Broughton Game Show

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

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

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

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

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

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

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