NORMAL SERVICE HAS BEEN RESUMED
After last year’s Horse Show (the thirteenth !), which had to be postponed because of almost 2 weeks of continuous rain, we reverted back to almost perfect Horse Show weather this year. With the rest of the country suffering from a wet summer it was very noticeable how dry it has been in Kent this year as we found it very difficult to push in the plastic post spikes more than a few inches. Colin (our sign man) earned his keep this year as he had to use an iron spike to make holes for 50+ signs he erects.
Apart from a minor hiccup on Saturday when setting up the Rings, (has anyone borrowed a bag of electric tape !!) the whole show went very smoothly. In fact the only injury the ambulance crews had to deal with was a wasp sting !(John Ruck’s grandson).
We make money from the Horse Show from quite a few income streams. The main money spinner of course being the entries. This year we increased the price per Class but reduced it for ‘bulk purchases’ , the idea was to avoid having too many horse boxes to park and too many horses on the show ground, which slows the whole day down. We have yet to finalise the money count but first indicators seem to show we broke our record for entry income with less horses (we had almost 300 whereas in 2007 we had 360 which completely filled both parking areas).
The second income stream is from sponsors/advertisers in the Schedule. This is our insurance policy. If we have to cancel we can still pay any debts with the income from the Schedule. This year the number of advertisers was down because of the recession and we were hit by the withdrawal of our main sponsor. However, an anonymous ‘white knight’ came forth at the last minute and sponsored the Hospice in the Weald advert.
The third income stream is food. This is also very weather dependent. Too hot and the sale of drinks (low margin) goes up but food (high margin) is down. With cooler weather we can even run out so we have to rush off to Waitrose in Borough Green ! Catering is a fine balancing act ably organised by Ian and his sturdy team.
The fourth income stream comprises the various ‘pay as you go’ Rings such as the Dog Show, Dog Agility, Clear Round, Handy Pony and Gymkhana plus the raffle. This year all of these were well up on previous years.
We will not know exactly how much we have made until our hon. Treasury has finished his counting but at this stage our best guess is between £6-7000.
What many of you don’t notice are the ‘logistics’ of the Show. The Saturday set up follows a well trodden path of begging and borrowing. There are over 30 jumps to be brought in (from Sevenoaks Riding Club, Lodge Farm and Platt). The tents comes from Scout clubs in the district and are put up and taken down with ease by a very efficient (most of the time) team of ex scouters.
Taking everything down after a hard day on the Show ground is a real test of stamina. However, this year the ATC excelled with many more volunteers which was a great help. .
Finally I would very much like to thank our committee (and those co-opted for specific skills !) and all of you, your ladies and friends for making it such a great day.