South of England Show

Thursday 7th June 2012

SOUTH OF ENGLAND SHOW 7^th, 8^th & 9^th June 2012 kindly sponsored by HANDMADE SHOES LTD

This years South of England Shoeing & Shoemaking competition certainly proved to test the horses temperaments and the determination of the organisers, stewards, judges and competitors!

The first day of the show saw record entries in the open pony class, six horses four rounds, 24 pony feet shod to an exceptionally high standard, foot prepararation, nail and finish to be marked had judge James Hayter DWCF hons being rushed off his feet, commenting, ‘they all want to be marked at the same time!’

As always farriers at work, the noise of steel being hit draws crowds of people, they watched and listened to the commentary in the pouring rain and flash floods – welcome to the great British summer!

Friday became every organiser’s nightmare, with rumours circulating the showground before 7am of the show being cancelled …….. this lead to panic telephone calls and numerous meetings with health and safety liaison officers, show jumpers taking to facebook to ‘cancel the show’ we nearly had a mutiny when the diehard farriers had travelled far and wide to this fantastic competition to take home the amazing prizes on offer, that were very generously donated by Handmade Shoes Ltd  – but with the guarantee of fantastic horses with superb temperament’s (thank you to THREE GREYS RIDING SCHOOL , Pyecombe) we managed to let the competition continue, all show jumping classes were cancelled and many of the main arena demonstrations cancelled as the show was hit by hurricane weather . The wind blew, tents and marquees took off, the rain came ,thunder and  lightning filled the sky and our competition farriers carried on competing! Luckily the Open roadster horses took it all in their stride and stood brilliantly.

Saturday was the busiest day, fantastic stewarding and time keeping from Tim Fieldwick (chief steward) and Chris Perrot, kept the competitors on their toes with 12hours of competition taking place and thank fully a reprieve from the weather it was a great day to end a fabulous show. 228 shoes in total kept judges James Hayter and Peter Marley busy late into the evening Friday night but a well-attended prize giving took place at the end of competiton.

Our thanks must go to Handmade Shoes Ltd who took on the sponsoring of this show six years ago and without them we wouldn’t have this fantastic completion.

RESULTS

1^st & 2^nd Yr Apprentice

1. Grant Watt
2. George Rogerson
3. Declan Emmerson
4. Harry Harris
5. Calvin Higgs
6. Toby D’Abero

3^rd & 4^th Yr Apprentice

1. James Eliot
2. Charlie Cerrullo
3. Dan Gardener
4. Jack Holder
5. Harry Chapman
6. Thomas Newham

OPEN PONY

1. Matt Randle
2. Andrew Casserly
3. Darren Bazin
4. Ben Casserly
5. Gavin Golby
6. Joe Bryant

OPEN ROADSTER

1. Ricky Hilton
2. Joe Bryant
3. Ben Casserly
4. Andrew Casserly
5. Darren Bazin
6. Matt Randle

OPEN HUNTER

1. Joe Bryant
2. Andrew Casserly
3. Jimmy Cooper
4. Gavin Golby
5. Ricky Hilton
6. Darren Bazin

OPEN SHOEMAKING

1. Matt Randle
2. Darren Bazin
3. Andrew Casserly
4. Joe Bryant
5. Ben Casserly
6. Lewis Knaggs

SOUTH OF ENGLAND RESERVE CHAMPION JOE BRYANT

SOUTH OF ENGLAND CHAMPION ANDREW CASSERLY