The New Forest Show 2014.... (Pictures to follow..)

 Having competed at the New Forest Show (NFS) with my ponies, I felt it only right that rocky should also go, but with a different plan...

As Rocky is still only 3yrs and quite obviously can’t attend “ridden” shows yet he was entered at the NFS in the In Hand section for Welsh D’s Yearlings, two and three year olds, this gave us the chance to familiarise him with larger shows and also to work around other horses, something as a 4yr old he will have to deal with, currently I have to work him on his own due to being fairly alone on our yard, so to work around others would be great for his education.

“Work around others”?? Yep, the main aim of today’s outing was to attend the in hand and then to ride him around the showground!

I never expected to win, and we didn’t, we came 9^th in a very strong class of very high quality ponies, even beating some! But as I say, this wasn’t the main aim...

After his in hand class we returned to the box and swopped to our riding gear, after mounting up we casually wandered around the box park, up and down the aisles seeing a variety of things from donkeys to the huge carriages and more. These were of course no issue for Rocky, he took all that in his stride, as always. We managed to come back to the box, unforeseen, but I have a feeling Rocky knew exactly where he was as he stopped as we arrived! Clever or what?!

I asked him to walk past and for the very first time we had a “no I want to stay here!” and he did a mini rear and bronk!! Well I told him in no uncertain terms we WERE going and he said “oh ok” and walked on like nothing had happened!

We meandered round the boxes a bit longer meeting more things on route, the only query Rocky had were the miniature horses getting ready for their classes! Scary those small people you know!!

We then found an empty warm up ring, next to the main rings and the showjumping rings, so plenty going on but not in this ring. My superb helper Lucy Morgans was on hand (actually drove us today) and had helped Rocky out when he had a mini wobble at the scary miniatures, but now it was time to go it alone..

We walked around the warm up, both ways, Rocky not really taking any notice of the other horses working, so I asked for trot, something I had NOT planned for today (walk would have been more than enough), but Rocky offered it so off we went, again both reins, no problem, in fact it was more like we were training at home. I then pushed the boundaries a little further and asked for canter and off we went! We were “working” in a busy show environment and Rocky answered my every question. He was amazing.

I finished on such a high note I cannot express how proud I felt of Rocky, I always knew he was special, but this took that to a new level.

Even though we were unplaced in the in hand class, his behaviour was impeccable and he showed himself off to his absolute best, beating some class ponies on route.

In Hand has been such a great way to get the hoof inside the larger show atmosphere, and we shall continue this work always with the main aim of going for “training” not ribbon hunting, although I am not going to refuse one should it come our way!

In my eyes Rocky didn’t just win today, he took home the championship purely for his behaviour and his attitude.

So until our next event, we shall keep up our day job and smile broadly every time we think of today at the New Forest Show.

The boy is back… and looking pretty darn good in his new Nettex Rug and Numnahs!

It seems like an eternity since Mr Rocky was ridden, what with his broken saddle, his teeth and in need of some levelling out, finally yesterday we got back to what we do best…. Training..

A few weeks ago we had to put training on the back boiler as he was having a growth spurt and his bottom was somewhat bigger than his withers! This had created a balance issue (obviously!) and he had become tight where he was trying to compensate through the use of other muscles. So Lucy came and worked her magic on him and we left him alone to let his front end catch up!

This was actually good timing as he needed to see the dentist so we fitted all necessary treatments in during this down time.

He was kept ticking over in this time with various long reining work, just enough to keep his brain working and to encourage the use of the correct muscles once he came back to work.

Yesterday was the first time he has been ridden in 6 weeks, and it was like he had never had a day off, yes there were some not so good moments, but some simply AMAZING ones too. Rocky was good before, but after this short spell I feel he has come back even better!

Just as Rocky levelled out (finally), I received a large delivery from my wonderful supporters Nettex, well as always I was intrigued to find out what goodies had arrived…

To my delight, and just in time for the coming shows, I had received a superb rug and two numnahs, along with Fly repellent wipes, eye and nose wipes and whitening shampoo!

I am yet to trial the products but the rug has been modelled and fits like a glove, and the numnahs are ready go!

I cannot thank Nettex enough for their generosity, Rocky is going to be the star of every show!