I am going to start with the thank yous first :)
Thank you so much to everyone who came and supported the show, without your help on the day and generally awesomeness it wouldn't have been such a great day. I don't have enough time or space to single everyone out (but I will single out a few special individuals) but you were all really really awesome.
Special thanks firstly to Laura who helped set up and clear up and generally was a huge help throughout the weekend. Also well done for tolerating my awful taste in music, Westlife is awesome and you just need to accept that. Thank you so much to Jan, who judged some horrendous classes, I promise if you ever run a show I will judge all the really awful classes including Light Youngstock! You were really great and so tolerant, thank you so much x A massive thank you to Donna who stayed afterwards and helped clean up! That was a huge help when I had to pack all my horses! Thank you to Dave for cleaning the kitchen and amusing Brendon for the whole day!
And of course a massive thank you to Brendon for all his help in the run up to the show and on the day. I couldn't ask for a better husband :) Thank you for cutting BMECS cards, helping pack, loading cars, putting out tables, carrying things, selling raffle tickets, tidying, cleaning and generally being my rock for the last few weeks as I've been stressed and working all hours of the day to try and balance work, studying and show prep. I love you so much and you're a complete star x
And finally...thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets! We raised an amazing £207 for DOTS which is such an awesome charity. Those little doggies are gonna be so happy :D as will their owners of course x
So onto the actual show report, well you may have guessed from my early morning and late night Facebook and Insta posts that I was getting a bit stressed getting ready for the show and getting everything prepped! But in the end I managed to produce three customs for prizes, five customs for the raffle, six tack pieces as prizes and numerous goody bags, raffle prizes and general prizes for the show.
The goody bags were a huge hit, I went major OTT with them and I think most people were on a sugar high by the end of the day but I really hope you enjoyed them :D I do like to spoil people and I hope I managed to do that.
The day started really early for us, once we had managed to find the hall (I did not get lost go me), find the key box and battle through the weird doors we made it in and ready to set up.
The hall is a great space, maybe a little small and seriously lacking in tables but we managed to fit everyone in!
As you can see it didn't take long for Brendon and Dave to start having important man talks. You can see the green goody bags on everyone's tables and the entire stage taken up by a raffle!
The day started with Original Finish in ring one, Performance in ring two and Workmanship in ring three.
Here is one of the workmanship classes, Bay
This photo also gives you an idea of how neat everything looked to start with :p But also how competitive some of the classes were, I mean look at the standard of entries!
OF was also hugely competitive and there were some stunning horses on show, here is a really nice PSA
Performance was also really well represented, I only had one class with a single entry over the entire day which was great! Here is a CF ISH approaching a cross country jump
And just because I love these little Schleich models here is a little Schleich cross country entry
My first yay moment of the day was getting a Workmanship Division champ with CRS Mona Lisa :D Now touched up she can finally hit the show ring again,
Uti also did really well as always, although Curtis was mean to him so he did cry a bit. Mean Curtis.
All of the sections had division championships as well as section championships, here you can see the stunning rosettes made by Inspirations Rosettes in front of a gorgeous Julip dressage entry
As you can see some of the classes had lots of variety in them which was nice. This is OF Paint horse
The leopard spot class made my eyes hurt! This is one of my favourite Harleys, a Kim Burd paint job
It was great to see lots of newcommers and younger showers having a go at performance as well, look at this lovely Roxy in Western tack
I just love the colour on this ISH
This was the other spotted workmanship class, less eye hurting than leopard but still SO MANY SPOTS
The part colour division champion, another favourite model of mine, this little pinto Hazel is just gorgeous
I was over the moon with Muir Woods :D He took home his second BMECS card and got a reserve division champion! Such a clever boy :D
Who doesn't love a Smarty Jones in Western tack? This rider looks like she is really going for it!
There were some really creative entries on the day, especially from the newcommers, look at this lovely Marabella in costume
WORKMANSHIP CHAMPIONSHIP
Prizes donated by Chestnut Ridge
Workmanship Champion
Workmanship Reserve Champion
Workmanship Reserve to Reserve Champion - CRS Mona Lisa (painted by Deb Brown)
These little mini whinnies were having great fun next to a stream
And because he was mean to Uti here is an embarrassing picture of Curtis
A gorgeous little CM Valegro (fun fact this guy was UK Workmanship champ at BMECS a few years ago)
PERFORMANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Performance Champion
Performance Reserve Champion
Performance Reserve to Reserve Champion
Obviously the day wasn't thrilling for everyone
At lunchtime we had three fun classes, one of which was Apple most like Horse. I must say that everyone became worryingly competitive over this class. Some strange things went on with these apples!
At lunch we also had the raffle which took a very long time because genius here acquired A LOT of prizes. But Brendon was happy because he took home two teddies and I was happy because I got yet another teapot (I had managed to cut down to just three teapots). I think everyone got something, it was great to see a young hobbyist win the little artist resin I donated! They were over the moon! I can't remember who got the stunning AA Mule but it was such a beautiful donation, thank you Donna x Thank you so much to everyone who donated something, you were all so generous x
Anyway back to the show and on with OF!
After lunch we then started the CTF section, Albert did me proud (again), I swear this horse has so many rosettes I could build a fort out of them. I can't believe Donna was worried I wouldn't like him!
ORIGINAL FINISH CHAMPIONSHIP
Original Finish Champion
Original Finish Reserve Champion
Original Finish Reserve to Reserve Champion (nice to see the King Arthurs are still going strong)
The AA section then ran after OF. So at this point we had AA in ring one, CTF in ring two and CM in ring three.
Look at the paint job on this guy it's just gorgeous
Because I love bays and I love shiny china things, a really nice little bay AA TB
One of my older customs still doing well and taking home a 5th in CM Fantasy
We haven't had any cuteness in a while so check out the CTF Pony Youngstock class!
Another gorgeous paintjob, I just love the dapple on this AA model, and I don't normally like dapples!
CUSTOM CHAMPIONSHIP
Custom champion
Custom Reserve Champion - CRS I Am Spartacus (painted by Deb Brown)
Custom Reserve to Reserve Champion
Judging all of the classes was tough and required a lot of concentration! Also check out Brendon in the background, caught in the act of sweet stealing!
CTF CHAMPIONSHIP
CTF Champion
CTF Reserve Champion - CRS Albert I (RubberNedz Trakehner in Bay)
CTF Reserve to Reserve Champion
This was my favourite model of the day by far - I am just in love with her!
ANIMAL ARTISTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
AA Champion
AA Reserve Champion
AA Reserve to Reserve Champion
The prizes, rosettes, trophies and certificates for the Supreme Championship, some amazing things on offer for the winners, they also all got goody bags!
Waiting for judging...the custom champions
Herefordshire Live 2019 - Supreme Champion
Herefordshire Live 2019 - Reserve Supreme Champion
Herefordshire Live 2019 - Reserve to Reserve Supreme Champion
Don't worry I won't share the embarrassing pic of you all stood behind your models on here!
Thank you so much to everyone who came :) I hope you all had a wonderful day and your models did you proud. I look forward to seeing everyone again next year :D Now ROLL ON BMECS!
