Three Counties Show and Wedding Party

We had a lovely weekend at the Three Counties Show this weekend. This time it was Becca, Ronan, Simon, Tinker and I who set off on Thursday for Malvern for a three day duo show. The sun shone, the shows were fantastic and the audiences were brilliant! In a Jive Pony first we were welcomed into the ring with a fanfare, which certainly helped to gather the crowds! Saturday was an especially busy day though, as we were double booked to do a display at a society wedding in the evening!

So no sooner had we finished our second show we were off to the National Trust's Lodge Park and dancing away again! The wedding was amazing, with a vintage bus for the guests, a spit-fire fly past, circus performers and of course Jive Pony! It was quite different to anything else we have ever done before as the music we were vaulting to was provided by a live band! The boys were fantastic and didn't bat an eyelid, and Ronan's final job was to carry the bride and groom to the awaiting helicopter! Then it was back to Malvern and time for bed!

Sunday was another lovely day, and the shows went really well once again. Afterwards we went for a wander and watched some of the scurry ponies competing in the main arena - they can really shift! Click here to see some photos of them and other bits and pieces from the weekend!

We've got a couple of (very welcome!) weeks off now, with no shows until the first week in July when we're off to Stoneleigh for the Royal Show. This will be the first time we've done this show so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Hope to see you at a show soon,

lots of love

Rosie xx

Shaftesbury and Gillingham Town and Country Fayre

On Saturday Becca, Ronan, Simon, Tinker and I set off for Dorset for the Shaftesbury and Gillingham Town and Country Fayre. It was a long drive with no motorway, and at one point we counted twenty roundabouts in twenty miles! The two shows went well on the Sunday, except in the second show when my microphone died and we had to cope with just one between the two of us! Luckily we had Simon to assist us (in his own glamourous way!) and he ran backwards and forwards passing the microphone between us!

The show was very full with lots of gorgeous vintage steam engines, wagons and fire trucks, lots of alpacas, donkeys, pigs (and piglets), poultry and guinea pigs (my favourites!). Unfortunately though, by the time we'd sorted ourselves out after the show everybody had pretty much packed up and gone home, so we only managed to get a very few photos. Although I did manage to get one of the naughty little pig that escaped, he managed to run amok for about ten minutes before being captured, much to everyone's amusement!

The journey home went well until about twenty-five miles from home when our faithful old lorry (Bloody Wacky Dipstick) completely gave up and broke down. Thankfully we managed to make it into a layby, but then we just had to sit and wait for the rescue people. We amused ourselves by playing with the Haribo pancake that had been accidentally created by leaving our tub of sweets in the sunshine all weekend, it was the weirdest looking thing ever, but still tasted the same!

We eventually all got home, but I'm not sure Bloody Wacky will be coming to any more shows with us, so if anyone knows of a (fairly cheap) HGV horsebox looking for a lovely new home please let us know!!

We're off to the Three Counties Show at Malvern on Thursday. This is one of our favourite shows so we're all really looking forward to it - hope to see you there!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Shaftesbury and Gillingham Town and Country Fayre

Surrey Country Show and Suffolk Show

What a busy week we've just had! Last Friday Rebecca, Ronan, Tim, Tinker and I all set off to Epsom for the Surrey Country Show, another three day solo show for Oakleigh Fairs. Everything went really well for the first two days, we entertained ourselves on the Saturday night with games of bat and ball, attempting gymnastic feats, juggling and tree climbing! However, on the Sunday evening the rain started and just never stopped! Unfortunately the whole show had to be pulled on Monday, with everybody packing up and going home early. This was a huge disappointment to us and the first time in the history of Jive Pony that we have been unable to do any sort of performance on a show day.

Anyway, next stop Suffolk, but it was a very wet and bedraggled team that arrived at the Suffolk Show on Monday evening. Our first task was to find some shavings and hay for the horses, but the organisers had told us the only way we could do this was to 'borrow' some from the Metropolitan Police compound! So we set off to steal from the police... and managed it! (they had far too much anyway!). We had a nice relaxing day on Tuesday, just setting up the ring and having a bit of a rehearsal, a welcome shower and a nice early night! Wednesday was show day!! We were quite nervous as it was easily the biggest show we have ever done, and in the biggest arena. But everything went really well, Tinker and Ronan are proper professionals and didn't let us down at all! Wednesday was also Becca's birthday, so Tim and I decorated the lorry with balloons and bought her a big chocolate cake! I gave her a pair of 'moon shoes' (mini trampolines for your feet) so we spent ages bouncing around and doing ridiculous running. They were such fun, they make you feel really strange but very comfy! Everyone else on the show ground obviously thoght we were a bit strange, but that's nothing new!

