The first show of the season for Ramper Shetlands is always the Yorkshire Shetlands Spring Show at Merton Nr York in April.  We always enjoy getting the ponies out for the first time, even if the weather is often a little chilly.

Take it all back, the weather for the Spring Show was glorious sunshine.  After a frosty start and a stallion who decided he would rather stay at home than get in the horse box at 6.30am we had a super day.  Rosie our super star did it again, at 16 years young she came third in a class of mares all under 8 years old and also won the veteran class.  I hope she wasn't offended that we entered her in the 'veterans'.  Her son William was highest placed yearling colt at third position and 'little' Clover, who had never been on the wagon or to a show before, beat him to come second only to a very large filly.

Thanks to Joy and Michael Barugh for all the hard work they put into organising a very enjoyable show.

16th May 2009 - Otley Show. Saw a much better day weather wise than had been forecast and we received two second places with Rosie in the Mare class and Clover in the yearling class. Some very welcome compliments were received from the judge as to the condition of Rosie who for 16 is belying her age and performing extremely well against much younger opposition.

25th May 2009 - This weekend we shall be showing at Great Harwood for the first time in a few years. We chose this venue over Warrington because of the new show ground and wish the organisers well this year and many more to come.

The show was welcomed by one of the best showing days we have had in a few seasons and classes more than surpassed our expectations, with many of the classes seeing double figure entrants. Very good to see and congratulations to Claylands on their double success.

Mandolyn was our only success with a second place in the Mare class, but it was a great day out.

7th June 2009 - Midland Counties - What a day weather was appalling and the turnout was worse than that at the European Elections, was this vaccinations as show on Race Course, the weather, or some other reason, I  don't know. We had a good set of results but not much satisfaction achieved. Three 1st places a 2nd and a 3rd with Cherry receiving Reserve Junior Champion in the Standard Section. Hope for a better turnout at Caerwys next weekend.

13th June 2009 - This is one of our favourite shows, Caerwys, and produced one of the best days showing, both in terms of numbers of exhibitors and weather and a very good day was had by all. Cherry won the Yearling class her second success in three outings this year against a good class of youngsters, so is living up to my high expectations.

Katy won the Ridden so was extremely excited by the whole day and is looking forward to her next opportunity to participate. Several other good results made this a very successful day and we would like to thank the organisers of Caerwys show for making us very welcome as usual and I do believe they have someone looking after them in the weather department as they have never had a bad day for the show in the six years we have been going.

23rd June 2009 - Cheshire County was extremely well attended and the attitude and Courtesy of the Judge Mr K Scott was a pleasure for me as a competitor. He afforded each and every pony a very critical inspection and shook every exhibitors hand after the class, which would suggest he enjoyed the day and for that I would personally thank him.

Angel took the brood mare class and Cherry again performed well to be placed second, Daisy is improving with every show and she behaved impeccably today also placed second.

 5th July 2009. North of England Shetland Show - We had a Black day at the show taking Jack, Rosie, Cherry and Clover and had a mixed bag of results but the old girl keeps coming up with the goods. 2nd place in her class against one of the strongest group of Mares I have seen all season maybe not in terms of quantity but certainly quality followed up with Senior Black Ring Reserve Champion, she continues to astound me time after time.

Congratulations to Joyce Taylor and Pauline Lawrenson (Professional Handler) who took overall Champion with her 3 year old Filly Mrs Woods pointed out my error and I apologise for any misunderstanding. I absolutely loved her from first time I saw her,

Great Yorkshire next hope for a fine week as we stay there all week and enjoy the show.

 We arrived at the Great Yorkshire with our two Yearling Fillies who settled into the one stable within minutes and were asleep within 20 minutes.

Thursday 16th July saw Clover in Fifth position and Cherry in Second place behind Eileen Barnes's imposing filly, who went on to be Reserve Show Champion behind Julie Woods.

A busy 4 days in store for those of us that attended Great Yorkshire Show and Saturday 18th was the North of England In Hand at a new venue of Warren Farm in Formby and we had another good day with First two seconds and a third including Cherry again gaining first place and Junior Champion, I was delighted not only with her but with Jack who at 5 years of age is finally getting the hang of the show ring and what is required.

