Chloe Chubb’s showing blog: not a RIHS to remember
Well it has certainly been a hectic since I last wrote! Such a lot has happened I’m not quite sure where to start.
Well my Royal International Horse Show didn’t quite go to plan, which is so often the case with horses! Unfortunately a few things went wrong on Friday, so I ended up entering the ring with Jacob after only 10min working-in and using borrowed tack!
We didn’t get placed, but to be honest we didn’t deserve to. The standard was so high and we just didn’t pull off a good enough show to get one of the places on offer. But I wasn’t disappointed with Jacob as, under the circumstances, he did his best. And I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped me out on the morning — it was much appreciated.
After the stresses of Friday, I was back at the show on Saturday with the great honour of judging the part-bred Arab classes. I was hoping for a nice relaxing time before I started judging, but a mix up with times meant a quick dash across the show ground and me changing in the back of the car — not quite the elegant entrance I had hoped for!
Anyway I absolutely loved every minute of the judging and really enjoyed watching the fantastic ponies that came forward. It was a huge honour to judge at such a prestigious show and I would like to thank my co-judge again for giving me the opportunity.
After a second long day at Hickstead you would have thought we had had enough but no, we were back on Sunday for the amateur hacks. Well sadly our bad luck continued and Toby ended up not getting placed in his class. Although a little unsettled on the go round, I was pleased with his show and the ride he gave the judge, so was a bit disappointed to not move up at all.
After a long weekend at Hickstead, Mum and I thought we deserved a bit of a rest. I had toyed with the idea of going down to NPS, but the amount of work I had on and my desire for sleep won out. But, not wanting to waste a whole weekend, we did take Sandy out to a show on Sunday.
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This time my hard work paid off; he got all the correct canter leads and put in a polished performance to be fifth in a big mixed breed class and was the highest placed small. I am very proud of this little pony as he is no trouble at all and always tries his best.
Next stop for us is equifest, so hope to see you there.
Chloe
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Chloe is a successful amateur showing rider and judge, who has been blogging on Horseandhound.co.uk since 2010. She mainly competes in ridden Mountain & Moorland classes with her team of ponies, as well as riding for other people. She lives in Kent and works full-time in London, so has to fit the ponies in around work.