The Horse of the Year Show is organised by Grandstand Media Ltd, with Production Team as the production company led by artistic director Nadia Raibin. The show's lighting design was by Mark Strange, with Ben Fox as technical producer - who gives "a big thumbs up from the whole team to White Light for a great event". White Light supplied lighting for the main Andrews Bowen International Arena along with the smaller Caldene Arena.
"We've been through a few different lighting companies on the Horse of the Year Show over the last few years," comments Ben Fox, "but I think we've finally found a formula which really works for everyone. Roger Deane and his team at White Light have pulled out all of the stops and it really showed. The rig was fully prepped in record time this year and absolutely flew in on the rig day. We look forward to doing it all again next year."
That rig included an assortment of equipment from White Light's extensive rental stock, including Martin Mac2000 Profiles, Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX plus Par Cans, Source Four Zooms, Ciro Strata haze machines and Viper smoke machines, as well as dimming, cabling, mains distribution and control to make it all work. The rig also included both Aramis and Cyrano followspots from Robert Juliat, which came in for particular praise from the show's production team as "easily the best followspots we've ever had, by far."
Ben Fox adds, "On a show of this nature, with horses in the arena, the lighting rig has to be rock solid. One data problem during a jumping round causing a horse to spook could ruin the competition or even potentially injure a rider, so reliability is paramount. White Light have excelled here; once the show was up and running we only had to swap out three or four fixtures, which for a system of this size, one which works really hard for six show days, is really impressive."
(Jim Evans)
