Page 6 - Great Yorkshire Show 2017

YORKSHIRE POST SATURDAY JULY 01 2017
6/Great Yorkshire Show PREVIEW 2017
ENTERTAINMENT
Live events to wow crowds
From stunt riders to vintage tractors there is plenty to see at the show.
YP Tablet Apps Visit your app store
EQUESTRIAN
TV stunt horses who starred
in popular dramas Poldark, Peaky Blinders and Victoria will make their debut at the Great Yorkshire Show this year.
East Yorkshire-based Atkinson Action Horses will wow crowds with their combination of stunts and tricks in the Main Ring each day of the show.
This will be the first time an English horse stunt team has appeared at the show.
Horse master Mark Atkinson and son Benjamin, who own the Eastrington business, will be stunt riders at the show
which will include some 18 horses. Mark said: “We are thrilled to
be performing at the Great Yorkshire Show.
As a
Yorkshireman
it is a real honour
to be part of this
prestigious event and we
are looking forward to bringing the horses and meeting the visitors.”
Agriculture is, as always, at the heart of the Great Yorkshire Show.
International shearers will go head to head in a thrilling England v New Zealand Sheep Shearing ‘Test Match’ which will take place on Wednesday. Adam Berry, Dean Nelmes and Anthony Rook will represent England and go up against current world champion Johnny Kirkpatrick and Rowland Smith who have flown in from New Zealand to compete.
Education is also a key part
of the show and there are some great displays that visitors can take part in.
A virtual pig tour will take place every day at 11am and 2pm with sisters Vicky Sco and Kate Moore.
Vicky and Kate run a family pig farm in East Yorkshire renowned for its innovative management techniques. Their indoor breeding unit at Pockthorpe Hall, near Driffield, houses 1,700 sows while their outdoor unit at East Knapton is
home to 1,200 outdoor sows. Live milking will
once again take place at the Lely stand
where visitors will see calves being trained to feed on an automated calf feeder.
This is the first year that calves on
an automated feeding system has featured at
the show and is important to show how calves can be reared away from their mother.
A revolutionary robot designed for solid floor cleaning called Discovery 120 Collector will also be on display.
Celebrating its centenary this year is the The Ford and Fordson Association.
Marking 100 years of tractor production will be a display of tractors and machinery on the President’s Lawn.
This will include the early Ford and Fordson tractors and span the ages through to the current New Holland range.
A must for all tractor and machinery enthusiasts.
OLYMPIC STANDARD: Nigel Pulling and Charles Mills join Oliver on Dahar and Graham Fletcher on the new arena surface.
World class arena
A £70,000 investment has brought the Main Arena collecting ring at the Great Yorkshire Show up to international standards.
STUNT RIDER: Ben Atkinson, of Atkinson Action Horses, will be in the Main Arena on all three days of the show with a stunning live performance.
Olympic show jumping legend Graham Fletcher and his son, Oliver, were the first to test out the new £70,000 collecting ring.
Instead of grass, half the Main Arena warm-up area has been laid with an international standard all- weather synthetic surface.
Oliver, 14, put both the arena and his horse, Dahar through their paces over the famous Great Yorkshire Show planks. Giving them both the seal of approval.
“It rides really well,” he said. Olympic medallist Graham, is part of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s (YAS) show jumping commi ee
and backed the move to update the collecting ring.
“Any of the riders coming to the show for the first time this summer will be totally impressed. If the show commi ee wanted to run
an international show it will now have all the facilities needed for international classes.”
The state-of-the-art surface provided by Andrews Bowen
is Olympic standard and was developed for the London 2012 Olympics. The surface is the most scientifically researched and endorsed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI).
Originally from Thirsk where he established his show jumping career, Graham is a strong supporter of the show. “The Great Yorkshire Show is the best in the country and it’s always been an event that’s very close to my heart,” he said.
This year the four-time winner of the Cock O’ the North competition is looking forward to seeing Oliver take on the biggest show jumping competition in the north.
“Nothing will give me greater pleasure than seeing Ollie do well this year and in the years to come win more than I did,” he said.
Nigel Pulling, chief executive of Yorkshire Agricultural Society which is behind the major investment
into the new facility, said: “This
‘The Great Yorkshire Show is the best in the country and is very close to my heart.’
investment marks the society’s work to keep the facilities at the showground up to world class standard.
“We want to a ract the best riders and the best horses to ensure the Great Yorkshire Show is at the top of its game and continues to host national and international competitions.”
As well as the thrills and spills
of the show jumping classes, the finest show horses from around the country will be at the show with many hoping to not only take home a prestigious Great Yorkshire Show win but also a place at the Horse of the Year Show in October.
Ridden classes include hunters, cobs, working hunters, show ponies and first ridden with in-hand including the potential youngstock stars of the future.
Both ridden and in-hand classes will culminate in the Supreme Champion awards.
The scurry classes always
provide noisy entertainment as the contestants take on a number of obstacles and a real crowd pleaser
is the Pony Club Mounted Games competition which takes place in the Top Spec White Rose ring.
Other popular classes include the donkey classes, mountain and moorland lead rein and the ladies side-saddle classes where entrants are initially judged in the Top Spec White Rose Arena before the finalists ba le it out in the main arena.