Horse of the Year Show

In 1906, when Edith Holden wrote her Country Diary, horses were working animals. In my Not far from a pond post for this blog, I mentioned Austin starting to make motor vehicles at the Longbridge plant but it would be many years before cars and tractors took the place of horse and ponies.  Although Edith's diary dealt with nature rather than farming, she included a delightful scene for February, in which a horse is being used to plough a field. These days, horses are mostly used for leisure and sport.

The British Show Jumping website tells us:
... a show jumping class was held in the first international horse show to be staged in England, at Olympia in 1907.

Me, at 12 years old and a young New Forest pony.

As a girl, I was obsessed with horses and ponies. I took riding lessons, read pony books and was thrilled by the exploits of Harvey Smith, David Broome and other show jumping stars.  I loved to watch horse of the year show on the TV and dreamed childhood dreams of being there.  Then I grew up, decided that driving was more practical than riding and left it all behind.



7 October 2016 - Show-jumping practice - speeding up.

On the 7th of October, 2015, both I and the Horse of the Year Show were both in Birmingham so I took a morning off and found my way into the sparse audience for the early morning show jumping practice session. It was absolutely thrilling to see several horses in the ring at the same time - being shown the jumps and, with a sudden burst of power, flying over.

7 October 2015 - Small Hack of the Year.

The exciting show jumping practice was followed by the dainty "Small Hack Showing". Riders, in elegant outfits with top hats, put their beautiful horses through their paces and somehow the judges picked a winner from these heavenly creatures.

7 October 2015 - Ponies greeting their adoring public.

The native breeds on show in the shopping area were more like the ponies that I patted and rode as a child. One was so friendly that it was difficult to photograph her - she kept snuffling my camera.  After tickling her ears for a few minutes, my attention turned to some young girls and their mum. They making friends with the ponies - just as I did when I was their age and still do today.