Horse Show moves in leaps and bounds with PRG

PRG Europe has once again supplied lighting, control, power and distribution for the London International Horse Show at Olympia.

The show, which was held between 17 and 22 December, loaded in some nine days early, so that the lighting could be clear of the show floor before the seating was put in and the surface constructed for the horses.

Lighting designer Jon Pope of Lighting Design Services, said: "The brief was to provide event arena lighting for the show jumping and theatrical lighting for the Household Cavalry and the Grand Finale, with the theme of Past, Present and Future.

"This was the 100th year of the show, so we had even more incentive to make sure everything looked perfect".

Pope combined his own conventional lighting and control desk with moving lights and trussing supplied by PRG Europe, including VL3000 spots, Mac 2000 washes and Robert Juliat followspots.

Programmer Phil Cole controlled the moving lights with a Wholehog II, also supplied by PRG Europe.

Jon Cadbury, project manager at PRG Europe, said: "Because we weren't allowed to put the dimmer units in the trussing, we had five discrete dimmer rooms, with all the cabling taken via feeder trussing.

"This is a spectacular show, and we needed to make sure everything was tidy and out of sight".

Some 40 hoists were used to raise and lower the trussing and a Kinesys hoist system was also brought in to raise and lower in a circular stage in the centre of the arena from which a violinist accompanied the grand finale.

In addition to the world-class show-jumping competitions which took place every day, the show featured everything from performances from Ukrainian Cossacks and the Royal Household Cavalry to the Shetland Pony Grand National and the Kennel Club Agility Stakes Finals.

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