never have we heard a crowd roar as much as they did on Saturday morning during the roman riding in the duo show. We saw so many people doing the 'Greased Lightning' arms along with us it was amazing - and a sight I won't forget in a while!

We've got another monster of a weekend coming up. We up to Dumfries (275 miles) on Friday for a duo show on Saturday, then driving down to Gower (380 miles) overnight for a solo show on Sunday, before driving home (147 miles). That's 802 miles altogether (!!!) so fingers crossed we don't have any more blow outs and all of us and the lorry survive! I'll let you know how it goes...

Love Rosie xx

Chilterns Show

2009-07-20T16:59:00.007+01:00

We've just had a fantastic weekend at the Chilterns Show in Great Missenden. We were there for a two day duo so Ronan, Tinker, Alex and myself set off in the lorry on Friday, with Rebecca following in her car, and Tim due to meet us on site. We arrived in the pouring rain, got absolutely soaking setting up, and really weren't looking forwards to performing in the continuous torrential rain that had been forecast. However, the Jive Pony good weather luck we've been having all season continued and although it rained before (so much so the organisers offered for us to pull the show), in between and after all our shows, not once did we get rained on whilst actually performing! Hurrah!

All the shows went well, although they weren't our easiest. The arena was on quite a slope, and after all the rain was very slippery, but our boys were fantastic and really looked after us - especially in the Roman Riding which was quite tricky in some points (think cantering fast downhill and around a corner, on slippery grass standing on the backs of two horses)!! There was also a helicopter taking off and landing quite close to the arena which although didn't bother Tinker or Ronan meant we couldn't hear any of our music - choreographing schmoreographing!! Despite the difficulties the shows were all really enjoyable - we don't let little things like helicopters get in our way!

There was lots of other entertainment during the two days, such as flyball, mounted games (those ponies can really shift!), ferret racing, falconry displays and a strong man competition. On Sunday we saw Britain's Strongest Man (who was absolutely HUGE!) set a new world record by dead lifting 365kgs - nearly sixty stones!! And he made it look easy! The falconry displays were fascinating, and were the same we'd seen before at the Middlesex Show (where the enormous vulture flew over me and Tinker) - and the birds were still massive! Although Ben's (the lovely bird man) birds are all amazingly well trained, in his show he tells stories of how one bird bit him one hundred and eleven times during a twenty one day training session, and also how he had one bite his tongue whilst he was talking to it! I think I'll stick to the horses!! Have a look at the little video below to see just how big one of the birds is - and this wasn't even the largest!! You can find out more about Ben and his birds by visiting his website.

After our final show on Sunday afternoon who should come and introduce himself but lovely Lloyd the helicopter pilot! Having teasingly berated him for causing us such difficulties throughout our shows, I asked if we could have a ride in his chopper - and he said yes! Before we knew it (and I hadn't even had a chance to change out of my costume) Rebecca and I were taking to the skies! It was incredible - like being in a flying bubble. Because it had been raining, everything looked really green, sparkly and beautiful. We could see the show ground spread out below us, as well as houses and gardens (lots of swimming pools and trampolines) - you can be really nosey in a helicopter! All too soon it was time to land, but not before I'd taken some video - just have a look!

I also took loads of photos of the flight, as well as lots of other bits and pieces from the weekend - just click here to have a look. We're off to the CLA Gamefair at Belvoir Castle on Thursday for a three day duo. Although we all love the show, we do three performances a day for them - so it's always knackering! I'll let you know how we get on next week...

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Fiona Bridgeland Photo Shoot

2009-07-14T12:08:00.003+01:00

Back in May we had a photo shoot with Fiona Bridgeland to try and get some more publicity images, and also some for our new sponsors Hornets Hats and Christys'. Fiona is a very talented photographer and is responsible for the very first Jive Pony photo shoot back in 2005 (click here to see the images from then), so we were very much looking forwards to working with her again!

We had great fun doing all sorts of different things, and Fiona ended up with hundreds and hundreds of photos of us all! I've put quite a few (fifty seven!) up in the gallery, just click here to have a look at them. We're trying to decide which one should go on the back of our lorry - let us know if you have any favourites!

We're of to the Chiltern Show on Friday for a two day duo over the weekend - I'll let you know how we get on!

Love Rosie xx

Eynsham Carnival

2009-07-06T12:10:00.002+01:00

We had a lovely day on Saturday at Eynsham Carnival. We were there for a one day solo show so, as Eynsham is local to us and the show wasn't opening until midday, Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker and Alex set off bright and early in the morning - no overnight stays this time! Unfortunately, just as we arrived Ronan decided to releive himself whilst still on the lorry, and due to the angle we were parked on and the gallons he managed to produce (he must have been full to bursting!) all the stands, poles, tent, stakes, and stables were covered. There was also quite an impressive river flowing through into the hallway, under the lino and out onto the side steps - not very pleasant but very very funny! (And hooray for baby wipes!)

Having set everything up we were starting to wonder what was going on, it was getting on for midday and there was still nobody on the showground, when all of a sudden - the parade arrived! The place was instantly packed. The parade included an enormous fancy dress competition, floats decked out in crazy decorations, the Carnival Queen and her entourage, the sack race competitors (all slightly worse for wear!), and hundreds and hundreds of followers. It was a glorious sunny day and everybody seemed to have come out to enjoy the sunshine - finding a space big enough to warm the horses up turned out to be quite difficult, and we even had an audience for that! Both our shows went really well, with the huge crowds giving us lots of encouragement, which both Tinker and Ronan (and the rest of us of course!) absolutely love, it really makes all the difference!

We'd been looking forward to the Carnival as there were lots of other acts there that we knew but hadn't seen for a while, so it was really good to catch up with some old friends, as well as making new ones! Dingle Fingle and Paddy Pump Waters were there with their Clown Town Fire Watch, as well as the Sheep Show and K9 Dog Freestyle Displays. For a small show there was a lot going on! We managed to get a few photos of the day - just click here to have a look.

We've got this weekend off, but then the following weekend we'll be at the Chilterns Show for a two day duo. I'll let you know how we get on when we get back - unless we see you there!

Lots of love

Rosie xx