Last Friday we set off once again for Otley, this time to perform at Otley Carnival. We knew the way, as the carnival takes place on the same field as Otley Show, which we performed at back in May. We didn't even need the sat nav to get us there! Having pulled on to the field the space we were allocated meant the only sensible way to park the lorry was to parallel park it - which I did! It was really funny, but I got it in the space straight away luckily, and somebody even said they couldn't have done the manoeuvre in their car!
The boys were once again in their element munching on the lush grass, and having settled them down for the night we got an early night ourselves - all in bed by 9.30pm! We had a bit of a lie in as well, as we weren't due to perform until 3.15pm. We spent the morning getting everything ready slowly, and I spent quite a bit of time running Casper through all his tricks, as I really didn't want a repeat performance from him as at Rawdon Fun Day. The carnival was being built up around us, and very soon there were lots of stalls and marquees. It didn't affect the boys one bit though, and they both lay down for ages for a good long morning snooze! See the photos of the lazy beasts here.
Before long the sun went in and the heavens opened, which unfortunately coincided with the parade setting off from the town. Luckily though it seemed to only be a heavy shower, and the sun soon came back out. We were hoping the weather would stay nice for our performance, as we had had enough of Otley rain at the show in May!
Before long the parade started to arrive on the show field - and kept on coming! There were many different floats, all of which had had lots of effort put into them and looked amazing. The new carnival queen was crowned in a coronation ceremony, and the field was soon packed. Then it was our turn! The was a large crowd all around the arena, and Tinker was brilliant. He didn't put a foot wrong throughout the whole display, which is more than can be said for Casper! I don't know what's got into him recently, but he decided to play his charging off on his own accord game a couple of times - thankfully not as badly as at Rawdon Fun Day, but not far off! He did eventually settle and I did manage to do nearly all of my freestyle on him, even going upside down a couple of times!! The Roman riding went well despite a few bucks from that naughty Casper, luckily Tinker was the ultimate professional and just ignored him!
Following the show we had a very busy little shop, selling lots of posters and keyrings - I think most of Otley must have pictures of us somewhere on their walls by now (at least the eight year old girls anyway!). Following our display the whole field was taken down in record time. I have literally never seen a field emptied of absolutely everything so quickly - one of the organisers told me it was thirty years of practise. Either way I was very impressed!
Casper has another chance to redeem himself tomorrow, as we're off to Witton Castle near Bishop Aukland to perform the double act again. I've been working him all week so he really has no excuses this time! I'll let you know how we get on!
Love Rosie x
Before long the parade started to arrive on the show field - and kept on coming! There were many different floats, all of which had had lots of effort put into them and looked amazing. The new carnival queen was crowned in a coronation ceremony, and the field was soon packed. Then it was our turn! The was a large crowd all around the arena, and Tinker was brilliant. He didn't put a foot wrong throughout the whole display, which is more than can be said for Casper! I don't know what's got into him recently, but he decided to play his charging off on his own accord game a couple of times - thankfully not as badly as at Rawdon Fun Day, but not far off! He did eventually settle and I did manage to do nearly all of my freestyle on him, even going upside down a couple of times!! The Roman riding went well despite a few bucks from that naughty Casper, luckily Tinker was the ultimate professional and just ignored him!
Following the show we had a very busy little shop, selling lots of posters and keyrings - I think most of Otley must have pictures of us somewhere on their walls by now (at least the eight year old girls anyway!). Following our display the whole field was taken down in record time. I have literally never seen a field emptied of absolutely everything so quickly - one of the organisers told me it was thirty years of practise. Either way I was very impressed!
Casper has another chance to redeem himself tomorrow, as we're off to Witton Castle near Bishop Aukland to perform the double act again. I've been working him all week so he really has no excuses this time! I'll let you know how we get on!
Love Rosie x
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