ELP becomes the new lighting supplier to 'Production Team' for the Horse of the Year Show

With two arenas, 1,500 horses, 1,400 competitors and an estimated 65,000 spectators, HOYS' is the UK's biggest indoor equestrian event. The show, which seems to grow each year, now takes up over 50 acres (200,000 m2) of the NEC complex.

HOYS is organised by Grandstand Media Ltd who, in recent years, have revitalised the presentation by working closely with Nadia Raibin (Managing Director of Production Team) as the show's overall Creative Director, who is also responsible for its production.

Balancing change with continuity

"With the previous lighting supplier Bandit Lites no longer active in the UK market, I needed to find a new lighting supplier who had the capacity to support a show of this size." says Nadia. "When I discovered that a previous long standing HOYS production supplier and colleague, Dave Keighley, whom I had worked with prior to my association with Bandit Lites, was now acting MD at ELP, the decision became easier as Dave understood the format I needed for the creative aspect of the show and to satisfy SKY TV cameras as well as understanding the fundamental requirements that the competitors need for this unique event"

With ELP working alongside Production Team's existing core crew - Lester Cobrin (production manager), Peter Parchment (crew chief), Ben Fox (lighting designer) and Mark Strange (board operator) meant that there was still a significant degree of continuity and specific HOYS experience within the delivery team.

Significant quantities of reliable gear

ELP supplied five arctic lorries full of gear including over 100 moving lights, 85 one tonne motors and an enormous amount of cable and truss.

The main arena floor was primarily wash lit with ELPs Mac 2000s and VL3000s while their LED Choma pars were used as truss warmers. Additionally, there was a small stage for live bands to perform on and this section was fitted out with ELP's Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300s to provide super-concentrated parallel beams which would penetrate the brightness of the surroundiing washlights in the main arena.

Other spectator areas such as the 'Caldene Arena', the 'Collecting Ring' and the 'Horse Walk' were lit with an assortment of ELPs 1K Sun Floods and Par 36 2 lights, while the main entrance was decorated with a selection of ELP's Source 4 profile spots.

Crew Chief Peter Parchment was keen to endorse the quality of the equipment supplied by ELP saying "This was by far the most reliable kit we have ever used on this job and we've all been very impressed."

Lighting design for audience, TV and horses

"The lighting design for HOYS is a balancing act" explains Lighting Designer Ben Fox. "You need to have enough 'drama' and 'theatre' to engage the audience while at the same time being mindful of the welfare of the horses. So we can't have too many sudden dramatic lighting changes while the horses are on parade. The lighting needs to fade in slowly so it doesn't scare them. And this year we had the added element of 3D coverage by Sky Sports which required extra luminosity for their state of the art cameras"

Ben's lighting design also played an active element in the marking out the course for some show events. For example, lighting effects were pin spotted directly above direction bollards and cones to produce a light bulb effect at the top of the cone. This illuminated the way for horses and also provided an extra layer of texture to the look of the event floor.

Lighting was controlled using one of ELP's Road Hog consoles plus a ChamSyS desk supplied by the LD.

Rock and roll style prep for load in

A key feature of this job, from a production point of view, was the tight eight hour window in which the crew had to install the trussing and rig all the lighting across the site. This is basically because once the synthetic (horse friendly) floor covering is put into place, the crew are unable to operate effectively. "It would be like working in nine inches of sand" remarked Production Manager Lester Corbin. "The surface is ideal for the horses but we wouldn't be able to wheel our flight cases on it or work with any speed or efficiency"

Therefore the crew spent a week at ELPs main distribution centre in Alconbury marking up truss, prepping cable looms and generally pre-rigging as much as possible so that the load-in was fast and smooth. "We approached this just like a rock and roll gig where a fast turnaround is the order of the day and where preparation is everything" adds Lester.

An experienced six man crew of Phil Kerwick, Vic Stuart, Benet Parchment, Mez Storrod and Dwain Edmead under the leadership of Production Team's crew chief Peter Parchment successfully achieved the load in challenge in record time.

"The benchmark has been well set for next year" said Production Manager, Lester Cobrin "and Nadia Raibin concluded "the transition to ELP went very smoothly which was of paramount importance when changing a key supplier for a televised event of this stature".