Showman's Show, Trick Training Clinic and Fun Ride

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

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

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

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

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

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

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