Keen competition as sun shines on Brough

A NUMBER of dale faces made the trip over to the Eden Valley as show season kicked into gear.

Brough Show welcomed a bumper turnout as it was blessed with sunshine for the second year running .

Thomas Brogden, of nearby Helbeck, took Swaledale champion honours with his gimmer shearling which also caught the eye at Stainmore Show in the spring.

Bred from a £14,000 tup, he said he was undecided whether to show it again this year.

Show secretary David Prince thought the 2017 show was on a par with last year’s installment.

He said: “Sheep entries are up again from last year but not by as much.

“Poultry is holding up which, when you bear in mind the avian flu restrictions, has been good.

“Horses and ponies are about the same.”

Brough Show allowed horse and pony entries on the day of the show.

Mr Prince was surprised by the uptake.

He added: “It has worked – we’ve had an extra £120 of entry money on the day.”

Tudhoe’s Jeff Daley is president of the Dales Pony Society and won one of his first prizes with a pony in the 1970s.

His son and grandson, Lee senior and Lee junior, upheld the family’s reputation with another strong showing.

Mr Daley said: “We do more disciplines than we did years ago and the market has changed a little bit.”

No love is lost in dales pony circles when it comes to shows and it is widely known as one of the more competitive categories on any showfield. As it happened, it was LT Daley and Sons who took champion honours with Highcroft Dream.

Dales Pony judge Mike German said the examples on show at Brough were “proper dales ponies”.

He added: “They’re not too fat in their working clothes and they have quite a lot of action. We try and share the prizes out a bit.”

He admitted there was a bit of needle in competition from time to time.

“I have been breeding dales horses for 40 years,” said Mr German.

“Some folk won’t show to a judge because of such and such a person – it doesn’t bother me.”

Mr Daley added: “An old pal of mine who was an ex-president said it didn’t matter whether you won, lost or drew – you always took your own pony home. I think that’s a very valid point.”