When a friend invited me along to Bolesworth International Horse Show this year for a birthday get together I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I thoroughly enjoyed it last year and although wasn’t planning on going this year (more due to fact that Ash wasn’t really bothered) I was keen to go!

It’s been a very pleasant day with the girls. The weather has been ever-changing; drizzle, cloud, heavy downpour, & sunshine!

Bolesworth has changed slightly this year with only one small jumping ring outside of the main arena, the display ring in a different place and a lot more stalls. It was nice to see a variety of clothing stands rather than just the usual ones like Jules and Ariat, although sadly the prices are still the same. I treated myself to a massage tool which I’m going to use on Guinness, a new polo top and this….I just couldn’t resist! It’s a lovely made tub and reminded me so much of one day, many years ago, when I came downstairs to find puppy Guinness with a toilet roll strewn all across the kitchen. He just stood there wagging his tail at me! This tub was meant for me and it’s now proudly holding his favourite biscuits in his cupboard.

That photograph from many years ago!

As I was wandering along through the stall I glanced at a photography stand and thought to myself “I recognise that picture”. I took another look and turns out it was Amy Marks and Andy Biggar! I stopped to say hi and had a lovely chat with them. It was so nice to see them as I haven’t seen Andy since I attended his photograph course over a year ago now. Of course we communicate via social media but it’s always a pleasure to actually cross paths in real life.

It made a change to actually watch show jumping with someone who knows a thing or two about horses! I learnt a lot today from spending a day with horsey friends talking about horsey things, rather than dogs for once.

Speaking (or not) of dogs, there were a lot of them about. There was a team of Newfoundlands being fussed and pulling kids along in carts, K92000 did a great display (except for some questionable agility work) and I saw a number of dogs sporting rosettes from the dog show.

However the big highlight of the day for me was the sheepdog display!

First up, a demonstration of the foundations to sheepdog training. His dog came out showing some impressive work with geese, circling left and right without commands to keep at 12 o’clock to the shepherd with the geese in between. It wasn’t until afterwards that we were informed the dog was completely blind! Amazing! We’d had no idea!

Next up a different dog herded some runner ducks through two tunnels then down a slide into a water pool.

But it suddenly all went wrong when the sheep came out for the Lamb National! The dog that came to work the sheep was a bit “spirited” and the sheep set off along the course too soon, closely followed by the dog flying over the jumps and desperately trying to grab the sheep.

They tried again with a different dog and this time it went more to plan, with the sheep performing an exciting race! The nude sheep I had chosen decided to run around the outside of the course and therefore was disqualified. Trust me to pick the cheat!

It didn’t matter than things hadn’t run smoothly, that’s the joys of working with animals and it was still a very entertaining and amusing display! I’m absolutely fascinated with sheepdog work (plus Border Collies of course).

We watched a round of the Grand Prix, bought some more bits and bobs and then decided to head home mid-afternoon. It has been a lovely fun day at a very relaxed pace, seeing and doing as much as we wished.

We ate lunch in a quaint little cafe, shopped for a variety of country items, watched horses, dogs, birds of prey, camels and much more, and all in the company of great friends. A fine day out!