HSL supplies Horse of the Year Show
- Details
Nadia and The Production Team have been involved with HOYS for over 20 years, bringing together the best imaginative and technical solutions. Their brief to HSL included providing theatrical lighting for a number of equestrian-based entertainment and display acts as well as lighting for the main international show-jumping competitions, working hunter and driving classes.
Nadia explained that when she first decided to bring a rock ‘n’ roll atmosphere and ‘entertainment experience’ to the main International Arena – there was some trepidation from the horse fraternity!
“This is the pinnacle of the horsing calendar so the idea of adding a lighting spectacle and specially selected popular music to displays was originally met with some hesitancy! However, thankfully, 20 years on, it’s now as much a part of the overall visitor expectations and show presentation aesthetic as watching some of the finest horses and riders compete at the highest equestrian levels!
Nadia is very proud of how they changed the face of the Horse of the Year Show, and with that, the role of technical suppliers became even more involved and crucial.
On site, the HSL crew collaborated with event technical director Ben Fox and lighting director and operator Mark Strange.
Simon Stuart project managed for HSL, commenting, “It was a pleasure working with Nadia and her very experienced and talented team! We really wanted to up the game this year and ensure that Mark and Ben had the most versatile and creative tools at their disposal to cover multiple demands.”
HSL’s team was led onsite by Andy Skirrow and Charlotte Stevens together with Nick Bryan.
The Genting Arena was a vast 67m long by 30m wide space filled with lumen-eating special soft fibre material spread across the arena floor, which hosted all the main competitions over five action-packed days of horse-centric sport, fun and entertainment!
Mark Strange has worked on the event for many years. He and Ben Fox, together with Simon this year, were all involved in specifying the lights for which Simon specifically recommended the Vari*Lite 4K beam washes for their output and versatility.
HSL installed hundreds of metres of pre-rigged trusses which were used for all the lighting positions.
The main moving lights were a combination of Philips Vari*Lite 4K beam washes and Robe BMFL Spots distributed along the length of the trusses, with Philips SL Hydrus 350 hybrids rigged onto the circle truss.
Four Robert Juliat Cyrano follow-spots were positioned around the corners of the arena.
The show was programmed and operated from a ChamSys console with all the dimmer racks and hot racks stored up above in the NEC roof catwalks to keep the space below as clear as possible.
In the “Top Spec” Arena 2, lighting was a lot more straightforward. A proliferation of in-hand showing and breed classes took place here, lit with super-wide PAR 64s on 6-lamp bars rigged on individual trusses flown in a U shape. A series of 400W MBI floods were supplied for the collecting ring area
A long truss was hung above the main entranceway, populated with Philips LED Spot 300s projecting Horse of The Year Show custom gobos, combined with SL 350 LED washes providing the event’s signature purple wash.
Ben Fox comments, “The whole HSL experience was excellent! The crew were all great, nice personalities and they worked quickly and efficiently; the kit proved to be perfect for the application and really gave us so many more options and scope to produce imaginative shows that were really appreciated by our audiences.”
(Jim Evans)
