ROYAL EASTER SHOW- AUCKLAND

Well, I went to my last show of the season on Friday, The Royal Easter Show in Auckland, and had a fabulous time. I was very impressed with the grounds at the ASB Showgrounds. They were probably the most professionally maintained that I have seen in my first short show season in New Zealand. It's always nice to not have to battle knee high grass when you're applying your black hoof gloss!

My yearling filly, 'Graemar Replique', was impeccably well behaved, as she has been at every one of her three outings this year. She trotted up faultlessly, stood like a statue in the line up and loaded/unloaded well. We ended up placing second in the Yearling Sporthorse class behind a very upstanding and charismatic young colt. So, not as great a result as we achieved at Kumeu A&P but still something to be proud of. Despite being heart-breakingly pretty, she still looks quite immature compared to some of the others that are out at the moment so I'm looking forward to seeing how she looks with another winter/spring behind her.

Despite fairly low entries, the standards were very high at this year's Royal Easter. A number of well known showies did very well, including Anne Hjorth who scooped Champion Saddle Hunter on the stunning 'Savile Row' and Champion Hack/Supreme Horse on 'Acquisition.' What an amazing result!

The only teeny tiny downside of the day was still seeing a couple of riders, both children and adults, abusing draw reins, double bridles and side reins (and sometimes a combo of these!) when working in their horses. I especially dislike seeing horses being yanked down in front while being booted in the ribs, leaving it with absolutely nowhere to go. Also, if you need to turn your black horse white in order for it to be rideable in a show class, you really need to reevaluate your training techniques and/or whether said horse is suitable for the show ring, and whether a different discipline would be better...

Thankfully, I also saw a large number of beautiful riders who were actually having a conversation with their mounts rather than screaming at it with a megaphone. Always a pleasure to see :)

I hope everyone had a great show season. Roll on the next one.

GRAEMAR REPLIQUE'S FIRST SEASON

Well, I have been neglecting the Horse Tales blog these past few months. Partly because I went back to the UK for five weeks over Christmas and also because I've had a few other exciting things going on. However, I am now back in avengence and looking forward to posting regularly!

As far as my own personal showing activities go, I am very excited to have been showing yearling Park Hack filly 'Graemar Replique' (stable name Katie) for the first time this season. She has taken everything in her stride and I'm very proud of her. At her first show, Helensville A&P, we took things slowly and cautiously, ending up with a third place in the Junior Arab Derivative Filly class, Three Years and Under. My main objective was to get her used to the sights and smells of the showground and she excelled herself! A few neighs but that was all. At our next show, Kumeu A&P, we really went for it as she had proved at the previous show that she was perfectly laid back about the whole showing affair. We were rewarded with two firsts, in the Sporthorse Yearling class and the Junior Sporthorse Suitable for Show Hacking! I'm so pleased with this little horse and really looking forward to taking her out again.