Bonfire night weekend held a different kind of excitement for 14 Equine Touch students, practitioners and coaches. Superbly organized and shepherded by Amanda Cunliffe and Alie Ball we presented a beautiful inviting stand at the Horsemanship Showcase event in the east of England. The event ran from Bury Farm Equestrian and was put on by Organised Equestrian.
Throughout the weekend there were breath taking displays of liberty, trick riding, horsemanship and working equitation, plus a smaller arena with “How to” type demos from the stars of the show. We were positioned in the shopping village thankfully out of the rain but definitely not out of the cold. With banners, information, leaflets, smiling faces, and a very popular massage couch we met hundreds of people. The team were also meticulously branded with ET clothing so there was no mistaking us as we walked around. Many had never heard of ET but were intrigued and soon won over by a taster session. It was also a pleasure to meet some past students who were reinspired to start again after chatting with us. We were, excitingly, also visited by Sparty and Zagalix the Working Equitation demo horses, and Bert Sheffield, Canadian Paralympic rider and long-term supporter of Equine Touch.
Amanda also managed to secure us two slots in the talk tent, and promptly nominated me to talk! I actually enjoy public speaking so whilst a bigger audience than I’m used to I was nervously looking forward to the challenge. I made a presentation called “Equine Touch; What is it and why might you want to learn it.” Covering the real basics of all the things we take for granted about ET. Seeing as so many of the audience had never heard of us, I felt this was pitched at the right level. On both days the talks were also live-streamed adding to the wide reach of this event and the talk will be available on YouTube soon.
Shows like these are as much about meeting the public as they are about meeting the other professionals and spreading the word about ET. The team worked tirelessly, working on many of the show staff, a couple of trick riders and stall personnel from Westgate Labs, Premier Performance, All Steps Formations riders and others. We even found time for pre-performance tune up ET session for Revel, one of the Formation Riding horses and Confi, a stunt horse. Both of them went really well in their subsequent performances and further showed how well ET works to their riders who had never heard of us before the show.
All in all it was a weekend well spent. So many more people now know about ET and with Jubilee Giveaway sign ups from 30 different counties, the show had a great national reach. Huge thanks again to everyone who worked so hard to put this together, and the team on the stand Amanda Cunliffe, Alie Ball, Nicky Studd, Lauren Moss, Anke Heley, Frances Stokesberry Vicki Wise, Lorraine Frankham, Nic Cole, Amelia Widdows, Olivia Pollard Foulston, and Karen Wheeler.
Any ET and VHT students/practitioners who would like to volunteer their time at future public events please get in touch. Let’s really capitalize on the momentum gained during the first half of the Jubilee year! suz@aholisticsolution.co.uk
PostScript: Enter our special Jubilee Giveaway Competition - closing date is coming soon.