If you remember, a couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I had entered Diva into a virtual show in aid of the Shetland Pony Welfare Trust. Well, an amazing sum of £1200 was raised by the show. I had also sneakily entered by sister’s pony Melland Jackson Jive without telling her, so when the results came out it was great fun to let her know how well he had done.
Diva held her own with a sixth in the Three-Year-Old class and a fifth in the Open Solid Coloured class. However, Jackson showed her how it was done with a win in the Open Gelding class and a second in the Open Solid Coloured where Diva was fifth. He then went on to be Reserve Champion gelding of the show.
My friend Ginny and I had a chuckle whilst we were trying to get some photos of Diva trotting. She was a tad fresh and not very cooperative! In the end I sent in ones of her trotting loose in the school despite about twenty million pics being taken! Trust me, this is only a slight exaggeration!
In the meantime, Julius Caesar, the mini-Budweiser Horse, enjoyed more success in a real show ring with a win in his first Ridden Cob class despite having to endure torrential thunderstorms.
I don’t have any plans to have Diva out in a real show ring this year as all the ones I had pencilled in for her have been cancelled for 2020. She is such a fun pony to be around that I am enjoying just spending time with her at home.
A friend in the USA has recently experienced a storm with 100mph winds and ended up without power for five days. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been and though we are due the chance of storms in the next week or so, the windspeed will be far below that endured by Karen.
Diva and Mabel will be brought in to their stables in the barn until the storm passes so I know they will be safe and sound. They’ve enjoyed some lovely evenings out in the field this summer and I have included one of my favourite photographs.
Diva is now on Instagram, so please feel free to follow her on there #divatheshetland to see photos of her on a regular basis.
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.