Tour de Dannevirke – Cyclone Edition (Nationals Wrap-Up)
The Nationals Wrap-Up (and what actually got us through it) 🌪️ 🌪️
In January we headed up to the New Zealand National Horse & Pony Show… aka Tour de Dannevirke – Cyclone Edition.
Three days of rain, wind, mud, and the occasional glimpse of sunshine. Less “summer show” and more full-blown survival exercise.
And while Mule (and his emotional support Pinto, Trimble) absolutely delivered…
To be perfectly honest, staying presentable in those conditions doesn’t happen by accident but does require a wee bit of luck and alot of prep.
It comes down to having the right gear and a system that actually works.
The Brief
We went in with three goals:
✔️ Pick up a ribbon (any ribbon, any class)
✔️ Have a good time and put #TeamClean on the map
✔️ Keep Mule (and ourselves) looking remotely presentable
Mission accomplished — just.
Mule Did His Job… So Ours Was to Keep Him Looking the Part
Four wide ribbons.
Three different riders/handlers.
Wind, rain, mud… and he never missed a beat.
Which meant our job was simple:
👉 Keep him clean enough to compete
👉 Keep gear functional
👉 Fix the big things fast between classes
The Reality
In that weather, you’re not chasing perfect. You’re managing the mess. Done is better than perfect.
And most of the time, the judge isn’t looking at the soles of your boots or counting plaits - it’s the overall picture that counts.
👉 And this is where having the right products makes all the difference
What We Used (And Why It Worked)
✔️ NTR Eziwash — Quick, Targeted Washes - spray bottle for the win
This was our go-to for keeping things under control.
- Purple Haze for the support pintos white bits and white legs
- Fast rinse, no mucking around
- OG Stain remover for hocks, Actually lifts stains instead of just wetting them.
- OG Shampoo - for Mules tail, legs and tummy it smells amazing too.
👉 Perfect for quick turnarounds when the mud keeps coming. Spoiler alert - we didn’t wash them after day one, it was just legs, tails and tummy’s no point making them wet, cold and miserable, Twice, make that 3 times - sorry boys.
✔️ Carr + Day + Martin — Tack Rescue Mode
Post-class tack in that weather? Not pretty.
This is where Carr + Day + Martin carried us.
- Quick clean between classes
- Mitts made it fast and easy
- Two-step system actually brought wet leather back to life in the evenings
👉 10-minute reset and you’re back looking the part.
✔️ Rug Game - Keep Them Covered, Keep Them Clean
Having a solid rug system made a huge difference. We use Horseware Ireland sheets and amigo combos, 100g with no fill neck over an ubersnug cotton and a gateshead hood to keep plaits in place, when it got really feral we cranked out the Amigo 250g, the best bit was we could take out the liner and remove the neck rug when he went into his yard. Having 2 winter rugs and a liner really was the game changer that we really didn’t expect to need to use.
Products we used come showday
Mule
Being brown, it makes life very easy, here is what we use to dolly him up, so he goes from basic brown TB, to podium pony.
We plait him up using NTR sculpting wax and smooth braids plaiting spray (yes two different hair products, more than we use ourselves) and NTR Rubberbands and Hairy Pony Thread.
Mule wears a Double thickness Best Presented tail, we pop in a wee bit of Liquid Silk to make his tail blend in seamlessly.
Judges Choice leg oil in black (Yes we make him look like a bay, yes this confuses Sally when the judge points to her and calls in the “wee bay”.
HSE Smudge pot in black on his muzzle and over his eyes.
Absorbine hoof black on his toes, usually to hide the fact hes removed a shoe.
Quartermarks are done with a shaky hand and Hairy Pony Quartermark comb and set with NTR Q Set
A wee smear of HSE Mink oil over his eyes and on his nose, a spray over with Carr + Day + Martin Dreamcoat and a quick spray of pepi spray to his tail ( think of it as applying perfume as you walk out the door) and we are good to go.
Trimble - the emotional support Pinto
Now being patchy this brings a whole new dimension to showing in the rain.
Ben (BEN10 @ Checkout) will tell you that purple shampoo is key, we have convinced him that Hairy Pony Double strength purple shampoo is the go too and the Ezi wash purple shampoo is great for legs. Neither leave purple tide marks, cos no one likes purple ponies.
Trimble isn’t a huge fan of sprays so we used Liquid silk on his tail.
We turned his legs whiter then white with a combo of NAF Brighter then White under bandages and then NTR Pure White cover creme over the top just to cover any grey bits.
We put his hunter stripe quarter marks on with Hairy Pony Quartermark brush and try to set them with Q Set ( fun fact, he hates spays, but will you let you spray him when mounted - weird Trimble, weird).
Being a blokes hunter we keep the make up sensible, a wee bit of Smudge pot over his eyes, mink oil on his muzzle and we chase him into the ring with a spritz of Pepi Spray in his tail.
The Takeaway
You don’t need perfect conditions to turn up and do well, you just need a system that works in real life.
Because when the weather’s sideways, your jods and jacket are soaked and you are down to your last clean rug…
👉 it’s the right products that make the difference between holding it together and looking like you’ve got it together.
Mule did the hard part. Our job was to make him look the part, and that comes down to having kit you trust and products that actually deliver, whether it’s 30-degree dust or full Cyclone Edition chaos.
And Trimble… well, the emotional support Pinto kept us honest (and slightly stressed) with all that white, while firmly confirming he does not do rain and would prefer to be back in Central Otago immediately.
No fluff. No overthinking. Just a system that works.
Because if it holds up in a cyclone… 🌪️
👉 it’ll hold up anywhere.
