Friday at the Horse of the Year show started pretty much how Thursday had ended - busy! I had requested an early draw in the Inter 1 class because Kevin Hansen (HOY organiser extraordinaire) had asked Ali Baba and I to appear in the middle of town at midday for the street parade and display in the civic square in front of the mayor. This was a new concept for the HOY show - to bring the show right to the people of Hastings. So there was a street parade with what seemed like all of the school children in Hastings attending. The parade ended in the Civic Square with Mark Todd being the guest of honour, and a good turn out from both young and old alike who were entertained by Vicki Wilson's bareback display, Harold The Horse and of course Ali Baba and I in our Portuguese costume and saddle.

The Inter 1 test went pretty well, with Ali Baba carrying me through after a wee bit of a big night socially the evening before. I find some shows I really knuckle down and concentrate with early nights and take it a little more seriously, but Horse of the Year is such a great chance to catch up with riders from other disciplines and have few drinks - and I knew this year was not going to be a competitive one for me in the arena, I was there to have a good time and show off my horse, for bigger and more important times will be ahead of us.

The street parade was a bit of a logistical nightmare to get to - for anyone that has had their horse truck parked in at the show grounds before you know it's not that easy to get out of your parking spot and out of the grounds for an excursion. So we decided to borrow a Horse Van from my sponsors trade stand. Perfect! It even came with Heather as a driver - and it meant we could sneak in and out without too much hassle - these vans are so cool - super easy to drive around the city too. We had to park pretty much down town, unloading onto the curb on a busy street beside a railway crossing. I was thinking "hold on to your horses!" - A wee bit scary. Ali Baba was pretty good - wee piaffed on the concrete surrounding the Anzac monument which made for great photos and then rode on out into a tiny 10 by 20 metre piece of grass surrounded by the crowd. Once again I was so thrilled with Ali Baba's nature as he took it all in his stride. However whilst we were unsaddling by the train tracks we heard a freight train approaching - I was in the horse van getting changed and I was more than grateful that Renee had the nous (well she is a Policewoman after all!) to lead him across the road (which was a major thoroughfare - yikes!) and around the back of the local taxi depot just seconds before the train come barreling through just inches from where we had had to park. The lady at the Taxi place was quite excited to have a stallion on her lawn and we used the hose there to wash him off and get him comfortable before going back to the show grounds.

Then it was time to prepare for the Friday Night Spectacular where Ali Baba and I were to make an appearance beside legendary NZ horseman, the newly Knighted Sir Mark Todd. Months earlier I had been asked if I would perform a pas de deux beside "Toddy" and its not the kind of thing I turn down. I am somewhat of a veteran of the night shows at HOY, having been out there before with Landioso on several occasions and also with Donnerwind. I know what to expect - it's a MASSIVE atmosphere - about as big as it gets. Something like 5000 spectators all packing out the stadium, under lights, spotlights, loud music and cheering from the crowd. It takes a special kind of horse to cope and not run amuck out there. Ali Baba is still so young and inexperienced -remember that 6 months ago he had never been to a horse show... When it goes well out there its brilliant - the best possible advertising for your stallion and your training - a huge audience with all eyes on you - I love that kind of thing - better than any competition - a real chance to show off and shine. However I am also acutely aware of how wrong it can all go - how bad both yourself and horse can look if he is tense or unsettled or works poorly. It was a risk I was willing to take- I have faith in my horse and I think he was starting to have some faith in me too...

So not only was I asked to appear alongside the star of the show Sir Mark Todd, I was in charge of choreographing the whole 10 minute display. What could I possibly do to entertain the masses at 8pm at night - to me a dressage to music pas de deux can be pretty blimming boring - especially as there would be no time to practice and the patterns we used would not be able to be very difficult. Toddy wouldn't have ever even ridden the horse he had been provided with. Watching the two of us in our dressage garb riding round on 20 metre circles would not cut it - I needed to hatch a plan!

One day teaching in Queenstown I bought the subject up with my pupils and the spectators - and ideas were passed around. Then over the next couple I nights it came to me.... Dress-ups! I could be a fair maiden and Mark Todd my knight in shining amour! I liked the idea - but had no idea if Sir Mark would give it a go. I set about finding costumes and music and even did a voice over on the music CD in my best Medieval "Posh" voice

"Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls. Tonight is a very special night, for tonight at the 2013 Horse of the Year Show" I bring fourth a very special man. I have searched the world over for this man - from Bordeaux to Bluff, from Edinburgh to the East Cape...." and so it went on.

