Caravan Club National Rally

We've just had a brilliant weekend up at Prestwold Hall, Leicestershire at the Caravan Club's National Rally. We were there for a two day duo show, which felt like a lot of hard work considering our last show was a one day solo! Rebecca, Ronan, Myself, Tinker, Alex and Tim (yes, we had not one but two glamourous assistants!!) travelled up on Friday, getting stuck in all the bank holiday traffic along with many many caravans!

It was an impressive sight when we arrived, with a sea of caravans for as far as the eye could see. One of the organisers later told me there were approximately three thousand vans, and around nine thousand people! The whole showground was like a town, it even had a Londis shop in the middle!

The arena itself was very long and thin with a bit of a slope on one side, which proved to be a bit more of a challenge than we had anticipated for the roman riding in the first show! However, we made some adjustments and the other three shows all went extremely well. The boys coped really well with the heat - far better than Rebbeca and I did, we were both sweating buckets!

Alex and Tim looked fantastic both dressed up in their costume, and as they were both wearing bowler hats it was really hard to tell them apart in the show, but every time either of us needed anything there was always a glamourous assistant to hand - we felt properly spoiled!

On Saturday evening Becca's friend Bryn came to stay too, so we had a full camp on Sunday! Bryn filmed our shows on Sunday so we'll be using some footage to put together our new show reel - keep your eyes on the website for that one!

There were lots of other things going on in the arena including shows by our old friends Cyril the Squirrel and the Cumberland Giants, but also a strongman competition that involved challenges like pulling a caravan and rolling tractor tyres - not what I'd fancy doing on a boiling hot day! There was also a really good marching band and a novice towing competition. This involved people towing and reversing their caravans through a series of bollards whilst being timed. I only watched for a little while but saw quite a few cones being squashed!! We managed to get a few photos of the weekend, just click here to have a look at them.

We're off to Suffolk (again!!) tomorrow for the Suffolk Show at Trinity Park, near Ipswich. We did this show last year so are very much looking forward to it as we know exactly what to expect! I'll let you know how it goes!

Hope you're all getting a chance to enjoy the sunshine,

Lots of love,

Rosie x

Hadleigh Show

We had a lovely day on Saturday at the Hadleigh Show. We were there for a one day solo show - our first this year! Rebecca, Ronan, Alex, Tinker and I travelled up on Friday afternoon, along the good old A14 which we'd driven just two weeks earlier! The journey was nice and easy until the final twenty miles, when the road turned into the wigglyest woo roads imaginable! All of the villages we passed through were beautiful, with gorgeous houses, thatched cottages and tiny little streets. However, tiny little streets are not so brilliant when you're driving an eleven tonne truck. Needless to say it took us longer than anticipated to get there!

Once there and set up we had to get absolutely everything ready for the morning - our first show was at 10.30 am! It was quite late by the time we'd done everything, but the massive funfair over the other side of the showground was still going, and looked lovely in the dark!

In the morning we were up bright and early and doing the first show before we knew it! It was the first time Alex had ever seen a solo show, let alone performed as the glamourous assistant in one, but he did fantastically well - just have a look at the photos to see how well he rode Thunderhoof! In between the shows Rebecca, Tinker and I did an interview for Radio Suffolk, although we didn't have much time as we were due on again at 12.30 - no rest for the wicked!! The second show was not only in a different ring from the first, but also quite a long way away and Alex and I had to drag all the props up there - and wrestling a giant toilet tent on a trolley through crowds of people is no easy task!

The arena for the second show was also on quite a steep slope - poor Ronan had to do his best not to slip and slide down one side, whilst struggling to make it up the other! As usual he was fantastic though, and really looked after both Rebecca and I whilst we were vaulting. The show went really well again, with Alex excelling himself as both clown and volunteer - you'd never have guessed it was his debut show!

The whole show was lovely, with loads of different things going on in five different rings, stewards in pinstripe suits and bowler hats, and masses of stalls and marquees. Although we would have loved to have stayed and had a good look around the show we packed down and got away as soon as we could - we wanted to get those wiggly woo roads out of the way as soon as possible!

Having arrived back at home we were just unloading the horses when the heavens opened and we got completely soaked. I turned Tinker out straight away and no sooner had I done so than he rolled in the muddy gateway. Typical. Then the sun came out and gave us the most beautiful rainbow - and Becca managed to get a photo of Casper standing at the end of the rainbow, like the little pot of gold that he is!!

We're off to Prestwold Park this weekend for a two day duo show, so I'll tell you all about it next week!

Love Rosie xx

Brighton Fringe Festival

Well it was a couple of weeks ago now but Rebecca, Ronan and I spent the last two days in April down at the Brighton Fringe Festival. We weren't there on usual Jive Pony business, but doing a walkabout act for the Parlure to advertise their show which was to run throughout the festival. We had a glorious two days, the weather was beautiful - luckily for us considering what we were wearing!

