A celebration of all things equine
Dozens – if not hundreds – of Hamilton youngsters would have chalked up their first ever equine encounters on Saturday.
A celebration of all things horsey, the afternoon of performances and displays at the Claudelands Showgrounds was wittily dubbed The Mane Event.
Scheduled to tie in with the unveiling of the war horse statue in Memorial Park earlier in the day, it featured a broad spectrum of horse-oriented activities including medieval jousting, vaulting, a six-bar competition, pony and wagon rides, and a petting zoo – the latter allowing children to get up close and personal to the animals.
The highlight of the day for many would have been the jousting match between north Waikato man John King and his son Glenn who, armed with lances, attacked each other while the crowd in the historic Claudelands Grandstand cheered them on.
The pair are members of a fraternity of jousters known as The Guild of the Hawk.
Jousting is a serious business, the elder King said.
‘‘A friend who knew I was good with horses introduced me to jousting several years ago.
‘‘We have been to jousts in Australia and taken part in international jousting competitions in Upper Hutt. It’s a great thing once you know what you’re doing.’’
A big part of jousting was getting the horses accustomed to the sport.
‘‘It’s not natural for the horses to run at each other, so we have to spend a lot of time getting them desensitised to that.
‘‘There is a lot of build-up to each competition. We have been training these two for this particular day for the last four to six weeks.
‘‘You have got to have a good eye. I think Glenn might have won this particular battle, but that’s OK. It’s OK for the youngsters to win sometimes.’’