Sunday 19th July - Great Eccleston. The usual Great Eccleston mud welcomed us and Cherry rounded of a great week and overturned the Great Yorkshire result with Eileen and some healthy rivalry is being enjoyed by us both as Reserve Junior was secured.

My early season forecast we would be fighting out the top spot with Eileen has certainly been forthcoming and I am certainly enjoying the challenge.

Congratulations to the Woods Family who finished the week with 3 Championships. Well Done!
 
A well earned rest now for both Cherry and Les and I and we will be back at Nantwich a week on Wednesday.

Nantwich brought little to cheer about as the weather once again deteriorated and the results were less successful than we expected, so the less said the better about today. 

The Leyland In Hand show produced son e better performances with Daisy Mae perhaps securing the best result of the day with a second place against 10 foals of all breeds and the decision was in doubt right to the end as to whether she was placed first. Rosie however did secure first place in the Shetland class and did not disappoint yet again.

12th August - Anglesey Show. The rain was again beating down during the night and luckily enough Cherry did not take long to bring the smile back to my face, with first place in the Yearling Class which saw Clover in third.

Jack made his usual entrance to the ring with great presence and unfortunately he frightened off the opposition, but looked fantastic.

So the Championship brought Reserve Junior and Reserve Show Champion to round off a very successful trip to Wales, certainly young Katy enjoyed herself.

So it is now to Gargrave in a couple of weeks and where I am hoping Cherry will improve on her three Reserve Junior and one Junior Championship so far this season, but who knows, only time will tell.

22nd August 2009 - As the season is too rapidly for me drawing to an end we moved onto Gargrave and after a dampish start a lovely day developed. Angel and Daisy Mae made their last appearance of the season, which turned out to be quite a disappointing season for Daisy who afterall is a full sister to Cherry who in truth failed to sparkle as a foal. However a year is a long time and look what big sister has achieved this year, so who knows Daisy, I certainly have not given up on you yet.

Now onto Jack who has really started to get the hang of the showing game over the past season again took a fairly weakly contested Stallion Class, has he frightened everyone off? again before going onto take Reserve Show Champion for the second show in a row.

Cherry has again performed exceptionally well taking the yearling class before again going onto take Reserve Junior Champion behind Joyce Taylor's lovely three year old Filly (Thank goodness you are in the seniors next year Joyce). Only Joking I only hope Cherry goes onto be half as successful as your filly both at two and three, yes we still have two years left and two more shows this season.

 So weather permitting next weekend we are at Barrowford, so see you there.

30th August 2009 - The penultimate show of the season for Ramper Shetlands, was a fairly quiet showing day, with only Cherry and Rocky attending as Lesley was driving Rocky in the Carriage Driving classes.

A fairly inauspicious performance in the showring by Rocky was supported by a much more lively performance in harness and he secured a very respectable 2nd place in the exercise class with Lesley receiving Best Lady Whip.

Cherry was again the star of the show for us and evened up the score for the season with Eileen Barnes's filly and this has been one of the highlights of my season, because I believe both fillies have very promising careers in front of them. She again went on to receive Reserve Junior Champion and with only the NCPA Championship show left for the season has raised her tally as a yearling to 5 Reserve Junior Champion and 1 Junior Champion. If anyone else reading the update has a more successful yearling this season, you must like I do feel immensely proud of her achievements.

With just the NCPA show to go this has clearly been the most productive year for the Stud since our inception 10 years ago and we have not finished yet!!! 

Sunday 20th September - NCPA Championship Show.

What can I say! The perfect end to our season. Jack  Champion Stallion and Cherry Champion Yearling, completing a season of 13 Shows with 8 Firsts and 3 Seconds, fully vindicating my expectations at the start of the season, I will even go to say that she has far exceeded my expectations and gone from strength to strength since her visit to Otley in the Spring, where to be honest I doubted if she would ever move in the show ring. What a future she has ahead of her.