When we arrived we realised that not only was our lorry far bigger than they had anticipated but that there was also no room whatsoever for us to put the tent up! Not to be deterred the lovely Tom rearranged some tents and vans and before we knew it we were parked in our own little paddock! There still wasn't room to put the tent up so we were quite concerned as to where Ronan was going to stay the night. However, Tom once again solved the problem and we set up Ronan's stable under a garden gazebo! It was like his own little one horse tent, the sides were meshed so you couldn't really see him unless they were open, but he looked so funny in there!

On the first evening we paraded up and down the promenade in our sparkly bikinis, and definitely managed to attract attention! We were followed the entire way by a huge bunch of photographers, and the following morning we had made it into the local paper - now that's quick work! Having done the parade Rebecca and I went exploring, and went for a wander along the pier. It was quite late and almost completely deserted, and quite eerie. We had lots of fun though and obviously took the camera. We went through the arcade, posed in the photo boards, climbed on the carrousel and watched the moon in the mirror ball. Click here to look at all the photos!

We were so close to the sea that you could see it from our bedroom window (the luton of the lorry!), which was lovely to wake up to. Later in the day we did another few walkabout acts with lots of costume changes and entertained the crowds with some vaulting and Ronan's tricks - look at the video clip!

We're off to Hadleigh this afternoon for a one day solo show, only twenty miles down the road from Stonham Barns where we were a few weekends ago! Fingers crossed for sunshine and I'll let you know how we get on!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Mid Suffolk Show

Our first show of 2009! It was all go this weekend - Rebecca, Ronan, myself, Tinker, Simon and Alex (our new recruit - glamourous assistant in training) set off on Saturday in our HUGE new lorry for Stonham Barns and the Mid Suffolk Show. When we arrived and found a show programme we were delighted to see we were the cover girls - but it made us quite nervous! Having arrived and set up it was time for Simon's intellectual challenge number one - setting up the new toilet tent! None of us knew how to do this, and Becca was the only one who knew what it should look like, but nonetheless Simon succeeded and the new toilet tent was revealed! It really suits the glamourous assistant role - it is white and green with a turreted roof (yes - it has a roof!!) and the best thing about it is - it's waterproof! (Have that British summertime...)

At bedtime it was time for intellectual challenge number two - changing the seating in the lorry into a bed for Alex and Simon. We did the base really easily and then spent ages trying to figure out how to arrange to cushions - there were so many possibilities! We finally settled on an arrangement, but the bed was still a bit short, a problem which Simon (dressed in his fantastic bright red Coca-Cola pantaloon style pyjamas!) solved by opening the microwave and putting his feet in it!!

Thankfully the weather on Sunday was glorious, just what we needed for the start of the season. The show ground was lovely with a beautiful, flat arena - just what we like. Our shows both went really well, even though we were both very nervous beforehand. Our new, improved, faster roman riding to Greased Lightning was the highlight of the shows and the crowd loved it! We've even got 'T Bird' style leather jackets with Jive Pony and diamantes on the back - and not forgetting the glamourous assistant's Pink Ladies version!!

After the shows we went around the showground and came across the most enormous rabbit. His name was Bruno and despite the fact that he was only nine months old he weighed an incredible eighteen pounds! He was just huge, and made the guinea pigs next to him look minute! I was lucky enough to hold one of the guinea pigs (they are my favourite - I always look forward to seeing them at shows), a beautiful silver agouti boy called Rayen. I was talking to the lady on the stand and it turned out not only did she own all twenty of the guinea pigs at the show, but that she had another eighty or so back at home! That's one hundred guinea pigs under one roof!! We also saw some of the other displays: dog agility with the dogs jumping through fire hoops; sheepdog herding, with both turkeys (very funny) and geese; and logging with our next door neighbour Jason and his little horse Moonie.

We also came across a Rodeo Pig. He was big and pink with an evil glint in his eye... but not being afraid of a challenge we all took it in turns to ride him and see how long we could stay on! It was quite difficult and neither Becca, myself nor Simon lasted very long. However, Alex rides racehorses and managed to stay on for ages and ages! We took lots of photos of this and everything else, just click here to have a look at them.

We've got a photoshoot planned for Tuesday next week with a very good photographer called Fiona Bridgeland - I'll put the photos up as soon as I can!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Christys' Hat Factory

Rebecca and I had a very exciting morning last Thursday at Christys' Hat Factory, just the other side of Witney. We were there to have our heads measured for the gorgeous Christy top hats we're lucky enough to have being sponsored for us. The very generous Justin, of hornetshats.com, is providing Jive Pony with top hats for the 2009 season, and the time had finally come for us to be fitted!