It was an exciting day at the show the day our costumes turned up on the courier. Renee was squeeling with delight and we played impromptu dressups in the back of the truck. I was slightly embarrassed when I had to tell Mark Todd the plan for the night and to show him his costume but he took it all in his stride and was a great sport about it all.

And so, onto the performance. After a brief warm-up out the back I stood Ali Baba under the archway entrance to the Premier Arena, we were in the dark looking out onto what was indeed a very scarey and demanding spectacle. Floodlights light up that arena at night into a bright green vista, its a huge arena when it is empty of show jumps, and the grandstand along the back wall was simply heaving with people, an absolutely massive crowd. Not to mention the 1000 more people lining the outsides of the arena, leaning on and hanging over the sponsored perimeter fencing. The big screens were delivering coverage to those with less view, and TV cameras were staged at various locations and up on cherrypickers. The sound system was booming and the commentator announced our entry. This was the moment a lot of people had been waiting for - Sir Mark Todd their hero was about to appear. This was our moment, Ali Baba and I - the eyes of the equestrian nation were directly upon us and only us. We were to enter first and after a short performance I would announce the entry of my "Knight".

I was dressed in a pink flowing dress with a corset in the style of "Medieval Wench" so the costume hire shop said. I was nervous to not be wearing a safety helmet but it really didn't go with the "look" we were after. I had plaited pink flowers thru Ali Baba's mane and we had put glitter through his coat. He looked magnificent. I was nervous and excited at the same time. How would my young horse cope? As I stood under that entrance way I prayed he would not let me down. He seemed to say to me "are you sure we can do this?" and I said "yes, young man, just trust me" and I took a big breath and stepped out into the brightly lit stadium.

Ali Baba put his best foot forward, Spanish Walking along the perimeter as we headed towards the imposing grandstand some one hundred metres ahead. The first part of our performance went without a hitch - some medieval flute music floated from the sound system as we piaffed, passaged and pirouetted our way around the arena. We did a few lines of changes and even managed ten one-tempis. Ali-Baba was on fire. I had to try and concentrate on the task at hand, when all I really wanted to do was watch him fly on the big screens above us.

He then stood stock still while I announced the entry of the star performer of the night, and the crowd went wild as Sir Mark rode into the arena. The pas de deux was a big hit but unfortunately Mark's borrowed horse was not up to task, being frightened by the big atmosphere. But as our rock music continued - Adele followed by Black Eyed Peas - his horse settled more and the crowd simply loved it. I had a ball, Toddy was a good sport and now the Equestrian Public of New Zealand knew Ali Baba and just what he was capable of. Success!

Saturday was our final competition day of the show, and Ali Baba was starting to get a bit tired. Not only had he had a full on schedule, he hardly got a moments rest in his stable with so many people wanting to come and meet him. His musical freestyle was well received by the crowd and was virtually mistake free - I think we finished about 8th - midway in the class - but there were some pretty starry horses in the class.

The last appearance we would make at HOY 2013 was yet another display in the main oval with Ali Baba in full Portuguese get-up and a mock bullfight to entertain the crowd. Scott McKenna of Harold The Horse fame and I had been plotting together for weeks for this routine. Scott had bought his Harold The Horse costume out to my home to introduce Ali Baba and Harold. Most horses are absolutely petrified of Harold - and Scott was most impressed that Ali Baba wanted to sniff and explore Harold and be his friend. We decided that we would get a bull costume and make a comedy play upon Ali Baba's bullfighting heritage.

So once again I dressed in the traditional costume so lovingly made for me by Christina Jose in Portugal and we entered the main arena and huge crowd once more. Ali Baba was on good form for one so tired, but then when "The Bull" entered the arena he soon perked up! He was momentarily terrified and managed to spin away - and I thought "Shit here we go - this could be a disaster" and I yelled to the girls in the bull costume to stand still for a second or two. Once he approached it and sniffed it we were away laughing - and we put on a great performance that the crowd loved and the video of it has become somewhat of a You Tube hit with over 2500 views!

Here is the video if you haven't seen it already:

So it was official - Ali Baba was one of the stars of the 2013 Horse of the Year Show - a certain crowd favorite - our mission was accomplished and we spend the final day of the show relaxing, chatting with sponsors and a perfect time was topped off by watching Maurice Beatson - the "old fella" of NZ Showjumping take out the Olympic Cup title - what an outstanding performance!