MORE than fifty horses and ponies were on display as thousands enjoyed the 31st annual Abergavenny shire horse show. WILL BAIN reports.

THIRTY towering shire horses and 25 miniature Shetland ponies were being shown at the festival with participants travelling from Worcestershire, Cheshire and North Wales amongst other parts of the country.

A beaming Leslie Moulden, the long-serving president of the South Wales Shire Horse Society which runs the festival said the day had been a huge success and was relieved after last year’s event nearly had to be cancelled because of the monsoon-like summer weather.

"I’ve tried to make sure I get round and thank as many people for coming as possible,’ Mr Moulden said. "Their support is brilliant and what makes it so much fun to organise."

Mr Moulden estimated that throughout the day around 3,000 people had attended the show in Abergavenny’s Bailey Park, with the weather mainly staying kind to encourage the crowds as they watched an the horses compete in classes best on age and gender but also in fields such as neatest and cleanest working harness.

"It can take them eight hours to clean all of the brass and harnesses," Mr Moulden explained.

"The judges are looking for the feathering [the iconic hair around a shire horses foot) to be absolutely immaculate it’s a lot of hard work so it’s wonderful to see crowds like we’ve had today."

One of those on display in the main ring was six-year-old male shire Fifield, who when he’s not working hard in the parade ring is better know as Monty.

He’d come down from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire with the Bottomer’s, husband and wife team Faye and Mike.

They’ve been coming to Abergavenny for the last five years and was the defending champion in the best decorated harness and neatest and cleanest working harness categories as well as having scooped the gong for best Shod in 2012.

"The harnesses stem from a couple of things," Mrs Bottomer explained.

"They were obviously originally working harnesses for the animals when you put them in a plough for example but they were also decorated for attending May day festivals and things like that."

After hours of preparation and a fair bit of petting from the local youngsters Fifield was all set to head tot he ring but as he did so the black clouds which had been gathering menacingly above the Blorenge could hold their load no longer and decided to empty bucket loads of rain on man and beats below.

It fortunately came late in the day as it sent people scurrying for the cars or the sanctuary of the Abergavenny RFC clubhouse but the horses and handlers hardly went on, encouraged by the Oakdale Silver Band who played on in the park’s bandstand behind a large bouncy castle and the Punch and Judy.

"Never fading like the sunset when the rain came in," is the line in the 1997 version of Elton John’s Candle In The Wind, and it seemed apt here as the band belted it out and the fun continued in spite of the rain.

Next year’s show is set to be moved after the Royal Welsh Show moved the Shire Horse showing day from Monday to Thursday.

It meant people were forced to travel back to North Wales from Builth on Thursday evening only to turn back round on the Saturday morning to come to Abergavenny.

"It’s not fair on people who show so much loyalty supporting us to make them do all that travelling and it’s not fair on the animals so next year we are going to move away from the Royal Welsh," Mr Moulden said.

"We asked them to move it back to Monday but they just won’t so the show will be on July 5 next year rather than this weekend," he said