We had both been looking forwards to the visit to the factory for a while, and weren't disappointed when we got there. I have never ever seen so many hats in one place, and so many different styles, shapes and sizes! Have a look at christys-hats.com to get an idea of the massive range we saw. There were also stacks and stacks of the beautiful big red Christys' hat boxes, embossed with the gold lettering and towering up to the ceiling. Whilst we were waiting to be fitted we were shown around the factory, which was amazing. The most modern piece of equipment in the factory dates back to the 1950s, with much of it being older - from the 1910s and 20s!! The people working there were so skilled, and showed us how a fur melusine top hat is steamed, waxed and polished up so it shines like glass - Dave we were impressed! We also tried on lots of the hats, which was great fun as each one gave us a different character - click here to have a look at the photo's and see if you can find my Sherlock Holmes and Rebecca's Miss Marple!

It was finally time to choose our very own hats, but we couldn't decide whether we preferred the black top hats or the red ones, both were absolutely gorgeous and looked amazing - the black being more classic but the red being so striking and different - when Justin solved the argument by suggesting we both have one of each! Before we knew it we were having them fitted, which the lovely Steve (Managing Director of the company no less!) did fantastically, steaming and stretching them in no time at all. Having had our hats fitted and told how to look after them properly we were just getting ready to leave when Steve presented us with four of the gorgeous red and gold hat boxes we had admired earlier - one for each of our new hats!

We both had a fantastic day, and were completely overwhelmed by everyone's generosity, especially Justin and Steve. We currently talking about doing a promotional photoshoot with the horses for both Christys' Hats and Hornetshats.com, as neither Tinker nor Ronan want to miss out on any of the action! I'll let you know how we get on.

In the meantime preparations are in full flow for the first show of the season - now less than three weeks away. Hope to see you there!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Prince Charming and the Highway Women

It was a while ago now but I spent my time between Christmas and New Year appearing in the Devil's Horsemen pantomime Cinderella on Horseback. I used to work for them full time but as Jive Pony takes up most of my time now I only manage to work for them ocasionally. It was great fun, especially seeing lots of my friends who I hadn't seen for quite a long time. Although I was in the panto last year it was only playing a sugar mouse, and I didn't realise until the very last minute I was going to be Prince Charming this year - with lots of lines to learn! Our first show was on boxing day evening, and as I had only had the daytime to practise all my lines and learn all the routines I was very very nervous. However, I managed to remember most of it and only had to be prompted a couple of times! We did seven shows over four days and I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time my body felt (and looked) so battered! Click here to see some photos from our shows over the Christmas week.

Meanwhile.....Stand and deliver! On Sunday 28th of December Ronan and Tinker did their bit for charity - by recreating a highway raid! Unfortunately it clashed with the last day of Cinderella so I was unable to join in, but here's Becca's account of the day...


Jive Pony supporter Babara Keen and I donned guns, swords, capes and thigh high boots to ride around our local Cotswold villages holding up cars, tractors, bikes and anything that moved really for their money! It was all in aid of the Brooke Hospital for animals in Cairo and developing countries. Jive Pony is an avid supporter of the Brooke as we understand just how important it is to have healthy and happy animals when you depend on them for your day to day work. The Brooke don't just treat sick and injured horses, ponies, mules and donkeys - they also educate the owners how to take the best possible care of them - something Jive Pony believe in strongly. The day was a great success and Ronan and Tinker had a fantastic day. We stopped at all the village pubs and Ronan performed tricks for the customers which went down nearly as well as all the mulled wine we got through!! We couldn't have done it alone though and massive thanks goes to our brilliant foot soldiers Leanne King, Allie Mills and the fantastic Purdy Nicholson who shot everyone whether they gave money or not!!! We raised over £200 for the Brooke which was gratefully received and we even ended up in several papers! Click here to see some of the photos of our adventurous day!

So there you have it - Prince Charming and the Highway Women - just another week in the life of Jive Pony!!

Lots of love

Rosie xx

Lots to talk about!!

Well - it's been AGES since I wrote on here so I've got lots and lots to tell you!

In a nutshell - I've played Prince Charming in Cinderella on Horseback; Becca has played a highwaywoman in a charity event; I am now a qualified massage therapist; Becca has been to Disneyland Paris auditioning for Annie Oakley, and meeting the owner of Cirque d'Hiver about some possible work; I've filmed Warwick Castle's new advert; and Becca has bought two new horses - Navvy and Folly! On top of all this we've been developing aspects of our shows ready for the 2009 season, so as you can tell, we've been very very busy! I'll explain everything in more detail soon.

Our first show is less than six weeks away, so we'll be out and about before you know it! We're off up to Stonham Barns on Easter Sunday for the Mid Suffolk Show - let's hope the sun shines and we look forward to seeing you there!

Lots of love,

Rosie xx