Jack finally secured the first Championship of his career and hopefully it will not be his last.

My congratulations also go to Mrs Ashton who secured Best Foal, Julie Woods in the Mare and Gelding class and Lionel Gregory in the 2 & 3 year old class.

Finally from Ramper Stud may I wish all friends and fellow competitors a pleasant close season and look forward to seeing you all again next season.

The 2010 Season is rapidly approaching and Ramper Stud is looking forward to renewing the friendships and friendly rivalry with all our fellow competitors. May we wish you all every success during 2010.

The start for us begins as usual at Merton near York on Sunday 11th April and we look forward to seeing you all there.

Yes the season must be approaching the weather has turned particularly bad, but hopefully it will turn before the Easter weekend so that any hair loss on our Merton team might begin.

Another new season is with us and it was good to see so many people turning out at the first show at York. Not a very successful day but all the exhibits looked very good for this time of year and the Judges had very difficult decisions to make and did well. 

 22nd May 2010

Otley was our first Summer outing and what a fantastic start to the season weather wise. The hottest day of the year compensated for a very early start. 

We started quietly only taking Angel & Cherry and a very good class in the mares saw Angel in mid division but following two very disappointing seasons I see her coming back to her best.

Cherry however left off where she finished last year with a Junior Championship after she had secured the 2& 3 year old class, Hopefully this will be the first of many, only time will tell.

Congratulations to  Gary Snaith who took Champion and Reserve Junior along with The Nicholson Family who were Reserve Champion.

We have decided to go to Great Harwood next weekend and we hope for the weather to continue.

 31st May 2010

A reasonable day at Great Harwood with Three 2nds and a 3rd place.

Jack was a disappointing result as I felt he looked fantastic.

Angel returned to good form with a second place behind the Horninglow Mare who went onto be Champion and beat a good class of Mares.

Cherry was a good second again to Horniglow Three year year old and continues to perform well against the older ponies in the Juniors.

Congratulations to Paul & Steph Atkinson eith the Champion and Eileen Barnes with the Junior Champion.

Weekend of 12th & 13th June 2010.

What a weekend this was, one of my favourite shows of the year on Saturday at Caerwys and the local Longton Riding Club I Hand Championship show on Sunday,

Elderberry (Eric) made his debut on Saturday and finished 2nd in a class of 6 good foals and behaved impeccably. Cherry secured a good 3rd place in an extremely strong 2&3 year old class.

It was however good to see Mandolyn return to winning ways with 1st place in the Brood Mare class and also in a 13 strong field of Coloureds, before securing Reserve Senior Champion.

The weather of course eventually shining yet again on the organisers of the Show and again my thanks to Allison who always works so hard to ensure the success of this show.

Then on Sunday we took Mandy and Eric and they both performed well including Erics efforts to dump his mother in preference to a large Green Umbrella friends of ours were sheltering under whilst mum was in the ring a hundred yards away. He is such a character and a stunning confirmation of foal.

Jack was the real hero of the day. When he qualified for the Championship the weather was pretty unsavoury, but against 20 other Class champions we took our chance in the line up. He performed magnificently and put in one of the strongest trot outs he has ever done in his brief yet flourishing career. He is a pleasure to show now he has grown up and knows his job. Well against champions from all breeds he was made Reserve Show Champion and the weather seemed to brighten up there and then. He was only beaten by a very striking Dales Pony and congratulation to the connections of the Champion.

I would again congratulate Emma and her team for the organisation of a show like this and other than the weather went reasonably well "I certainly have no Complaints!!!".

Onto Cheshire next and I am really looking forward to that.

Apologies for not having updated the site for a while I have been a little busy. However we had a little success at Cheshire with Jack finishing fourth in the Stallion class and again Cherry showing what a class filly she is finishing second in her class. so now onto North of England.

We have now sold Rocky onto Allison who bought William to drive last year and she now has pair of half Brothers to break into harness as a team and we wish them all the best of luck.

