Agricultural shows have “reined” in this year’s show season with a record number of horse entries.

Many show horses wowed crowds at all three Limestone Coast event – Mount Gambier, Millicent and Penola – in recent weeks and the hat-trick was a huge success.

Chairperson of Horses in Action Committee Kristy Bruhn said show jumping at all the shows was well supported again this year.

“Show jumping was really well supported last year and that’s continued on for this year with competitors particularly keen to get out and about again,” she said.

“The Mount Gambier show had a really good turnout, better than they have had for years.”

Naracoorte Pastural and Agricultural Society Secretary Amanda Lock said their show jumping rings and dressage sections were the largest they had been for quite some time.

“Locally our horse sections were really well supported. In the South East, horse enthusiasts are very supportive of our show,” she said.

“We did however have small entries in our qualifying rings that qualify people to be able to go to the royal shows likely due to the fact Victorian riders could not attend.

“Another reason could be due to the fact some people are still carrying qualifications from previous years over because the royal shows have been cancelled so they do not need to requalify.”

The Millicent Show Horse sections were also affected by the border closure with numbers in the higher competitive classes leaner than previous years like many other shows.

“In the lower classes however, we had 15-20 entries and the stockman challenge boasted over 30 horses this year,” Millicent Horse Convenor Lynda Field said.

“We probably would have gotten more entries if the borders were open, but the numbers were really good under the circumstances.

“Everyone supported our show, and everyone enjoyed themselves while displaying good sportsmanship.”