Littleton Horse show 2014

It doesn’t seem a year ago that Rocky attended his first show at Littleton, but today he was back!

Last year we had glorious sunshine, this year rain - LOTS of rain, but this wasn’t going to stop us, oh no.

Rocky was entered in the 1,2 and 3 year old class as well as the Mountain & Moorland, the same as last year with different results..

The rain had been forecast for a week or so and with a lot of other shows on today too, we didn’t expect many entries, although there didn’t seem a shortage of competitors,  but that wasn’t why we were going, we went to support our “local” show which has been running for many years and to gain more experience for Rocky.

On arrival it was pouring, so I sent John (my partner) off to collect my number and set about unloading and preparing Rocky for our class which was a few minutes away.

Rocky came out the box calm, he prepared calm, then as we set off to our arena, he turned into tigger!! Talk about bounce, he was passaging (just for a change!!) every step of the way to the ring, oh no, are we going to have a repeat of the Sparsholt outing where we spent the entire time on our back legs waving at everyone Rocky??

John thought this was funny as his new show rug, a waterproof shower coat from Shires Equestrian, was literally bouncing the rain off with every passage step! Didn’t see the funny side myself!

On arrival at the ring Rocky stood taking it all in, calm and quite – phew.

The first class was the youngstock class, so there were quite a few waiting around.

As we stood there some ladies approached and said how much more mature Rocky was looking, how amazing he was and they had followed him around the New Forest Show! Wow Rocky has a fan club!!

So the class started, we did indeed find the walk button – for a while- and Rocky actually showed some super walk movement, then the individual trot, well he trotted his socks off, in to the rain, didn’t bat an eyelid, balanced and even, very happy!

There were approx 10 horses in the class and we had a wait for our individual show, standing facing the rain, some were not too happy in the rain but Rocky just stood as good as gold.

Our individual show was good, he waited, listened and kept a lid on his excitement (I could sense he wanted to show off his canter and passage!)

The only thing I was aggravated by was his incessant desire to chew everything today, I feel he may be teething again, but this was quite literally “I want to chew everything”, so he chomped on his chain off his show lead, this kept him entertained for a while and stopped his chewing me!

We were eventually pulled in 4^th, exactly the same as last year! However we did beat some superb young horses, so I was happy with that.

Next was the M&M class, a few of the youngsters were also in this class, plus more, so a fairly large class to contest.

By this point Rocky was still behaving in the line up, still chewing his chain, but happy, until we came to do the trotting, oh heck the canter and passage came out!

I managed to keep him fairly contained, and we returned to the line up, happily back to chewing!

Finally after what felt like an age, we were sent out while the placings were being sorted, I already had an idea of who the winner would be, a gorgeous black Welsh D mare, she was stunning, and when the judge pulled them in I was pleased for her, then the 2^nd place was pulled in, and then the steward pointed at us, “ME” I asked, yes, he said you are 3^rd.

I was incredibly happy as the competition was very good.

The lap of honour was a little hairy, Rocky just couldn’t keep a lid on it any longer and he showed some spectacular leaps, and cantering on the spot!

We went back to the box where we had tea and a dry off, change of coat and rug for Rocky.

After a mini break we wandered back on to the show field, more life experience for Rocky as we took him to see other classes and the dressage arena. Today Rocky did his first trot down the centre line courtesy of the lovely judge who was waiting for some riders to turn up, she allowed Rocky to investigate the arena and the white boards (he had yet to see them) and the letters, all of which were in fact fine!

Shortly following this we headed home. We had a superb time, with ribbons to boot!

Next show for us in the Romsey Show in September, so if you fancy coming along, we will be there.

Sharon and Rocky x

Product Review for July and August 2014

In July I was sent 3 more products to try from my superb sponsors Nettex.

The products were: Fly repellent wipes, Eye and nose wipes and whitening shampoo.

Nettex Whitening Shampoo:

Having used many whitening shampoos for many years, some successfully, others not so successfully, I tried the shampoo with an open mind...

As usual the shampoo comes out blue, as with the majority of whitening shampoos, I closely followed the usage instructions as previously I have used this type of shampoo and ended up with either shampoo that doesn’t wash out, irritates the skin (horses and mine!!) or turns the white bits blue! Not ideal!!

I tried it firstly on Rocky’s fetlock on his front leg, this leg for some reason always seems to attract an orange tone from our arena and seems to be a magnet for stable stains!

I wet his leg with warm water and applied the whitening shampoo neat, thoroughly massaging it in, left it for 5 minutes (most others I have used need at least 10 minutes), then rinsed it thoroughly with warm water.

The feathers were left VERY clean, grease and dirt all gone, although there was a tiny hint of orange tint on the very ends of the feather. Ok, a clean fetlock with a tiny orange hint (this was while the hair was still wet), but the majority of orange had indeed been removed. It has been a few weeks since Rocky had his fetlocks thoroughly cleaned and he had just worked on our arena so I gave the shampoo the benefit of the doubt and washed his hind legs using the same method, warm water, thoroughly massage shampoo in, leave for 5 minutes and then rinse out with warm water. His hind legs came up sparkling clean, no orange tint at all, his legs were very white indeed. Having had this result with the hind legs, I washed the front leg again, leaving the shampoo for just 5 minutes again, and this time his feathers were immaculate!

The shampoo can be used diluted or neat, as previously mentioned I chose neat, but since the original trial, I have used the shampoo diluted to clean his feathers after being in the arena to wash off any orange tinge with fab results, and I now used it as a diluted shampoo as and when necessary and neat to enhance the brightness for show days only.

I am very impressed with this shampoo, a great value shampoo that does exactly what it says on the bottle!

Nettex Fly repellent wipes:

 These wipes are the equivalent of the Advanced fly repellent I trialled previously, however I was interested to find out if they would be as effective as the spray, and also how easy they would be to use....

The tub is very much a baby wipes type tub, open lid and pull up the wipes individually, although I found some of the wipes didn’t break off as easily as others, meaning a few came out at once, this wasn’t too much of an issue as I simply tore these apart and used them anyway.

Rocky doesn’t have a spray phobia but to ensure sprays don’t get in his eyes or ears it is difficult to protect these areas, however this was where the wipes came in very handy!

The wipes are DEET based, so I would recommend using gloves to use them, I don’t suffer from sensitive hands, but the wipes did leave a slight residue on my skin which could potentially irritate some people.  (It does give full precautions on the website and container).

I found the wipes to be effective against flies, possibly not as effective as the spray, however Rocky was happily grazing with very few flies around him all day.

The big winner for me with these wipes were when we are at shows, they are convenient, easy and effective, doesn’t leave wet “patches” on the coat as sprays can, and you can ensure your horses is fly free when in the arena, providing concentration and relief for Rocky who hates flies with a passion!

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these wipes, especially for spray shy horses.

Nettex Eye and Nose wipes:

As far as I am concerned these are an essential part of my grooming kit now I have tried them.

Again, like the fly repellent wipes, they come in a tub which you simply pull out a wipe as necessary.

I have always used sponges for washing eyes and noses, different coloured ones for different areas etc.. However should your horse pick up an infection it is too easy to spread it with the use of sponges as they are not 100% hygienic. Sponges also end up making everything wet too, as well as taking up a large space in your grooming bag.

The wipes provide Rocky with clean, hygienic stain free eyes and nasal areas. They are also very useful for cleaning the dock too! The wipes are effective at not only removing debris but also remove tear stains.

As the wipes are small in size you are not wasting vast amounts of money by using separate wipes for each eye, nose and dock.

The wipes give a clean but not “wet” look after use, so again are ideal for show use.

Another fantastic product from Nettex!