5 days to go
Wed 23 July 2003 - Judgement Day
"Woke up at 5am this morning, with butterflies in the stomach and made it to the showground by about 7.30am. Carwyn had travelled to Llanelwedd overnight and his groom had been getting him ready from first light.
The competition was due to start at 8am and we were running a little late so we went straight to the grandstand to get a good view of Carwyn's first appearance in the main ring of the Royal Welsh Show.
There had been a total of 52 entries in his class so we expected stiff competition and that's what we got. Around 35 excellent animals turned out for the class on the day.
The first hurdle was to get through the preliminary judging. As there were such large numbers in the class, the judge first judges all the animals on their movement and their confirmation (how they look). At this stage, around a third of the ponies were eliminated and had to leave the ring.
Carwyn was among the 22 slected to stay in the ring and that was a fantastic feeling for us. Putting in a horse for this kind of competition can be very expensive and if they don't get through this first round, they can be in the main ring for literally five minutes. But our Carwyn was still in with a chance.
The ponies were then asked to walk round the section and, at this stage, they were called in to the middle and initial placings were made. We were really excited when Carwyn was pulled in sixth!
All the animals were then required to do individual shows. This involved standing in front of the judge, walking away from her and then trotting back towards her.
We were really happy as Carwyn went extremely well. He showed himself off better than we could have wished for.
After all the animals had completed their individual shows, the judge sent them out for a final walk around and at this point, Carwyn was pulled in 10th.
We were slightly disappointed at the final result as we thought he'd shown off well and, to us watching from the grandstand, he hadn't put a foot wrong.
It's been an exciting season for us so far and now Carwyn's first Royal Welsh is over. He'll now go on to compete in the Royal Lancashire agricultural show next week and who knows what may happen in future..." Written by Emma Jones of Frongoch Stud.
For photos of Carwyn's big day, click here or use the links below to read earlier entries in Emma's competitor's diary:
Find out how Welsh mountain pony Frongoch Carwyn performed at his first Royal Welsh Show in the last instalment of our competitor's diary, by Emma Jones from Frongoch Stud. 
