report

the BARASTOC Horse of the Year

RINGMASTER’S REPORT

If I were going to choose a wedding day, I’d match it to Barastoc. It’s NEVER rained, it thought hard about it a couple of times but no – another fine weekend. More than nine months planning, 1700 horses and around 10,000 spectators make it the biggest specialist horse show in the country.

SHOW HUNTERS

It hasn’t been a case of large oaks form little acorns grow with the show hunters. The demand for this attractive type of horse was strong from the minute we introduced the classes, and if we had to combine the over 15hh class it would mean there were 100 horses in the class!

Imagine if hunters weren’t held – another hundred horses in the open hack… scary?

Our English judge Martin Jones was lovely, efficient, prompt and knowledgeable, a pleasure to have.

Congratulations to all the winners in this section and good luck at the Nationals.

NEWCOMERS

You tend to forget that new people keep coming into the sport, and they tend not to know, or understand why things are done a certain way, so it’s probably time we once more explained the criteria for judging Newcomers.

We started newcomers ten years ago.. time flies.. we restricted it to horses that were not shown before May 1 - it was to be June 1 but the hack committee wanted it May because of the winter woollies shows.

The whole idea was to stop people pushing young horses too much too soon, and because of this the judges are told firmly that there is a criteria to judge to.

The judges are told to look for the horse/galloway/pony of tomorrow - one which may in the long term be a superstar NOT the best and most polished performance of today.

So they have to judge on the horse's potential - quality, movement, and last of all - last of all - the work. It is NOT a class for horses ready to do a novice workout at a royal show – it’s a class for the animal that hopefully will be a star of the future. The problem of onlookers not understanding this is that some people live to show, and go to every possible event.

From the beginning of the season these people show perhaps twice a week, go on the Wimmera Run, do mid week shows, so naturally, their animal is more seasoned and works far more professionally that the young horse that is being nursed along by an owner who wants to take it slowly and keep the horse for a long term. The Newcomers is a level playing field for the green horse as well as the more experienced one.

The whole idea came about because of the "burnout" of the young horses that were so extensively shown in their first season. Looking through the list of prior winners there are some that have gone on to be national champions and royal show champions, simply because their owners looked long term rather than just for the moment. so -  if any of the winners worked greenly and still won it would be because the judges thought – “gee I'd like to take that home - it's going to be a star”... pure and simple

It’s NOT a novice class, it’s a class for future stars, and a year will show if the judges have chosen right.

INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE

The International Challenge evening was held for the second time and was once again playing to a full house.  It is a chance to relax with a good meal, a drink and enjoy the horses and music

One less than good point here is the fact some people took the opportunity of taking tickets outside and bringing others in with them free… next year there will be security on the door, and hands will be stamped. The good thing is these people can’t help bragging about their feat, and there’s always someone that will come and tell us. Thanks to those who did.

BARASTOC OPEN SECTION

The open winners were lovely and we will have top class reps for the national titles at the end of the year.

OWNER RIDER

The Owner-Rider championships hold a higher place in the show now that there is every possibility they could get to start in the International Challenge, so PLEASE read the rules. Why competitors seem to find it difficult to understand the two rules below is beyond us.

B) Horses must be the bona fide property of the owner or the owner's immediate family (mother, father, sister or brother of competitor). Exhibitors (12 years of age or over) and owners must be current financial members of the EFA.  Horses must be registered with the EFA.   A lessee is not considered as the bona fide owner. Horses owned in partnerships are not eligible.

D) The horse must be solely trained, exhibited and ridden only by the person/s described in paragraph B. for 6 months prior to the first day of the Barastoc Horse of the Year Show and must reside at the owner/s as described in paragraph B. home, or if agisted, be solely in the care of the owner and/or competitor described in paragraph b.b.

If you have loaned your horse to ANYONE outside your immediate family to ride you are simply NOT eligible. Next year, all placegetters will have to sign in front of our JP to state that they ARE eligible. It’s a very good section and we don’t want to drop it. The two rules above will be included in the schedule for next year.

GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP

Finally in the hurly burly of a huge show it is all too easy to concentrate on the winners and losers, and often, unfortunately, showies like to harp on who did something wrong. But there are some gems, and several very worthy of mention.

In the Ridden Shetland Newcomer the rider of Ferden Park Koala, Annie Rush, was the only rider to assist another little rider whose pony had propped and sent her forward until she was hanging over it's neck with her feet stuck in clogs.

Despite other riders just ignoring the child's predicament, Anne pulled up, dismounted and freed the child, before hopping back on her pony and continuing to canter on. Officials made a presentation to Annie, and publicly congratulated her on her sportsmanship. Many could learn from her.

In the international section, one young rider got very severe stage fright when the time came to enter the arena, with lights, decorations and crowds of people, it was very different to riding in the arena in the quiet of the afternoon.

Stewards and officials, and the judge Martin Jones spent a great deal of time assisting her to get her confidence and she then rode her workout perfectly. While she didn't win, Graeme Barker announced in the presentation that she had indeed won, triumphing over paralysing nerves, and the audience agreed, giving her a heartfelt round of applause.

Young Andrew Smith, the non-horsy member of a very well known horsy family acted as the soundman for the international section for the second year. Despite and horrendous afternoon when the system kept dipping in the middle of tunes (someone had stuck a mobile phone charger next to it as was discovered late in the afternoon) he worked steadily from 5.30pm until 11pm, just because he enjoyed it. He helped set up the tables, filled the balloons and shifted sets.. He received one of the Barastoc jackets for his trouble.

THANKYOU

Thankyou to all the stewards who helped make the show happen, thank you to the committee who has spent months in the planning, thankyou to Gary Hartigan our coordinator, and to the Werribee Park staff for their hard work.

Finally, thankyou to our sponsors, from Barastoc who have been loyal to us for 35 years, through to the competitor who asked for no reward, but gave us a substantial donation which supported one of the Newcomer classes.

It was a super show, and once again, we will try and make it even better next year.

• Fiona Mardling

• Ringmaster.