A month on from our makeover - an update from Kerry Dawson

After the brilliant Supreme Products makeover day with Team Hollings I started to use the Supreme Products Mane & Tail Builder from the Heritage Collection on Quest’s rubbed out mane and he is enjoying the massage down his mane every few days! To be honest I am also enjoying it too as it smells really nice and is starting to work already. 

Since the visit to Team Hollings, I have been thinning out Quest’s mane a little at a time. I was advised to do this by Stacey as Quest has such a thick mane I need to thin it in small amounts each time. Stacey took a lot out on the day, so it is just a case of keeping an eye on it. Hopefully I am doing it correctly as I don’t want to make it too thin and I have to be careful that the frustrated hair dresser in me doesn’t strike again!

It is most definitely an art form and one that I need to master before the showing season gets underway.

We have been suffering like everyone else with the adverse weather conditions of late, the ice and snow have been that bad that my usual 15 minute trip to the yard was taking in the region of 35 minutes. I even had to dig my car out on the Saturday as it was a good eight or nine inches deep with snow, not to mention the snowplough that had gone through the village and pushed all the snow against the cars! 

Quest in the snow

At the yard, the ice on the farm track leading to the other stable block and sand paddock from where my stables are was so icy I dared not risk either of my ponies slipping and injuring themselves when walking to the sand paddock so I have been working Quest in-hand in the field next to the stables.

It was not an ideal situation but needs must so we have been working on our in-hand development, standing correctly when in front of the judge, long-reining and working on the lunge with roller and side reins, ready for backing in the next few weeks.

I had planned to sit on Quest and to have walked him off the lunge by now but if I am honest I didn’t want to hit the deck in the big freeze that we have had as the sand was as hard as concrete and I don’t bounce like I used to.

My plan now is to work him every day. When I am at University he will be working in the morning before I go to my classes and on my days off I will be able to spend more time with him and hopefully have him under saddle and walking solo with rider by the end of February! Fingers crossed that the weather improves!

 Apart from that this month has been the usual round of hospital appointments as my son badly broke his leg at the start of December and he has just had the cast removed after being in it for the past 10 weeks, so now we start the physio stage, although he is wanting to get back in the saddle now that the cast is off!  

My youngest and I are planning our showing seasons. My daughter will be doing her first ever season ridden as she now has a pony that will do the things that she wants to do. 

We have been looking at her joining the local Riding Club so she can do dressage and showing with her pony, and she may do a few other shows as well as a few clinics to improve her skills. 

As for me, well I have sent Quest’s passport off to be over stamped with Chaps and have become a member.

I hope to get him graded with CHAPS in April as a stallion, he is already a licensed stallion with the WPCS. I have also booked my transport for Cheshire County Show, I just have to decide which classes to do with him now and have been looking at doing the spring LWPCS show which is a bronze medal event. 

As yet I am still undecided as to which shows to do and where, not having my own transport is an issue, but I have always managed to get round that with hacking to local shows, walking Quest out in hand along the roads means when backed we will have no issue hacking out or troubles with traffic.

So the biggest issue I have had this month is deciding who I should apply for membership with and what shows to do!

Will write soon Kerry.

A Dream Comes True for Kerry....

Sometimes it takes you a while for reality to sink in.  That is exactly what's happened to me in January!

On the Friday I confirmed my visit to Team Hollings for the Supreme Products makeover that I had won through the Supreme Products Facebook page in 2012. This competition was giving me the chance to spend a day with Team Hollings, having a makeover for my pony Quest and being given guidance on which Supreme Products to use when, how and why.

I felt completely fine, I'd rushed round and arranged for my two children to go spend the day with my mum while I took Quest for his big pamper session, I'd had my tea as usual and got in to bed!

......And yet I didn’t sleep a wink. I think all the excitement started to build - well it wasn’t excitement, it was nerves! If I am completely honest with you I was scared stiff!

 

Me, a total novice at showing going to see a big name like Penny Hollings with my gift pony (gift because Quest was bought for me by non-horsey friends for Christmas in 2009).

 

The horrid thoughts started going through my head - what if they think I’ve brought a donkey to a pony party? What happens if he shows me up? After all, his last outing was Cheshire County some six months previously, and he does like to show off occasionally!

 

I was up five or six times in the night, checking that I had everything; that my gloves were in my showing jacket pocket; that I had packed my plain tweed, my over checked tweed and my blue jacket, just to be safe.I had even lost my short boots at some point and was hunting for them panicking and thinking ‘would my long boots go under my black dress pants?’

I was up before the alarm, and had two coffees before my children even raised their heads. Once breakfast was out the way I dashed to the yard to hang hay nets and skip out the ponies before I travelled up the M6 to Kendal to drop my children off with my very patient and forgiving mother.

I made sure I only got there at 10am so she could have a lie in on her only day off! After a quick 20 minutes catch up and yet another coffee - his my fourth- -I was back on the M6 travelling south to get to the yard to properly muck out and get Quest sorted ready for transport collecting me at 12noon!

My transport - Annabel - telephoned to say she was on her way but slightly delayed! This saw me dashing to the loo, probably with nerves, and rechecking I had everything I needed - the in hand bridle with his stallion bit and plaited leather browband; his ribboned browband; the red tie that matched that; my three tweed jackets - the whole lot! I am sure I packed for every eventuality!

Annabel arrived and Quest - who enjoys having days out - shouted to her as she arrived, he walked out of the stable, across the muddy ground and straight into the box!Within 10 minutes after I had loaded everything along with the kitchen sink, we were on our way.

After chatting to Annabel for what seemed like only five minutes we arrived at the Team Hollings yard. By this point I was feeling slightly sick.... I have seen Penny before, I was standing outside the ring as she took first place! She is someone I have looked up to and aspired to be like for a long time. So to be finally meeting her and getting advice and tips had me scared stiff.

