Horses will strut their stuff at Kingston Show Grounds

GROOMED horses and smartly dressed drivers will be out in full force at the Sky Park Rugs Summer Harness Champion Show.

Organised and run by National Carriage Driving Victoria the two-day event will be held at the Kingston Show Ground on Saturday and Sunday, 1 and 2December.

The program of the final NCDV show for the year will feature ponies and horses, categorised by height or breed, competing in 30 events each day.

Show turnouts where the horse, vehicle, harness and driver are judged and awarded champion and reserve champion – the equivalent of an equine beauty pageant – make up the first half of the days’ events.

During the remainder of the day competitors in each category are put through their paces, trotting walking and then trotting again, by the judges.

Often the judge will request each competitor to perform a workout to their specific instructions to get the best out of the horse, before awarding champion and reserve champion in each category.

NCDV member and joint organiser Jan Baldock said, “Unfortunately we don’t have Australian four-times world champion fourin- hand carriage driver Boyd Exell or the Duke of Edinburgh competing at our events,  however we would like to invite the general public to come along and see these beautiful animals in action.”

Included in the show will be horses retrained under Harness Racing Victoria’s HERO – Harness, Education, Rehoming Opportunities – Program which the NCDV proudly supports.

The HERO program provides ex harness racing horses with a life after racing with opportunities to become trail riding horses, compete at shows and in eventing or simply to become pleasure animals or family pets.

NCDV considers the HERO program vitally important as it improves the horse’s welfare, and provides the opportunity to be re-homed and re-trained for use in pleasure harness rather than racing harness.

The Sky Park Rugs Summer Harness Champion Show goes Saturday, 1 December and Sunday, 2 December from 9.00am – 4.00pm at the Kingston Show Ground, Church Parade, Kingston.

Admission is free and the Goldfields Catering food van and Bean Me Up Mobile Expresso will be there too.