Iberian Horses at the Chertsey Show

All the competitors were asked to parade in the main arena and to show their paces . This was very well received by the large crowd and it must augur well for Lusitano classes at this show in the future. A week later at Chertsey Agricultural Show, Jane Rabagliati was invited to judge some good classes for pure and part-red Spanish horses, both in hand and ridden.
The Male In-Hand Champion was Amoroso XXVIII owned by Mr and Mrs Barham, this Spanish bred horse was supreme in-hand but in the ridden championship the judges choice was the winner of the in-hand female championship, Danes Doncella. The grey mare was shown extremely well by Dee Cowan and looked a joy to ride! Even the stallions could not match her polished display and the best of them was the black stallion Chorizo ridden by Anita Singh.		AMOROSO XXVIII - Champion Stallion in-hand at Chertsey.
DANES DONCELLA - ridden by Dee Cowan shows her paces to judge Jane Rabagliati	The final class of the show was the overall ridden championship with the top horses forward from every ridden class. This was really fascinating to watch as the two judges who had been riding all the entrants throughout the day now had the opportunity to try out those horses from classes that they had not personally judged... they were certainly tested in their riding skills as the horses involved included cobs, hunters riding horses, Arabs and even an Ardennes! Danes Doncella did not let the Spanish purebreds down; going well for both of them and ultimate she was chosen as Reserve Champion which was a considerable achievement since in all probability neither judge was familiar with the breed.
These two Surrey shows attracted well supported classes and it is to be hoped that they both open their doors to Iberian horses to include both breeds in 1999 - I think they would be delighted with the response.

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