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The side saddle clinic was lucky with the weather which held bright and dry. Three members of the side saddle association attended on horseback and two TRRC riding club members (one mounted and one on foot). Jacky Tidy had unfortunately to pull out at the last minute as Beau was not right. I hope she has recovered soon. Fiona Cooper (Area 8 and TRRC) brought her new grey heavyweight hunter Ted for an 'introduction' and he promptly gave a display of how the job should be done…..yet more fans for Ted. Jo Strange's Milly gave a confidence giving experience to Rowena Zelley, who is still recovering from the mental scars of her accident, but looked very close to having overcome them and Milly also gave Cheryl Sly of TRRC a reminder of sideways. Cheryl claimed not to have ridden aside for 15 years, but hadn't forgotten a great deal. Hester Wain coped well with Ratty, who was in protective mode in case Ted stole 'his' mare. This time she was riding on a different saddle to usual (a smaller C&W with the leaping head in a much higher position than Ratty's usual Owen, which had been purloined by Milly) and found it a little disconcerting in some ways and easier in others. She hit the nail on the head with 'when I buy my own saddle I'm going to make damn sure I ride on it first'. Not a bad point to learn, as all saddles were made for different shaped people and horses and not all saddles suit all riders, although if the saddle fits the horse and rider and is correctly balanced, then a competent rider should be able to cope with most makes and shapes….but we all have our favourites. Everybody had an enjoyable time and a positive experience. Hopefully, we'll all be back next year and some more new faces.
Article by Adam Edwards on the demise of bespoke riding breeches Report on Concours D'elegance at Surrey County Show, 30th May 2005 Eight entries came forward for the class to provide an elegant display in the main ring, with perfect going. The weather held bright and warm and the ladies missed the rain which followed shortly after. Grey was the predominant 'flavour' of the day with five of the entries of this colour, but judge Joan Richards has a variety of types including a hack, riding horse, several hunters and a cob. Despite the distractions of the ring all behaved well and unfortunately for the spectators, the class was judged on the short format (i.e. no individual displays), probably because the birds of prey used to fill in a five minute gap in the main ring overran! The winner and second were two of the non greys, Hunter's Moon (Amanda Wates) and Jolie La Chinoise (Sarah Hislam), with the Judge preferring the lighter thoroughbred types, although Lynn Russell was close behind in third with her lightweight cob Draco. The bowler hat prize was awarded to Deborah Emery.
4th Deborah Emery - Mundham Double Blue |
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