Hi everyone, sorry we haven’t been too active recently, our son was rather poorly at the end of September, so we didn’t get chance to catch up with you all. Thankfully all is well now and thanks everyone for all your wishes. We really appreciate the support.
We did manage just about, to go to our British Show Horse National Championships at Addington, where Simon won a huge HOYS Qualifier on the maxi cob Cobswallop and then went supreme maxi cob in the evening. An accolade that he also won last year, we were delighted as this is a very difficult championship to win. Boysie just loves the lights and the crowd in an evening performance and never lets us down. Harriet Richardson also contested the pairs class on her coloured maxi cob Colourprint. His partner in this class is actually his brother and they look so alike! They pulled off a near foot perfect performance in the evening and were third.
Then it was home for the lead up to HOYS, which is always a stressful time. It was a case of clipping the cobs about 10 days before to make sure they looked just right under the heat and lights of the indoor arenas. It was business as usual for us though in the lead up. A few trips to the indoor school for the young horses to acclimatise to the conditions and plenty of hacking out and keeping them ticking over and chilled out.
HOYS is a show like no other. You have to be virtually nocturnal. We were up at 2.45 am every morning to get loaded up and through the vet check entry procedure and the early warm up times. All the horses were superstars. We took two young cobs, the four-year-old maxi cob The Ringmaster who was second in his class, and the five-year-old coloured cob Churchtown Minstrel, who was third in his class. These two are both first season horses and we were amazed at how well they both coped with the atmosphere and really just took it in their stride and acted as if they were seasoned campaigners.
The coloured maxi cob Cobswallop contended the cobs and the coloureds and gained a 6th and a 9th. Victoria Buckland and Cobswallop went fantastically in the maxis but unfortunately weren’t the judges cup of tea. The icing on the cake was Morrows Marksman (Bentley) winning his heavyweight cob class and going reserve champion cob of the year in the main ring evening performance. This cob has had the most fabulous season winning seven championships. He was also awarded the title of most consistent heavyweight cob of the year in a competition where points are gained throughout the season in the HOYS qualifiers. The whole team had a fabulous time and despite the tiredness we never stopped laughing… we have a great team of owners and grooms and friends who really do make it all possible and we are very grateful.
We had a very exciting delivery just before we left for HOYS of a new baby unbroken heavyweight cob (Benji) that we are currently breaking in. He’s a fabulous mover and we have high hopes for him. We shall keep you updated this winter on his journey, so you can follow him from breaking to his first show.
Luke our son, has had great fun dressing his pony Harry up as Batpony for Halloween…
Our season is now at a close and some of the older horses are on holiday and now is the time for us to train up the new recruits… we have some wonderful new additions to the team and we can’t wait to share our journey with you.
Thanks again really does go to British Horse Feeds who have supported us this season and we are excited for next year.