Thursday was again show day and once again they both went really well with the rain managing to hold off for us. Unfortunately it then rained incessantly whilst we were packing down, so once again it was a very bedraggled team that set off for home! Good news though, Suffolk show have rebooked us again for 2009, so we must have done something right!!

We're off to Dorset on Saturday for a one day duo show, lets hope for some sunshine - it is June after all!

See you soon,

Rosie xx

Click here to see some photo's from the week!

Newbury Parade

Rebecca, Ronana and I spent yesterday in Newbury for the town's Spring Festival. We were taking part in a parade through the town centre, ending up on the Giffords Circus site. It was a lovely little parade with a brass band and lots of huge colourful tissue paper animals, we were a bit worried Ronan was going to have a 'Thunderhoof moment' but he was an absolute star and took everything in his stride!

When we stopped at the circus ground we snuck in to watch the performance, which was full of amazing acts and absolutely brilliant to watch. We had a really good time, and I think both Rebecca and Ronan were a little bit tempted to rejoin! (It was, after all, at Giffords that they met and fell in love!) But they managed to resist and Jive Pony will be back on the road on Friday. We're off to Epsom for a three day solo show, then a day off on Tuesday when we're driving up to Suffolk for a two day duo show. Phew, mini-tour! I'll let you know how we get on...

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Newbury Pics

Ayr County Show

We had a fantastic time in Ayr last weekend, and it was a lot easier to get to than we thought! Rebecca, Ronan, Tinker, Tim (our other new funny man) and I left early on Friday morning and arrived nine hours later at Ayr Racecourse. Both our shows went really well on Saturday, despite a very sudden and very heavy downpour five minutes from the end of the first show, causing me to slip and land smack on my bottom! However, the new duo went absolutely brilliantly! All our new costumes went down really well and looked amazing, and Tinker and Ronan were fantastic for the roman riding, completely dispelling all our worries. Everything went really well on Sunday too. In the morning we took the horses for a walk around the racecourse, the jumps are huge! We were cantering up to them and I'm sure Tink would have had a go at jumping one, I was really struggling to stop him at one point! The racecourse must have given him ideas for the rest of the day because he spent most of the two shows whizzing around at what felt like a hundred miles an hour! It was loads of fun though and eveyone really enjoyed themselves. Tim did very well in his first Jive Pony shows, we properly threw him in at the deep end with the duos! Have a look at some photos from the weekend by clicking here, theres lots of everything!

We're doing a parade in Newbury on Sunday, but just Rebecca, Ronan and I, so Tinker gets the weekend off. I'll let you know how it goes!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx

Woodgreen Show

We've started the 2008 season! On Friday afternoon Rebecca, Ronan, Simon, Tinker and I all set off for Woodgreen Animal Shelter in Cambridgeshire, for a three day solo show. It was a lovely start to the season, with gorgeous weather all weekend - just the way we like it! Simon did brilliantly in his first shows for us, he definately is a funny man! Tinker and Ronan shared the shows so they didn't have to work too hard, and they both seemed really pleased to be out and about again. We also found some time to play on the enormous bouncy castle, click here to see the photos of that and more from the whole wekend.

We're off up to Ayr on Friday morning for a two day duo show, it's the first time we'll be performing our new duo show so keep your fingers crossed for us! I'll let you know how we get on...

Hope you're enjoying the sunshine,

lots of love Rosie xx

Magazine Photoshoot

Jive Pony is going to press again! We did a photoshoot a couple of weeks ago, and did a little bit of everything. The photos above are a bit of a taster, the full articles will be appearing in the August issue of PONY Magazine (out at the end of June) and hopefully in a future issue of Horse and Rider Magazine, so keep your eyes peeled for all of us! Casper will be appearing in the article alongside Ronan and Tinker for the first time, and also watch out for Thunderhoof!

Rosie xx

Click here to see lots more photos from the shoot!