This years Royal Show started on Sunday 4th July. All of the classes in the Farriery competitions were full. The Sunday saw the Apprentice gas shoemaking competitions and the Roadster shoeing competition. After a long day and lots of hard work from the stewards and judges the results were ready to be read out and the trophies presented to the winners.

The second day of the Royal Show got of to a smoother start. However the competitions still started early in the morning. There were two Farriery classes on the Monday, these were the first rounds of the Open Therapeutic and Hunter Shoeing. The Hunter shoeing class was won with a margin of only 0.2 points.

On Tuesday the final rounds of the Open Therapeutic shoemaking class was held, the Shire Shoeing competition took place and the Royal Show Champion was announced. All classes were hotly contested with only a few decimal points deciding the winners.
            

On the final day of the Royal Show twenty competitors attempted to win the title of National Champion. Each competitor was allowed 75 minutes to make, fit and nail on a fullered concave shoe, make one heavy horse hind shoe and one deep seated fullered bar shoe. A new trophy was also presented on Wednesday, this was the Jo Preston Memorial Trophy. The Joe Preston Memorial Trophy was presented to the competitor with the highest points scored over the four days for shoemaking.

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Blacksmithing competitions also took lace during the Royal Show. On the Sunday the static classes were judged. The winners of these classes did not receive their trophies until the last day of the show. From Monday to Wednesday the live Blacksmithing competitions took place as well as live demonstrations to entertain the public. In the Live blacksmithing competition the competitors are given 11/2 hours to make a piece of their choice while the novice blacksmiths are allowed one hour to make a piece of their choice.

Even though everyone worked extremely hard during the show Executive Committee member Craig D'Arcy still found time to stand around watching the Blacksmiths at work!

The Association wishes to thank all the people that made this years Royal Show such a great success.

A more detailed list of results will be published in the Forge magazine.

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