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North Somerset Show 5th May 2025

Another first-time event for the SDA, the North Somerset Agricultural Show returned for its

163rd edition at the North Somerset Showground in Wraxall, offering a vibrant celebration of

rural life and countryside traditions. It was a huge show for a 1-day event.

The track had some technical turns and angles in a large beautiful but slightly slopey ring

making the turn to the slalom more difficult that it walked. The cones out of the box tripped

up a few drivers as they sped downhill and turned to the next set of cones.

Following the loss of one of her best ever small ponies from Pepsi &  Shirley, Karen Morris

recently broke and brought out one of her field ornaments Daisy with the well-established

Shirley and a new name of Odds & Sods. Not knowing whether the atmosphere would be

too much and ready to pull out of the competition if she felt it might be too much, Karen went

into the smalls class with no expectations. The pair did a surprisingly decent round and clear.

Track & Trace upped the pace by a fair few seconds, but Kim Scott came through to beat

Veronica by a second on the talented but strong Smokey & the Bandit. The clear rounds

prevailed with Smokey & the Bandit first, Track & Trace 2nd and Odds & Sods 3rd .

In the bigs class, Karen still struggled with her mare and although she had a great time, the

added time of balls put her into 3rd place. Lily Owen with Cookie and Custard drove another

beautiful fast clear round only to be beaten by the ever improving Bitter & Twisted.

A quick turnaround for the championship, with John Cornell and Karen Morris having two

pairs in the Championship. As always, the speeds got faster as the drivers knew where they

could slice valuable parts of a second off the time.

John Cornell had the fasted time of the day on Bitter and Twisted but clipped a ball, still

bringing him into 3rd place. Kim Scott & Karen Morris also had very fast times but both hit

balls costing them dearly. John Cornell with Bribery & Corruption could not have asked for

more and won the Championship with a foot perfect round. Only the ponies 2nd season

together and are really starting to bond and show huge potential. Veronica Kelland put in a

beautiful fast clear round to grab Reserve Champion.

Suffolk Country Show 20th - 21st April 2025

The season started with a brand-new show in Suffolk. When we arrived, the set-up was very

different to what we were used to. A ring had been set up for each competition or display.

We had set times and they moved the crowds to each arena throughout the day which

actually worked quite well. We did have to ask them to extend the arena as I am not sure

they had seen scurry before. A very relaxed atmosphere and great for a first show.

The smalls class saw Clare Barcroft out with Ant & Dec, loaned from Alan Clarke. Clare

drove a lovely clear round which ended up with a 2nd place. John Cornell went in with Bribery

& Corruption with a great time but had 3 balls down. Track & Trace with Veronica Kelland

flew with the fastest time of the class to win.

The bigs class saw a lot more clear rounds except for Wing & A Prayer with Karen Morris,

very apt names for a challenging mare. One of the drivers said, they knew Karen was in

trouble when she was laughing coming through the start. Lily Owen, our youngest driver ran

a beautifully driven fast clear round with her ponies, Cookie and Custard to come in 3rd . John

Cornell with his 2nd pair of ponies absolutely flew with Bitter & Twisted to go into the lead but

was beaten by the foot perfect current National Champion Alan Clarke with his amazing

ponies, Pride & Joy.

Onto the championship with more accuracy and faster speeds and all drivers trying to get

near Alan’s speeds. Claire Barcroft let the brakes off to go over 10 seconds faster than her

first round. Wing & A Prayer had a somewhat more sensible drive, with a great time but one

ball. The stunning roan ponies of John Cornell laid down another amazing time but was short

of the Championship time by just over a second. Pride & Joy took the Championship with

Alan Clarke, Bitter & Twisted Reserve Champion and Ant & Dec 3rd.