Johnson Brothers and Andy Tack

Iberian Horse Charity Show - July 2010

JOHNSON BROTHERS AND ANDY TACK were the kind hosts for the Iberian Horse Show on Saturday July 10th, with all proceeds being split between The Brooke, The Blue Cross at Rolleston and local children’s charity Rosie's Helping Hands.

The purpose of the show was to help bring awareness of the Iberian horses to people in the area as well as provide a new venue for these horses to compete at. We had a good selection of pure and part bred Andalucians and Lusitanos as well as local rider Martin Wiles riding a purebred Lipizzaner and Alex Carrington from Melton Mowbray riding her Friesian. Local photographer John Mason has a selection of photos on his website; email John at jmasphotography@aol.com.

There were dressage classes for all levels including dressage to music. Show classes ranged from novice and advanced horses, best pure and part breds, and ending with a parade class. The judges for the dressage classes were Judy Nolan and Andy Fitz-Patrick, for the showing classes Fiona Melville worked along side Snr Pedro Neves, a visiting breeder, trainer and judge from Portugal.

Throughout the day there were some wonderful riding displays – Linda Harper gave a lovely solo display on her own Andalucian stallion Cupido VI, Howard and Loretta Boswell along with Tracey Mottram and Julie Bradbury made up the quadrille, all riding in traditional tack and clothing, then later in the day Pedro Neves gave a wonderful display of in-hand work. A very big thank you must go to Pedro for giving his time all day, not only judging and doing the display but riding several competitors horses, making everything look so easy. I know the owners were very pleased with the time Pedro gave to their horses. Thanks also to Howard and Loretta for organising everything.

All this was possible due to the kindness of a lot of people in donating money to fund everything. And the best part about it all was whilst we all had a good day and 3 very worthwhile charities benefited. This event is going to happen again next year, so please if anyone would like to sponsor a class or some part of the costs please contact Barbara Swanson, tel no. 07786 364837 or email 1960barbara@live.co.uk