Show Report Part 1: Halter

Last weekend me, my boyfriend and a fellow collector made the drive to the yearly liveshow called Vattenshowen (Water Festival Liveshow). Since it's quite some way away from home and it's a two day liveshow we stayed overnight in a cute little camping cabin at a camping not far from where the show was held. We went to the show hall Friday evening as the other collector who rode with me and my boyfriend where staying with the showholder.

We unloaded the car on Friday and then we went to the camping to get some sleep.

On Saturday morning we were at the show hall in good time and unpacked the horses well in time for the show to start. We did have a great schedule but some classes did not come in the order of the show catalog but I will present the results in the order of the catalog as I find it easier that way.

This show hosts plethora of different shows so I have decided to divide this show report into several parts. This first part will consist of the open halter show.

As this show host so many different shows the open show has a lower limit on how many horses you may enter (compared to other shows that only contains a few shows). So I had a really hard time picking out who I wanted to bring!

I only brought one foal to the show, Helios (RC Oliver rep. S. Kern) and he did well earning second place in his class. The foal championship contained five classes and in the end it was won by an adorable Ardennais colt. Reserve and Novice Champion went to the winner of Helios' class, a rather striking Morab mare.

Champion Foal: Rekryt, RC Basilikum rep. A. Gustafsson
Champion Foal Reserve and Novice Champion: Kumori, PS Kachina OF

I'm not sure how it happened but for this show I had no less than 4 Arabians on my table (not all were shown in the halter class however), for not being an Arabian person, that felt like a lot! Out of the 4 I only showed two of them in the open show. The first one was a rather new acquisition, Arwen (RC Gizelle rep. S. Nordström) who managed to grab third place in her class (her first show for me). My other Arabian, Sayad (Mini Khemo rep. S. Nordström) is also relatively new but he has been shown a few times. He got first in his class and went on to be voted Champion. The reserve was a beautiful Arabian mare painted in a unusual grey colour. Another grey was voted Champion Novice, a Breyer Thunderstorm OF.

Champion: Sayad, RC Mini Khemo rep. S. Nordström
Champion Reserve: Raisha, RC Iaret rep. E. Rossiter
Champion Novice: Marjanah, Breyer Tr. Weather Girl Thunderstorm OF

The draft championship was quite large, containing 6 classes for different breeds. My only drafthorse, AR Brigadör (MM Brigadier rep. A. Gustafsson) did well taking second in his class. This championship had some really amazing horses, one of my favourites of the day won the championship. I'm not really a fan of porcelain models as I'm not that fond of glossies and I see them as really, really fragile. But that little Oberon, shown as a Percheron is definitely one of my faves! Champion Reserve was rewarded to a really nice shire who was the one who won the class AR Brigadör was in. The novice Champion was a nice OF CollectA Irish Cob.

Champion: Thorsten, CMG Oberon by S. Rose
Champion Reserve: Lallybroch's Bran, RC WBP O'Doulle rep. C. Jolly
Champion Novice: Tripoli, CollectA Irish Cob OF

This year the show host decided to do a little Shetland pony special so you could bring 5 extra Shetland ponies (outside of the show limit) therefore, the pony championship was divided into two championships, Shetland Pony, and Ponies. The Shetland pony championship wasn't huge but we got three rather big classes of Shetlands. I showed two, Tinkerbelle (Safari Toob Pony rep. by me) and Serafina (Safari Toob Pony rep. by my boyfriend). Tinkerbelle managed to get second in her class while Serafina, unfortunately finished last. I was a bit surprised at the placing as there were so many adorable Shetlands! In the end the championship was won by a Shetland pony! Surprise!

His name was Sprout and he was a very lovely, detailed little guy. Champion reserve went to an unusually coloured Shetland and Champion Novice was a little roan.

