This fabulous show began as the East Surrey Society Show, which was established in 1837, the year Queen Victoria came to the throne. Eventually, by 1947, the Edenbridge & Oxted Shows merged and held their August Bank Holiday Show in Edenbridge until 1987, when a new showground was purchased at Ardenrun, Lingfield
The Show has developed a unique friendly atmosphere and had a great turn out despite the weather! With a vast number of diverse country activities from Agriculture & Horticulture to Horses and Country Sports there was plenty to see and lots of shopping! The Horsemart stand was busy as usual and we had sponsored the Top Score Show jumping class so I went over to find William Funnell outside the collecting ring for a chat.
William, what brings you to the Edenbridge & Oxted show?
I have brought some younger horses with me today, it’s a good run out for them to get them used to the main ring and to the atmosphere.
Anything with good potential that we should be looking out for in the future?
The two 7 year olds I have today are both looking good for the future. Beowulf has already qualified for HOYS 7 year old class and Billy Congo won the British seven year old Championship last week.
Which classes are you doing?
Both the 7 year olds are going to do the Horsemart Top Score class, it’s good experience for them. Billy Congo was going to do the International tomorrow but as there has been a few show cancellations lately I probably won’t do that now, but he is nearly ready.
One of them will do the Speed class 1.30 later which I will decide on after the Top Score.
So what are you doing tomorrow?
Im going to bring some of the older horses tomorrow, Kepi D’Elle is a good mare that needs a leg stretch. She is 18 and has had some time off as we have taken embryos from her.
Is it difficult having so many horses at one show to organise?
This is a nice show for us as it is only 45 minutes from home it is easy to pop back and forth with the horses.
How long has it taken to produce Beowulf and Billy Congo?
We broke them both at 3 yrs old and it takes a long time to get to this stage, this is the important year for them as next year they will jump international tracks.
The class was really exciting with the maximum points to be had at 200 which was wiggly planks at maximum height. The arena was quite slippery and there was a couple of falls, we wish Giles Mooney all the best with is own horse that slipped into a fence and left the arena lame.
William took the lead on his second ride Beowulf with a great score of 1520 in a time of 62.59. He was piped to the post by Nicole Pavitt on Amarylliscvan De Heffink who put in an unbeatable performance that had us all holding our breath! Well done Nicole.
1st Nicole Pavitt on Amaryllisvan De Heffink
2nd William Funnel on Beawulf
3rd Louise Pravitt on Make Haste
4th Keith Doyle on Sassy
5th Keith Doyle on Landleibe
6th William Funnel on Billy Congo
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The team at Horsemart work VERY hard, but at the weekends they often get up to some rather splendid horsey activities - we will endeavour to post them here, as long as they don't get shy! We also visit a lot of events and shows thoughout the year so we'll keep you posted on what we're up to and where we're going to be - come and see us if we're in your neck of the woods...