To also be meeting Sarah from Supreme Products and Tim who had organised the day on behalf of Supreme Products also had me nervous.

I didn’t know what they expected as the photograph I had entered into the Supreme Products competition was from the end of Quest's 2011 season when he was only two-years-old. He has changed a lot since then, as he is now four.

 

Pulling into the drive we were met by Tim and Penny and members of the team, who all came over with friendly smiles and quick hellos! This had me instantly at ease, I just hoped they liked what I was about to show them in the box.

Having not done anything with Quest since Cheshire County I had intentionally left him untrimmed so I could get the most from the makeover, and get the best advice on thinning and trimming him up ready to plait.

I brought Quest out of the box and he was a tad giddy, however he soon settled down and we were asked to stand near some stables so that I could have my before picture taken.

Smiling for the photographer I was thinking 'my god my horse looks like a poor relation to the two immaculate horses that were being turned out for a run, he has a mane to rival any natives, and his pulled tail could have been used to clean my loo at home it was that bushy!'

Penny and the team made comments on him, saying how lovely he was, and they were glad I had left him in the state he was as the whole point of a makeover was to show how best to go about getting a horse ready for showing.

 

(However I had been bad - I had trimmed his ears the day before as they were bugging me, and I had to get rid of the mohican that was his bridle path! I had managed to trim away too much - someone has previously called me a frustrated hairdresser when it comes to trimming - as I have taken too much off his tail before today when trying to get him ready for showing. So I will be letting that patch grow out and plaiting it when it’s long enough.)

Quest and I were taken round to the stable block and I tied him up with his hay net, Quest has never been set upon en masse and within minutes of being there he was taken in hand by Penny and Stacey, the Showing team Manager - and I stood back and watched them work their magic.

 

Watching the professionals at work really made me understand how much of an art form it is to get the desired results, and that with practice, lots and lots of practice, I might just get up to a decent standard.

All my fears of the previous night were banished within seconds of meeting Penny and her team, they were all very friendly and within minutes we were laughing about common experiences.

Before I knew it I had yet another coffee in my hand and I was being shown how best to apply what products, and what products would work best to help with Quest’s turnout.

I have always been a fan of the Supreme Products Blue Shampoo as it works wonders – so seeing how the Supreme Products Stain Remover Shampoo was applied and left to lift the stains on his hocks before the Blue Shampoo was applied was brilliant, and definitely a top tip as it worked amazingly. Usually I scrub his legs, wash his body and if the stain is still persistent I re do his legs until they are faint enough for me to use Supreme Products Leg & Body Whitener.

 

I asked a lot of questions about how you would go about pulling a mane as thick as Quest's.  With Quest having welsh breeding he has a very thick mane and tail, so thick he is not a fan of it being pulled.

Stacey pulling, thinning and tidying Quest's mane.

Stacey advised that once it was thinned out and pulled that you really should keep on top of it and thin it often, so that you don’t have to take too much away at any one time. This is a tip I will definitely follow as it is such an ordeal to thin him if left too long.

Once Stacey had thinned his mane and tail she then went on to plait him up. Previously I have always put 11 to 13 plaits in his mane as it is that thick and his plaits looked awful otherwise, so I was shocked to find out that Stacey had managed to get just nine plaits in his mane!

Stacey used Supreme Products Easy Plait to help the process and as Quest has a rubbed patch on his mane from his winter rug, she also talked to me about Supreme Products Mane & Tail Builder to help generate hair growth.

Once the plaiting was complete Quest’s makeover was really starting to come together. 

Stacey explained how to use Supreme Products de luxe Coat Gloss to lay his coat and add shine before she went on to add Supreme Products Highlighter Gel to enhance his eyes and nose.

While I went off to put my show gear on, the finishing touches were carried out and when I returned ‘wow’ what a transformation, I couldn’t believe it!

I decided to wear the jacket I wore at Cheshire County and after hopping round the back of the horsebox trying to get my pants to fit over my jodhpurs as it was cold, I finally managed to get into them and get them fastened much to the amusement of Annabel who was sitting in the box.

 

Taking my bridle and lead, I also grabbed my in-hand welsh stallion whip and show cane as I didn’t know which was needed and I dashed back to check all was ok with Quest.

After being told that unless I was doing a Part Bred Welsh class I only needed my cane I was all set and put on Quest’s show bridle! And 'voila'! From scruff to Supreme Products star in just two hours!

From there we had photographs taken, to be honest there were photographs taken of the whole process to turn Quest in to a show ring superstar.

  

Kerry and Quest

The before and after photographs show what amazing results you can get when you know how to use the Supreme Products range correctly, know exactly what they do and how best to apply them to get the maximum impact and the best possible results.

I came away with so much information just from the makeover session. But that wasn’t the end of our day with Team Hollings.  Penny talked me through some ring craft tips, and showed me how to stand Quest up correctly.

 

I was also shown how to get him to focus on me and work with me in the ring, just having that one-on-one I came away with more confidence in my ability to show him off to his best.

Being a total amateur I often feel that I am not showing him off to his best so the ring craft advice was a huge bonus.

What I learned from my day with Supreme Products and Team Hollings has changed how I will go about showing Quest and preparing him for the ring! 

After learning so many useful tips in show preparation and ring craft I can’t wait to get out with him now. 

I also found out that all my worrying was for nothing. Penny, Stacey, Sarah and Tim were all really friendly and easy to talk to, and I came away with a huge smile on my face!

I am still smiling now a good 48 hours after, and it’s not because of all the coffee!

For further information contact Supreme Products on 01377 229050 or visit www.supremeproducts.co.uk