With the sale of Rocky who was on our team for North of England we went with only two ponies to Torrisholme and after the first two Black classes we had two winners. I would have been happy with that result, but Cherry went onto to be Black ring Junior Champion and overall Reserve Junior Champion. A wonderful day for the Stud.

It was also good to see Basil at the last three shows and he seems to be holding his own in some strong gelding classes, congratulations to Mark he is turning him out to the standard I would always attempt to turn out our ponies and he looks so striking when the sun shines on him just like his mother Mandy

On now to the Great Yorkshire and a different pair are going there. Mandy and Eric and we hope for a great week of sunshine.

 Well it wasn't bad weather wise other than a couple of evenings when the rain was torrential, but did not ruin a good week. 

The show was again well supported and we had a very acceptable result with Mandy awarded second place in the mare and Eric at his first major show placed in 4th place.

Once again my sincere congratulations to Eileen Barnes, what a day she had with the Champion surpassing last years performance. David Kay took Reserve.

18th July - Onwards to Great Eccleston bad weather almost guaranteed and it did not let us down. A horrible day but a great result for Ramper. Despite being very disappointed in the morning Mountain and Moorland Classes where despite being considered by many people in the Audience that Jack should have been fighting out for first place was placed last and the judges less than polite reaction to my request was almost enough for me to leave the show ground and give up showing for good. Les persuaded me to ignore both the result and the judge and fight back!!!! Just as well she did Jack won the Stallion class and Cherry took the two and three year class. Father and Daughter then took best pair in show. Cherry went onto secure Junior Champion and congratulations to Paul and Steph Atkinson who were Champions and the Nicholson Family were Reserve. Eilleen capped off a week to remember with Reserve Junior and I look forward to further battle to the end of the season with a very friendly rivalry between us.

24th July The North of England In Hand at a new venue for us and a rare disappointing day for us this year. A second and two thirds with Cherry suffering an unusual defeat, but kicking Barbara Wilson clearly didn't help our cause but clearly Barbara, Cherry is a bad loser? Once again Eileen Barnes took the honours and she clearly has two very good 2 year fillies.

Well the season is closing in far too quickly and hopefully we can end the seaon on a high and have a few more successes in August.

I would firstly apologise to my readers as I have been chastised for not having updated the site since 24th July. I will plead on my on own defence that I did, but was badly let down by the world of the Internet.

So let me put the situation right and address the situation.

7th August - Garstang was our next excursion of the season and again following a very disappointing venture in the Mountain & Moorland classes in the morning where to my mind Shetlands are ignored by judges UNREASONABLY and we as a society should be fighting our corner and taking the Shetland Breed to the forefront of the M&M Judges minds rather than the back! Shall we take them to the top?

Again Jack and Cherry fought back and did not take defeat lying down and both took their respective Shetland classes, another good day for the Stud, I know the quality of the Shetland Breed.

8th August - Trawden Show. Another very heavy storm on the M65 threatened another wet day, but it did not materialise and an up and down result with Jack being beaten by Eynhallow Black Jack who went onto be the Champion and congratulations to the Hodgson Family. Cherry was placed fourth which was a slightly disappointing end to her fabulous two year old season and she has done us very proud and I cannot wait for 2011. However the two of them were given the best pair prize and as a team remained unbeaten this year. Do we have another star in the making still at home? Time would tell and onward to our last show of the season at Gargrave.

21st August - Gargrave signals the end of our season was it a good end? Yes it was again Jack was beaten in the Stallion Class by the subsequent Champion - Butterby Cracker. I would say that it has been a real pleasure to show my big lad this season and he is now so laid back at shows and is true gent with everyone. 

This was our opportunity to introduce the latest addition to the team and whilst I was always confident that Rosie would never let us down her latest foal Ebony was an unknown quantity and having only been seriously handled this week was a real unknown quantity! I needn't have worried he was a little star. Both of them secured wins, but that was not important. 

I would like to thank everyone who gave me such fantastic compliments about this little chap and he did himself proud. Have we found another useful member of the team?

COME ON 2011

Good luck to everyone for the rest of the season and see you all next year.