Bletchley and Coonalpyn Show 2014: Thank you once again to all the people that brought these shows to life again this year! This year dealt us adversely hot weather, where as in previous years it has been raining! A reality that Australia is getting hotter and in fact these kind of shows held in the heat, may become more of a reality in the future. What we experienced was a day of camaraderie. Competitors riding in cool summer dress, horses being misted and cared for, kids having a good time and being managed very well, horses comfortable with a light breeze and despite a high temperature, a low humidity reading, therefore making it in a safe zone for comfort of horses and competitors. Thank you to our amazing judges, Dale Plumb, Barbara Taylor, Louise Barton and Alexia Fraser.( Interstate ) and our local stars, Meagan Parij, Vernon Weller, Ian Mc Fetridge, Sarah Wilson, Nicky Bruggerman, Sarah Frayne, David Stanton & Kym Rumball - our dedicated stewards, Tayla Gilden, Anne - Marie Yates, Sophie Yates, Katerine, Kerry and Narrie, Penny Scott, Lisa Kokegei, Hamish Clarke-Smith and David Stanton and Chris Leech. Special Mention must go to Steven Brewster for PA and Jim Hilman for professional photography. Another special mention to Rex Leibelt, president, Robyn Van Dok, secretary and Pat Alexander, treasurer. Once again, Bletchley Show has had its fair share of publicity. We understand that as the show that attracts the largest number of entries for an Ag society in SA, we often break new ground. This is never easy and takes hours of research and event management strategies. We as event organisers looked at all options available to us, and launched a management approach to this event after consulting and implementing policy from Horse Groups, specialists in animal welfare and performance. The day went successfully and there were no reported accidents or injuries. Horses and people had adequate shade and stabling, there was access to plenty of hoses, a misting bay, ice water readily available, and a 5 minute rule imposed for riding. To all the people that competed at Bletchley and Coonalpyn Shows, Congratulations and thank you to all for wonderful display of horsemanship and knowledge, and self management. The quality of horses and riders on display was high, and the broad sash winners very deserving. To all those competitors that entered and didnt compete we understand the anguish that you had making the decision to not compete vrs having a fun day out being judged by some of Australias best. We know what a decision like this, to compete or not compete, is never taken lightly. We thank competitors for making the decision that was best for them and the majority of people either competed, or didnt compete and had the good manners to take responsibility for their own decisions. Unfortunately there are a minority of people who do not have the good manners to respect others decisions and feel it is appropriate to make an opinion. Some of these people showing poor form didnt even enter and we are puzzled by their responses to our show when they never intended to compete in our 2014 show. We ask, on behalf of the competitors that did take part and were responsibly competing , for these minority of people to show due respect and refrain from judging another competitors decision to compete. Your opinions are fine, however, perhaps they need to be directed to horse bodies that make these regulations, rather than the shows and competitors who follow their guidelines? Bletchley show simply followed guidelines of various horse groups regarding event management and equine welfare and implemented these. We repeat, for these minority of people, if you have genuine concerns, and were at the event to watch it unfold, we urge you to contact the federal bodies and horse organisations that produce these guidelines which we and our attending competitors simply implemented. Once again, Bletchley has proven to attract large entries and support from SA competitors! We enjoy bringing these kind of shows to SA Competitors to experience and get amongst and will continue to pave the way with innovation for other shows as a benchmark to follow. Thank you Competitors for supporting the Strathalbyn and Coonalpyn Ag societies, Summer Horse Show.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 19:09:59 +0000
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