13th December 2009 : Winter Fair

Nearly 200 photos from eleven Welsh classes at the 2009 Winter Fair are now loaded on the Archive. Held in a large heated marquee at the Royal Welsh Showground it is a difficult venue for taking photos! There were large entries of very high quality stock and so the ring was very crowded; the Section A fillies had to be split into two classes! It was great to see so many enthusiastic spectators but it made it hard to squeeze into the front row anywhere, let alone in a good place for taking photos! Notwithstanding my niggles, and the feet and worse which were cut off in the photos, it was a great show and we spent a fortune on Christmas presents at the trade stands as well !


It was cold, but snow free, when we set off very early on 29 November for the Royal Welsh Winter Fair. Our car said that it was 30 degrees fahrenheit outside (we still work in fahrenheit!). As we drove west and dawn broke it got colder and colder. 24 degrees at the Severn Bridge and 15 as we approached Builth and there was lots of snow! We were tempted to stay in the cosy car with the heated seats but instead braved the frost and snow to take a couple of hundred photos of over one hundred ponies and cobs. The penalty for two days with cold feet was a rotten cold which together with Christmas tasks and doing the horses with pipes frozen (but still no snow) delayed the loading of the photos on the website . They are now loaded in the Archive and at least you can enjoy this record of the Winter Fair in the warmth of your own home!


The photos we took at the Winter Fair on 29 November have all been loaded in the Archive. We spent the first day of the Fair Christmas shopping at the hundreds of stalls and so there are only pictures of the Cobs and Ponies of Cob Type who were showing on the second day. Last year there was snow and it was freezing inside the marquee where the show is held. This year there were very strong winds and the banging and flapping noises spooked the horses but thankfully the marquee had been well secured and did not blow away. There are not quite as many photos from the October Sales as usual because we were also shopping - for a filly foal. You can see our purchase - Ilar Alexis - in the Archive together with about two hundred and fifty cobs from the Sales.