The Showing Journal
Get The Look - Part 4
PRODUCT FOCUS...
Turnout for a
Show Hack...
For the latest in our series, we were able to visit
Team Hollings at their yard near Blackburn in
Lancashire to get step-by-step guidance on how
to prepare a hack for the show ring. Our model
was Samantha Nixon’s Whittakers
Prince (Sammy) who is ridden in
the ring by Penny Hollings.
Expert guidance was given
throughout the day by trainer
Penny Hollings and Showing
Manager Stacey Wiseman.
Photos courtesy of Sinclair Photography.
28
Whittakers Prince and Penny at the Scottish Horse
Show winning the large hack class.
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S
ammy was
assessed by
Stacey before
the makeover
commenced
and Stacey felt
he could benefit
from a little
trimming and tidying. Stacey first
trimmed his ears with a hand
trimmer then moved on to his
She talked about this being an
important task to keep up to
date so the limbs always look tidy
and the horse is presented to his
best advantage.
Next Stacey pulled any stray hairs
in Sammy’s tail – a task they do
every day in order to keep the tails
immaculate. ‘We pull a little every
day as this avoids any mass pulling
which causes soreness and
rubbing,’ said Penny. ‘By pulling
every day it is a simple and quick
task and they seldom object. We
also apply a tail bandage every day
to ensure that the tail lies flat. If
you do not apply a tail bandage
every day then the hair grows out
sideways from the dock and never
looks tidy.’
muzzle which she tidied with a
Horse Shave. She then inverted her
trimmers and tidied round the
fetlock area.
Signature Hollings
Pony Saddle...
‘A lot of work has gone into the saddle
range that Penny Hollings and I designed
to produce a saddle that is not only
elegant for the show ring but is balanced
and comfortable to allow the horse to
move to its full potential. Additionally
we offer a made to measure service
allowing us to produce a Hollings
saddle for every horse or pony type.
Michael Davies.’
Mobile: 07939 537141
Tel: 01254 879223
Sammy was washed in High Shine
Shampoo which is an excellent
shampoo for darker coloured coats
as it strips out dust and dirt. It will
also break down scurf in manes and
tails, and leaves a conditioned and
shiny coat. Once shampooed,
excess water was scraped off and
preparations for the makeover
commenced in earnest.
Stacey applied Coat Gloss to the
body, leaving the saddle area clear.
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This exercise was repeated,
reducing the number of marks by
one on each line, to create the ‘V’
shape on the quarters, until the last
line had just one mark.
Whilst the coat was still wet, she
groomed the coat in the direction
of the hair growth. She then started
to apply quarter marks. ‘The benefit
of spraying the coat with the gloss
first is that once it dries, it helps set
the marks in place,’ advised Stacey.
Hack quarter marks are the same
as for show ponies — ‘V’ shaped
checker-board marks. Stacey has
a selection of different combs for
applying marks and used one which
is just less than an inch wide to
create the marks on Sammy’s
quarters. She started her marks and
worked from right to left across the
quarters, making a small mark of
about an inch in depth with her
comb, leaving a space then marking
again, repeating this so she had 10
or 11 marks on the top row.
Stacey then moved on to applying
sharks teeth below the checkerboard
marks. To do this, she positioned
a body brush mid-quarter in an
upward direction and in one stroke
from the hip towards the tail,
produced an arch shape.
Once satisfied with her first row
of marks, she then started on the
second row.
Stacey reduced the number of
marks in this row by one less than
the row above and applied her new
marks in the space between the
markings on the row above.
after the first mark had been
applied, she then positioned her
brush at the same starting point,
but brushed in a downward
diagonal towards the tail, then
repeated this three times to
produce the ‘teeth’ effect. ‘This
is something that comes with
practice,’ said Stacey. ‘If you
have five minutes free at home,
do it! Practice
it again and
again until
you find
the best
look and
they are
really neat.
applying
these quarter
marks will
then become
easy and
second
nature.’
CONTINUED OVERLEAF...
30
The Showing Journal
Get The Look - Part 4
Stacey repeated the marking
process on the other side of the
quarters, making sure that when
she looked at the quarters from
behind, the rows and sharks teeth
were balanced and started at the
same point on the quarters. Then,
to finish off the marks, Stacey stood
behind the tail and placed a brush
at the top of the dock and brushed
down in one smooth action,
creating a straight line running
down next to the tail. Viewed from
behind, this then gives the quarters
a more refined and tidy look.
Stacey then moved on to plaiting
Sammy, who was standing patiently
and loving the attention. Stacey has
a plaiting apron and assembles all
her tools and products before
commencing so she has them all to
hand. She sprayed the mane down
its full length with Easy Plait but
then kept this plaiting aid in her
apron, occasionally squeezing a little
onto her fingers to help her get a
really good grip on the mane hair.
