Midlands Show

[DalesLady]

We have had another great weekend. Went to the Midlands Show, made all the more special by staying with friends the night before. Their hospitality was amazing and made if all very special.

To cut a long story short, we took Maria and Joanne with us.
Maria was 2nd inhand, 2nd novice ridden and 2nd traditional ridden, but astounded us by being 1st in Handy Pony, never having done or practiced anything like it before. Amazing! :fl: :fl: We were very pleased with her, she can be very wilful.

Then Joanne won her inhand and went on to be Reserve Inhand Champion behind Dartdale Peter Boy!
She won her Junior Ridden and Open Ridden classes and went on to be Ridden Champion. But the best result of all was the new class, ridden pairs, entered on the day. Nicola rode Jo and paired with Jessica Hobday and Sunglow Sterling, they won it!

Here are a few pics!

No inhand, as I was in the ring! No pics of Maria as I was with Jo elsewhere, but here are a few of Jo later in the day.

Pairs!

[cadeby]

Well done to Nicola and both ponies. Jo looks great in the pics

It was worth the long drive!

I'm intrigued about the pairs ridden. Given that Nic and Jessica only entered on the day, how on earth did they decide what routine they were going to do? Did they just make it up as they went along, or was there time for lots of practice?

This from somebody who can never remember a dressage test, ever

[DalesLady]

They entered on the day and practiced for about 5 mins before they went in, which mainly consisted of them deciding a pattern they would ride. They had no other time as Nic was busy in other classes right up until they went for this class. They knew before the day they were wanting to do this class though, which is why they both have blue jackets and almost matching ties on.
It really helped the ponies have matching stride lengths and although the pic above doesnt actually show it, they were in step on matching legs 90%+ of the time, even in canter.

[dalesponyrider]

Well done! That sounds quite difficult.

What brilliant results for Maria! You must be chuffed to bits with her - and handy pony too! She is a star. Well done on Joanne's results too. She did really well - well you all did - well done all!

[vonny]

they made a super pair it was a joy to watch - their striding matched, the riders looked so relaxed and they cantered! very impressive