Melbourne Royal Horse Show Wrap Up

It has been just over a week since the 2015 Melbourne Royal Horse Show was run. The Show ran for a total of 4 days from the 23rd-26th of January, this being my first time attending the show. As well as myself a good friend of mine, Susie from Delsharla Pet Pawtraits, also attended the Show.



Susie and I decided to drive down to Melbourne and stay at a motel close to the showground. We began the long drive down at 7am on the 22nd of January, an early start so we could get to the showground to pick up our media passes before the office closed.


Our first stop on the drive down was "The Dog on the Tucker Box", I just had to take a picture and also threw a coin into the fountain for charity. The statue is a tribute to the pioneers and was unveiled on the 28th of November 1932. As well as the dog there was a quaint little general store and old farm equipment laid out for everyone to enjoy with a fibreglass horse to boot!



By about 2:30pm we had made it into the city of Melbourne, which was a relief and a little stressful. After driving down freeways for hours we had started to hit traffic again, and Melbourne drives are very different from Sydney drivers! But we made our way through and I managed to snap a quick picture of the "Welcome to Melbourne" sign, which some of you may have seen me post of my Facebook page.

The roads in and around Melbourne are amazing compared to the roads in Sydney. Very smooth and plenty of lanes, plus there are many signs so you can easily work out where you need to go.



After picking up our media passes from Weribbee Park Equestrian Centre, we made our way to the motel. Unfortunately for us it was nothing like the pictures online! The most important feature of the motel, the free WiFi, barely worked which we needed so desperately to get images out to media and uploaded to our website. Well as the saying goes, if you don't laugh you cry!

The next 4 days were filled with horses and ponies in all shapes and sizes. I was lucky enough to photograph some very unusual and rare breeds in Australia including Fjords, Dartmoors, Morgans, Friesians and Highland Ponies. If you would like to see a gallery of my images from the show head to the HorseZone gallery by clicking here. And did I mention the beautiful grounds at Werribee? Have a look here:

There were many prestigious sashes and garlands won during the 4 days of the Show, but nothing as special as the Best in Show. The winner of Best in Show received a garland sponsored by Conception Garlands, $1000 and a rug. Pictured below is the winner for 2015, Whitmere Lollipop with handler Clint Bilson. Whitmere Lollipop is owned by Michelle Labahn and was bred at Whitmere Pony Stud. Congratulations to all the connections of Whitmere Lollipop.

After the 4 days of the show Susie and I made out way to Phillip Island for a private shoot. Yet again another beautiful drive through the country side, with a few detours along the way. One including a wonderful antique store called Auntie's Place situated in the suburb of Lang Lang, where I picked up a few little props for my portable pet studio including this little typewriter. How cute!

At one time along the road we were baffled to see cows grazing in a paddock with hay bales with the ocean only a couple hundred meters away! As we were used to seeing cows in thousand acre fields along the highway seeing them next to the ocean almost didn't feel right. What a life they lead!

All too soon the day arrived that we had to drive back home. We were thankful that we were going to finally have access to a decent internet connection but sad that out little work trip was coming to an end, a very long 9 hour drive end at that. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. We even had a rainbow thrown in to greet us home.

The next trip for us is a little closer to home at Canberra Royal, with a few local events thrown in between. So see you all out there and don't forget to smile!