‘We’re trying to stamp out
people using varnish on
hooves,’ said Penny. ‘From a
welfare perspective, varnish
seals hooves, stops them from
breathing and can dry them
out. We use the water-based
paint because it can be applied
in advance and doesn’t seal
the hooves. It can be touched
up if needed but doesn’t cause
any harm and covers well.’
said Penny.
One of Penny’s favourite products is
Glistening Oil and she applied some
of this to the tail. She did this by
To complete the
marks, Quarter
marking Spray was
applied all over the
quarters to fix the
marks in place and
accentuate them.
Stacey created slightly ‘hooded’
plaits on Sammy, giving the illusion
of a little more topline, and she set
them slightly higher up the neck.
Penny always has an uneven number
of plaits on the mane, with the
forelock commonly making a total of
12, depending on the horse.
rubbing the oil between her palms
and then smoothing it down the
length of the tail. ‘We sometimes use
Spray & Shine on the tails and we
tend to use this if the tail hair is
coarser. For finer tails, we use
Glistening Oil,’ advised Penny. She
also smoothed Glistening Oil down
Sammy’s legs which gave a great
shine and accentuated the shape of
his legs and darkened them down.
Whilst Stacey was plaiting, Penny
started to work on the finishing
touches. She painted Sammy’s
hooves with Hoof Paint – using both
Once the hoof paint had dried,
Penny applied a little Leg & Body
Whitener to Sammy’s small white
socks, applying it with a damp
sponge straight into the powder then
touching it on to the socks to whiten
and brighten them.
black and clear hoof paint depending
on the colour of his hooves.
Penny applied black make-up
around the muzzle, then above the
eye and blended it below the eyes.
She then moved on to applying a
little white make-up to Sammy’s star
to accentuate it. ‘We only apply it
She then applied Highlighter Gel
over the make-up and blended this
across the face, smoothing over the
cheeks to get a good shiny coverage.
onto the actual star and we don’t fill
in or increase the size of the star, as
you shouldn’t use products to change
the appearance,’ she says.
Penny gave a great tip for using dark
make-up around the eyes and
muzzle. ‘If you apply make-up, you
don’t want to be wearing it yourself,
so I apply it the night before then
allow it to sink in, before applying
Highlighter Gel just before we go in
the ring. This really cuts down the
risk of make-up getting rubbed off
on clothes.’ Penny also advised that
she applies make-up and then stands
back and assesses. If she thinks she’s
applied too much, she is not afraid to
get a cloth or towel to remove some
and start again.
another of Penny’s favourite
products is High Shine Serum from
the Heritage Collection, and she
smoothed this across Sammy’s brow
and also applied it to the length of
his neck, just below the plaits, to
smooth the coat and add more shine.
Once Stacey had finished plaiting,
Penny once again used Glistening Oil
which she put on her fingertips and
then ‘gripped’ the plaits, holding
each of them for a few seconds down
the full length of the neck. This gave
a little more topline appearance
and added shine to the plaits,
accentuating them further.
CONTINUED OVERLEAF...
32
The Showing Journal
Get The Look - Part 4
Penny and Stacey are huge fans of
saddles from Pony, Cob and Horse
Saddles who are based in the North
West. ‘We’ve been using their saddles
for a few years now and they are just
so comfortable,’ said Penny. ‘We
recently had a ride judge compliment
us on how unbelievably comfortable
the saddle was.’ The team use
lambswool numnahs from Le mieux
and are very pleased with how they
wash and fit — and how usable they
are. They always show Sammy in a
white leather girth which suits hacks
well, especially those who, like him,
have few white markings.
Sammy is shown with a red, white
and blue ribbon browband which
compliments his head.. ‘The correct
fitting of the browband is vital
and they can really accentuate the
features,’ said Penny. ‘Sammy’s
bridle has a stitched noseband which
I think suits his features and I ride
him in a Pelham bit as I feel that he
goes softly in it.’
The last couple of finishing touches
are to apply a little soft leather soap
to the noseband, reins and cheekpieces (even though the bridle is
already clean) and apply Sparkle to
the tail, down the neck and over the
quarters. ‘Sparkle – we love it! We
use it a lot!’ said Stacey.
Getting It Wrong...
As in previous editions,
we show just how
easy it is to have a
completely different
picture to the
immaculate finish
shown above, just by a
few of the finer touches
being incorrect.
Penny shows Sammy in large
hack classes and his tack and
turnout reflects this, so he is
shown true to type. In the picture
above we see Sammy fitted in a
saddle that is too small for him —
both in the seat and flap size,
which is not flattering and can be
uncomfortable.
The bridle that
Sammy wears
here below is
wrong for a hack
in several ways –
the hunter-type
browband is plain
and far too large for
him; the noseband
is plain leather —
too wide for his head — and fitted
too low. The curb chain here is
loose. To top it off, the bit does
not have a lip strap. ‘many
competitors fail to fit a lip strap
to their curb bit, which is totally
incorrect,’ said Penny.
