Sale Agricultural show

Team Joyce arrived at the Sale Agricultural show on Thursday afternoon with LH Johnny, Bolero de la Vie, Ulouve BZ and Fly Hendanlaan Z. The Sale Agricultural show would have to be one of the biggest Agricultural shows still going strong in Gippsland. We really do enjoy attending because the committee put together a massive program providing a taste of everything for everyone. Team Joyce have attended the Sale Ag show for over 20 years and it keeps getting bigger every year.

Fridays weather was hot quite and we had to wait all day until the 1.15m which started at 4.30pm. LH Johnny jumped a lovely clean round and Wes tried a few tight turns for the jump off and placed 6th just out of the bows but a great class. Team Joyce then had all three in the 1.25-1.30m which started at 6.15pm so those horses had waited all day for their first go. It was a mad rush as the show organizers needed to get the jumping done by 6pm and they we running quite late for the night entertainment for the spectators. The  side shows and rides were in full swing , the Tent Pegging and Barrell racing plus the Old English Plate were all being done on the main oval at the same time as the show jumping so there was action everywhere and horses running or jumping flat out. The hype was building and because Fly had never been to an Agricultural show before his eyes were bulging! He did not know where to look and the noise seemed to take his mind off the job at hand. Wes tried to keep him under control and they jumped the first part of the course well, but as he rolled on the last 5 fences he seemed to get more wound up and had three down , two straight fences in the A, B combination and the second last oxer.It was like he did not even see them , he was so unsettled. It was good to get him back to the yards. Bolero only had one down and was fabulous as was Ulouve who also had one rail. They have both seen a bit of action before so they were quite ok.

Listen to the Team Joyce Chat-ski at Sale with Kyle Cant

The night carnival was jam packed full of more action with plenty of interesting stunts until fireworks at around 9pm. We loaded all four on the Beast as this is the safest option for us. Here is the fireworks and the horses loaded.

Sunday fared very different in regards to the weather, my goodness it was wet, windy and cold.

Wes only had to wait until midday before his ride today which was much better. Fly went first in the Calcimo Lime and Fertilizers Grand Prix and again he was antsy but jumped a little better. Bolero only had one rail but would return for the second round as did Ulouve. Bolero jumped clean in his second round and Ulouve had the back rail of the oxer.Wes was very pleased and feels they are becoming easier to ride on course and travelling more fluently. Sometimes they find it difficult to manage all the half strides in the related fences but we can only hope with more practice they will become more adjustable to cope with them. Some course builders love half strides! Whatever happened to true distance?

That’s a good topic for another story!

The last class for Team Joyce was the 1.15m and finally Tiffany was going to have a ride on LH Johnny. Tiffany has been working full time for two weeks and doing exams so riding has been on the back burner. She drove the 2 hrs just to have a ride this afternoon so when the weather fined up for the Grand Prix we hoped it would holed off until after she had jumped. We put her name first to go on the board and that decision definitely paid off because it did become very stormy after. This is a lovely jumping combination and Johnny is looking stronger , to think last year October he had attempted his first 65cm and here we are coming out in the Open 1.15m. They had one rail in the double of straights but besides that the rest was perfect!

Team Joyce are now going to get ready for Dandenong Agricultural show another good ol favorite so stay tuned and we shall let you know how we go! If you are on Facebook there are a full list of results from Maffra and Sale with more pictures

 

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