Over the weekend I came to the scary realisation of just how fast Adelaide 3DE is approaching! Talking to fellow blogger and friend Tegan Lush she made a very correct comment ‘when you do two trips east, with Wooroloo 3DE in the middle, the year goes pretty fast!’
Last month Perth experienced the excitement of our special 3DE held at Wooroloo Prison Farm. This event gets more special each year – really made so significant by the people who put in so much effort into making it bigger and better. This year we had trade stands, we had RedFoto.TV, we had International judges and TD’s – we had it all! Go WA, and thankyou to those who put in the effort to make it happen.
At Wooroloo I had my own two mares – Early Days in the CIC 2** and Love That Blonde in the EvA80. I also rode Jan Middleton’s Fusion On Q in the EvA95. It was a very busy few days with a horse in a different grade and it made for lots of course walking! Which, over the rolling Wooroloo hills gave me some sore calf muscles, but it was worth it because the course was fantastic. It’s a great track and one that I really think would be worth driving across the country to compete at. Truly international style water and this year Wayne Copping built a new ‘drop of death’ as I heard some riders calling it. The drop fence was massive, there’s no doubt about it! Full height for the 3* and the 2*. However it didn’t cause one rider an issue – probably more scary to look at than ride!
Early Days jumping into the water at Wooroloo CIC 2** for fourth place
Photo by Redfoto
Early Days was a horrible mare in the dressage phase and got very tense which was disappointing, however I moved along with that and she had a great cross country run despite picking up 12 odd time penalties. I couldn’t understand why I was struggling with the time so much! I felt as though it was a fast and accurate ride, however upon watching the video it really looks like I am going on a Sunday stroll … oops! I wasn’t too fussed, I know the time will come with experience. It was raining when I started and I was the first rider on course so took it very easy through the first 12 fences. Everything rode great and I was really happy with Daisy as she is still relatively green to the grade. She then show jumped with one down and finished fourth in her class.
Love That Blonde jumping to sixth place at Wooroloo EvA80
Photo by Redfoto
Love That Blonde was a great baby pony at her second event and did a good but green test for 58 penalties, was clear and on time cross country and show jumped clear to finish sixth in the EvA80. Fusion On Q did his first EvA95 with a great dressage test for 53 penalties but had a cheeky run out early on in the cross country however once he got his brain into gear jumped well around the rest of the course. He had one down show jumping.
So it was a pretty good event over all with two out of three coming home with a place and some prize money! Thankyou to Eve Campbell who did a fantastic effort of grooming for me all weekend and who I’m sure was absolutely exhausted come Monday.
Two weeks after that we had Dryandra CNC which is about two hours south east from where I live. It’s about the only event in the state that I travel to where I lose mobile reception on the drive. Typically this means that on the way I have a blow out on the gooseneck. I had both Early Days and Love That Blonde entered, in the CNC 2** for Daisy and the EvA80 for Blonde. After the initial swear words and slamming hands down on the steering wheel (as this makes ALL the difference) and then followed by the minute of tears I figured I had better come to some sort of solution. I was alone, on the side of Albany Highway (a very busy highway with not much verge) with no phone reception and two mares on board. First response was to try and flag down someone for help, in which case was an elderly couple who couldn’t offer me any help aside from ‘try driving to the top of the hill to get service’. I did this, very slowly 60kms p/hr, listening to the horrible screeching of the tyre rim digging into the asphalt and of course ended up with a pile of traffic behind me. Thankfully two of these cars pulled over in front of me, both men, both willing to help me. Luckily, about 10 metres further up the road there was a small bush track that was big enough for me to pull into, as I was going to have to unload the horses due to the weight. We got into the track, the mares got tied up to the gooseneck and we got to work changing the tyre.
Thankfully, despite the trucks roaring past every few minutes, the mares stood quietly (although a bit confused) and the tyre was changed. We loaded back up and then I faced the next difficulty of trying to get the rig out of this little area. Unable to reverse back onto the highway as it was too dangerous, I had to reverse into the bush and do a 25-point turn. Quite literally! Unfortunately jack-knifing the goose in the process, it nearly went through my back window however didn’t (just!) and I was on my way…take #2! What a drama. I made it to Dryandra and unloaded and even managed to get the horses worked before dark.
After all of this I wasn’t too motivated for dressage however worked Daisy in a slightly different way which proved to pay off – we improved our score by nine penalties from Wooroloo which had her in ninth position. Blonde didn’t have the best test, just being a little worried about ‘leaving’ the horses in the warm up and it made me realise that she probably needs a few months off to recoup after all of the work she has done since coming off the track.
Early Days - victorious at Dryandra CNC 2**
Thanks to dad for the photo
Saturdays’ weather was pretty bad and it rained nearly all day! The gooseneck was used more as an undercover washing line and I had lots of wet things needing the sun on Sunday and luckily it came out! Both Daisy and Blonde went around the cross country well, both clear, Daisy made time for the first time ever in 2*! Unfortunately the jockey didn’t pay enough attention to her watch on Blonde and we picked up 2.4 time penalties for going too fast…! Both mares jumped super clear rounds. Blonde just missed out on a place and I was pretty excited that Daisy was the only horse that had finished on her dressage score and actually won the CNC 2**, in very good company! After all of the ups and downs of the event, it was so rewarding to come home with the rug and I am still very pleased that my hard work with Daisy is paying off.
We hosted Stuart Tinney at my property on the weekend just gone for an eventing clinic and together with Stuart I feel I have worked out a good plan in the lead up to Adelaide in relation to which events to run Daisy in, and how to work on her in the dressage phase. It was a fantastic clinic and we are doing it again in October on the 11th – 13th where Stuart to give us a last minute tune up before Swan River Dryandra CIC, Brigadoon CNC and then Adelaide CCI!!
Next event on the cards is Alcoa Fairbridge CNC this weekend approaching where I will have Early Days again in the CNC 2* and clients horse Gordon Park Conquest in the EvA80. Blonde is having a well deserved break and I will hopefully bring her in to finish the season at the last two events. Just Corona is heading to Alcoa as well with student Eve Campbell to give Eve some more experience around the EvA95. I think Trumpet will enjoy heading out to one of the nicest events on the WA calendar!
The new pony 'Lucy'
Photo by Denis Crane
Finally, to top it all off – yesterday I welcomed new addition to the team ‘Lucy’, purchased from Blackall Park in Victoria. Lucy is a 3yo WB x TB by Valhalla and I am very excited to have a play with her over the next year until she is old and mature enough to enter the competition scene. She has so far proved to be a fantastic mare with a super temperament and I was so impressed with how well she has been handled, despite her age. This is a credit to Blackall Park and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Thank you Denis and Susan and I look forward to bringing Lucy up to hopefully being another successful eventing horse. Also a thank you to the team at Combined Horse Transport for delivering Lucy!
Combined Horse Transport delivers a special present!
Till next time!
Makayla X