The numnah fitted under the
saddle has obviously been used on
a grey, so there is a smattering of
grey hairs across Sammy’s back,
which is an absolute no-no! ‘all
our saddles and numnahs have
their own covers and bags and we
are insistent that they are always
kept immaculate,’ says Stacey.
For more information on Supreme Products telephone: 01377 229050
or visit our website at www.supremeproducts.co.uk
www.theshowingjournal.co.uk
END
Issue 16 September 2014
33
Rider Diary
2014
September
2014
Oct
2014
Nov
2014
Dec
2015
2015
Jan
Feb
Educating Caitlin...Part 7
Caitlin all bathed and ready.
W
‘
ow, what a rollercoaster month
we have had – from not knowing
if we would even be able to make
the National Pony Society (NPS) summer
championships due to an injury, only to do
better in the final that we could have ever
hoped,’ says Katie.
‘Just eight months after Caitlin was brought
down from the Birkbeck Fell, all the hard
work, sweat and tears have really started to
pay off. Since our last article, she has really
blossomed and to say we were excited about
attending the summer championships was an
understatement. Preparation was going well
until three weeks before when she sustained
an injury that we thought would be the end of
our Picton dream.
‘as I have mentioned in earlier articles,
Caitlin is always put out at night to graze so
that her coat isn’t bleached by the sun. But
on a Tuesday morning three weeks before
the summer championships,
I found her in the wrong field,
with the dividing fence down.
To my complete horror she
had lacerated her hindleg quite
badly and I was sure our
championship dream was over.
‘Through the help of social media, I was
offered therapeutic laser treatment to try and
speed the recovery of the wound – it seemed
in a hopeless bid to try and still compete at
the championships. However, luckily for us it
worked a treat!!
Ready to load up
for NPS.
‘We arrived at the NPS championships and
she settled into her stable well. She was not
fazed at all by the new surroundings but as
we arrived late on monday evening, we
weren't able to hack around the showground
as I had hoped. Tuesday morning came and
our first class of the week was the NFU
mutual open ridden large breeds. I wasn't
expecting much from this class but saw it as
an ideal opportunity to get Caitlin into the
main ring for a look round, as our Picton
final was to be judged in the same ring on the
Thursday. after a lovely go-round I was
stunned to be pulled in second but a couple
of slips on the wet grass saw us move down to
third in the final placings. I was delighted as
this was a fantastic result for a novice pony.
‘Wednesday brought us a sixth place
in a huge Dargavel six-year-old final but
Thursday was to be our big day. Picton day
arrived – the final I had held as a goal for the
last eight months, ever since I brought Caitlin
down from the fell. a place in this class
would be a fabulous result.
‘I had to keep
warming up to a
minimum as she
was tired, so I did
just enough to get
her listening to me
but not too much
so that she wouldn’t
show herself off.
Her go-round was
lovely and I was
Caitlin after the picton class.
pleased; we were
immediately pulled in top. Crikey, I wasn't
expecting that! We went out to do our show
and Caitlin was faultless; I couldn't have
been happier. She stripped like a complete
professional and her trot-up was perfect.
I would have been thrilled with whatever
happened next as she had done me proud.
‘But….WE STayED TOP! Greenholme
Caitlin, my little scruffy Fell pony,
had only gone and won the Picton Fell final...
I couldn't believe it. I felt so honoured.
‘We then had a few hours until the
championship, so I put her back in her
stable to rest and recharge her batteries.
Photo courtesy of Equinational.
In our last feature on Greenholme
Caitlin [August issue], she had
qualified for the Picton final at NCPA
Staffordshire County Festival. We
caught up with Katie to see how their
plans for the final were going...
‘Having to give Caitlin
a week off work so close
to the championships
wasn't ideal, but the
many hours of
groundwork and careful
schooling definitely
paid off. Once the wound
was dried and scabbed
over, and work could
resume, I realised that
she hadn’t forgotten
a thing.
Caitlin’s a winner!
Photo courtesy of Equinational.
with Katie Duxbury
‘Championship time arrived and some
beautiful ponies were waiting outside the
ring. I was so proud that my once-bedraggled
little pony would be riding round with them.
Caitlin once again performed a beautiful goround with a gallop that an open pony would
have been proud of.
HOLy CaBBaGE aND BEaNS.... we were
called forward as champion – a unanimous
decision from all the judges!
‘all this just eight months after she was
running semi-wild on the fell. What a
fantastic achievement for a very sweet little
pony – take heart, home producers, Caitlin
has proved it can be done and hopefully this
is just the start of a very successful show
career for her.
‘my huge thanks go to The Showing Journal
for charting her progress and to Supreme
Products for all their help in transforming
Caitlin from "furry Fell"
into a champion.
END
For more information
on Caitlin’s progress go to
www.supremeproductsltd.blogspot.co.uk
www.theshowingjournal.co.uk