The first outing of the 2004/2005 season was well supported with 18 horses competing in a variety of in-hand, ridden and novelty events. Although the weather forecast hadn't been promising, we managed to avoid the worst of the weather with only a few showers to further dampen the already wet apple bobbers and a brisk wind to increase the challenge of fluttering plastic bags on the obstacle course.
It was very pleasing to see so many new faces, both horse and human. Everyone was friendly and the enthusiastic comraderie among competitors and supporters alike was fantastic!
The ponies all looked fabulous (of course) and surprised a few people who were attending a horse measuring day next door. They couldn't believe that these stunning ponies were ALL Kaimanawas!
Sigourney Weldon provided unintentional entertainment with her interesting dismount technique in the jumping classes. Her pony, Bilbo Baggins seemed only too happy to assist in the demonstrations and Sigourney advised that they have been practising the new technique at home for awhile now. Given the technical difficulty of this dismount, Sigourney should have been awarded a special prize for all her hard work in perfecting it! Seriously though, she did a great job in getting her pony over a very intimidating fence that had nearly the whole class refusing and becoming suddenly jump shy. (This is almost unheard of for Kaimanawas who are reknowned for their jumping ability!)
The alcohol included in some of the senior novelty races assured entries in these classes but as it was omitted from the apple bobbing, the enthusiasm for dunking one's head in a bucket of water on a cold, windy day proved too much for some.
The bareback races were interesting too with some of the ponies adding their own extra challenge to the events by throwing in the odd buck or two. We're not sure if they'd already organised this previously or if it was an impromptu addition. Suffice to say, everyone has agreed that they'll be parking much further apart in future to minimise the chances of the horses conversing about rejigging the classes to add their own bit of interesting variation.
All in all, this was a FANTASTIC day and if it is any indication of the calibre of those who may be competing at the Annual Show in March 2005, it's going to be a GREAT show!!!
Here are some photos of the day...
