The Society had decided this year to hold a dedicated Performance Grading Day, rather than trying to do everything at what is always a very busy Breed Show, and we were delighted to be offered the superb indoor facilities at Ford Farm. 

The day began with the showjumping, with 10 ponies forward.  One that very quickly caught everyone’s eye was Furzley Serenaide, ridden by Jane Haskell, who had travelled from Kent. Initially only entered for Grade 1 which she easily achieved, she was given permission by our judge Gilly Wheeler, to progress further, which she did in great style right through to Grade 3, achieving the highest mark of the day, 90% for her Grade 2 round.  Rodlease May Delight, ridden by Andrew Kempe for Avril Darnton, consolidated her recent WHP experience by achieving Grades 1 and 2.

Meanwhile, Mockbeggar Red Alert, ridden by my daughter Lisa, had begun his campaign. I do hope you will forgive my indulgence as I describe this, but it was quite some achievement for a little Forest-bred pony who stands only 12.1hh in his four white socks. Just 10 days before he had gallantly ploughed through the mud created by the 21 previous riders in the Knightwood Challenge to jump only the fifth clear round of the competition and into fourth place. Here he was initially puzzled as to why he was jumping indoors in the middle of summer with no bell to start, but he steadily began working his way through the grades. I have been watching Lisa jump her ponies for 13 years now, plus two years before that running around with her on the lead rein, and I have largely conquered my nerves, but just before her Grade 4 round I found myself pacing anxiously, knowing that there was an upright actually about an inch over height, and two enormous up-to-height spreads, one of them coming out of the double. The end of their round was greeted by an appreciative round of applause from the other riders and Gilly called Lisa over to tell her that that was the best of their four rounds, for which 'Sparky' was awarded 85%, the second highest mark of the day. Poignantly, he did this for his sire, Faircross Sunrise, who we sadly lost to liver failure just a few days before.

And so to the dressage in the afternoon, kindly and very ably judged for us by Claire Moir.  Furzley Serenaide was forward again to get her Grade 1 dressage, and having achieved that, sensibly called it a day, as she was by then very, very tired having done so much more jumping than anticipated.  Wellhouse Witch Hazel, a most attractive dun mare ridden by Julia Dixon for John Chalke, had achieved her Grade 1 jumping in the morning and now produced some lovely work to get both Grades 1 and 2 - Claire was particularly taken with her lovely canter.  Heather Withers was delighted to gain both grades 1 and 2 with the elegant Jomsmead Victoria Plum. Special mention must be made of Forest-bred Brock Buckingham who has spent the summer as a Forest-run stallion, yet comfortably achieved Grades 1 and 2 with some good tests, which surely demonstrates the adaptability and versatility of our ponies.

Then came the real treat of the day as four ponies came forward for the Elementary Grade 3. They all put on a delightful show and Claire was absolutely thrilled to be able to grade them all.  Farriers Foxglove did a lovely fluent, accurate test, and Lisa, who was helping to steward, described Long Copse Elton’s medium trot as 'exquisite'. It was a sheer pleasure to watch the 'old campaigner', 14-year-old stallion Burley Branston who has done a bit of just about everything, perform a wonderful medium canter as well as his lovely medium trot.  Buckland Falcon did not get his medium trot going to quite the same extent as the others, but his test was accurate and correct and most sympathetically ridden by Kit Thorne. Forest-bred Falcon has now achieved all seven of the performance grades on offer, and joins Wayland Loganberry as the second of our ponies to achieve this feat.

We would like to thank our judges Gilly Wheeler and Claire Moir for so generously giving up their time and for the thoughtful and constructive comments they gave to the riders. We are delighted that we can attract such high calibre judges to come and assess our ponies for us. Thank you, too, to James Young and Trudy Nineham for allowing us to use Ford Farm and for being such welcoming and amiable hosts. Finally, congratulations to all our riders for putting on such a wonderful display and once again proving the outstanding capabilities of our ponies.

Jane Murray

Photos at: www.photosbybw.co.uk