The Cliff Cartwright Memorial Hack Show held at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds on July 8 was very well attended, with riders coming from Grafton to Brisbane.
Each year the show gets bigger and bigger and the quality of horses competing is truly amazing.
It is very pleasing to see so many riders take part in this annual show and, for it to have grown as it has since it started in 2004.
Riders come hoping to do well, using the show as a qualifer to be able to compete at Royal Agricultural Shows.
This year our judges were Margo Ricketts from Cabarita judging the ponies, Kristy Hill from Grafton judging the Galloways, Stephanie Hill from Bangalow judging the Hacks and from Carool, Joan Eccelshare judging the Baroque and Standardbreds.
All judges did a great job working their way to the Supreme Champion, Led, Ridden and Rider winners,.
To achieve this prize, the horse/rider must first win the class entered in their particular ring, then win the next category – Champion, then the Champions from each ring come together to be judged by all judges together and agree on who is the Supreme Champion of the show.
At the conclusion of the led classes, the Supreme Champion Led was won by the beautiful Omaru Comeroso, owned and shown by Amanda Bartyn from Dulguigan.
As the day went on staying fine and dry for a change, and with the stunning view of Mt Warning in the background, it was time to judge Supreme Champion Ridden Hack.
After all horses showing their best workouts to impress the four judges, the winning decision had to be made.
With much talk between the judges and anticipation amongst the spectators and of course the riders, bay gelding, from the Galloway Ring, Jon Pierre ridden by Kira Lee Newman was declared the winner.
The final Supreme Champion winner to be judged, Supreme Champion Rider was local Cobakai rider Charlee Anthony and her new young mount Markusite. This was their first weekend out under saddle and they could not have been happier with their winning result.
Please, can I say a big thank you to all our sponsors because, without you, this event could not go ahead, and the riders were so pleased with all the prizes they were awarded.