Champion: Sprout, HA Truffles OF
Champion Reserve: C'estor of Decorime, RC Flitwick rep. T. Wolmer
Champion Novice: Granit, Breyer Sm. G2 Pony OF

The rest of the ponies were a diverse mix of British ponies, riding ponies and other ponies. I, surprisingly had 3 ponies to show. My welsh, Gold Rush (Copperfox Sovereign OF) came last in his class but Epsilon (NL New Forest OF) did better and got third in his. Best out of my ponies did Maverick (RC Tivoli rep. A. Dionne) who won his class and was later voted Champion! The reserve was an adorable hackney pony (which unfortunately is missing in the picture below as she was being photographed for another win at another table but she will show up in one of the other posts). Novice champion went to a really nicely painted OF model.

Champion: Maverick, RC Tivoli rep. A. Dionne
Champion Reserve: Brookside Idyll, AAA Hackney OF
Champion Novice: Flammarion, Breyer Tr. Connemara OF

In the Riding- and Carriage horse championship another one of my newer additions would be shown and I was hoping he would do good! I also showed some older faces and they did okay. Raphael (RC Gabriel rep. T. Melin) got second in the Friesian class and Nazar (RC HA Akhal-Teke rr T. Melin) took fourth in his class. My new-ish addition, El Salvaje, did great, better than I had hoped for even! He won his class and managed to be voted Champion! The reserve is an adorable Arabian/Paint cross Nahar. The Champion Novice was actually my boyfriend's horse. We were both quite surprised as we didn't expect that horse to do much.

Champion: El Salvaje, RC Verrochio rep. L. Lawrynovicz
Champion Reserve: Aladdin, RC Mini Nahar rep. K. Giesbrecht
Champion Novice: Shadowfax, Breyer Sm. G4 Andalusian Stallion Blind Bag OF

Sporthorses are, as always, my favourite championship even though I only had 3 horses to show in the open halter show. There were several, really gorgeous sporthorses and I am quite happy that my models did as good as they did. Fallen Hero (RC Valor rep. N. Söhn) got third in his class and Chester VS (RC Caitano rep. S. Nordström) and Belize (RC Genoveva rep. S. Nordström) got first and second in their class. The champion was a beautifully painted mini Eberl sculpt and my own Chester VS, managed to claim the reserve title. Novice champion went to a really nice Copperfox model.

Champion: Tactic,  RC Tornado rep. J DeCurir
Champion Reserve: Chester VS, RC Caitano rep. S. Nordström
Champion Novice: Willy Wonka, Copperfox Cadbury OF

One of the championships I was also quite excited about is the Stockhorse/Mustang Championship. I mostly like this championship as I get to show of my pride and joy, Sahale J (RC El Embosco rep. E. Gonzales). That horse is definitely the crown of my collection and even though he usually does really well in show I would've loved him even if he never won anything!

Anyway, Sahale J went on to win his class, which of course made me very happy. My other horse in this championship, Don't Call Me Nymphadora didn't do too good this time and got last in her class. Sahale J did more than make up for it by being voted champion! The reserve was a really nice Quarter Horse mare. The Champion novice was another one of my boyfriend's models. He bought this model to repaint and use in performance so he mostly brought him to fill up the showstring a bit as he doesn't have that many models.

Champion: Sahale J, RC El Embosco rep. E. Gonzales
Champion Reserve: Steel Shadows, China mini Lady Phase OF
Champion Novice: Highway To Hell, Breyer Slick By Design OF

Last Championship in the open halter show was the Other Equus Championship which was dominated by the donkeys as both champion and reserve were donkeys!

Champion: Joker, NL Donkey cm. J Williford
Champion Reserve: Empire, Schleich Poitou Donkey rr K. Persson

The callback table was really tough and voting was really, really hard. It was a really close call for the Best in Show, apparently only one point separated the two in the top. But in the end, my beloved Sahale J was crowned Best in Show! I was so, so happy! He's always done very well for me, but this is his first Best in Show title for me! I was literally walking on clouds for the rest of the day!

The Best in Show Reserve was a vote between the second placer from the callback table, which was my El Salvaje, and El Salvaje's reserve, Steel Shadows. It was another close call but the Reserve title went to Steel Shadows!

Best in Show Novice was another tough vote as there were many, many nice horses but in the end it was the Connemara pony Flammarion who won.

Best in Show: Sahale J

Best in Show Reserve: Steel Shadows

Best in Show Novice: Flammarion

Next up is results from the Animal Artistry and Eberl shows.