An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on the cross country at the Australian International 3DE - find out more here
We leave for the Australian International 3 Day Event in Adelaide this week and I could not be more excited! This is my first time competing at the AI3DE, and having heard so much about it I cannot wait to see it for myself! I will be competing in the Horseland CCI2* and Bates Saddles Young Rider class on my horse ESB Golden Zone. I have had Zone for just over two years now and during this time we have formed a great partnership, however it has been one very challenging journey ... especially to begin with!
In 2014 I began looking for a horse that had international potential and, with the support of Sally Francis as an owner, we were able to purchase Zone from Edith Kane who had produced him to Pre-Novice level. Zone is an ESB Irish Sport Horse, now 10 years old and bred by Vanessa Hawkins. He is everything I ever wanted in terms of talent, but he is definitely not an easy ride and I don’t think we quite knew what we were getting ourselves into when we bought him.
During the first few months I rode Zone it was one disaster after another as he got used to a new rider and I got used to riding such a touchy horse. Not only was he extremely horse shy, but he was also scared of me moving around on his back. Even such a small movement as checking my watch or coughing could set him off into a full-blown panic attack. This made for some pretty scary experiences, with him unseating me then jumping out of the arena when I was half off, a few weeks later crashing through and leaving me hanging in a tree, and another time jumping a paddock gate with me on him. Talented but not very rideable! Learning how to ride Zone and developing a partnership with him in which he remains calm and trusting has been the biggest challenge I have ever faced with my riding, and I could not have done it without the help of my coach Ken Jelbart. Thankfully once we got through those first few months he began to just get better and better.
Two years on and we have had the best season of both of our lives, and a perfect lead up to competing in the Australian 3 Day Event. Zone has won a class at his last four show jumping competitions back to back, racking up 16 show jumping points in a matter of weeks. He won the 1.10m Championship at the Geelong SJ Championships, the 1.15m Height Class at Sale Show, the Open 1.25m in a competitive class at the Australian Show Jumping Championships (which was his first 1.25m class – what a legend), and most recently the 1.10m class at Ayr Hill show jumping. He is becoming quite the show jumper!
Our final pre-Adelaide event was Tooradin Horse Trials. This is always a special event for me given it is held at Tooradin Estate, the wonderful property where I live and train. The weather was unbelievably bad with the property being wetter than I have ever seen it before, but thankfully our sandy soils meant we were able to run the event regardless. It was the perfect pre-Adelaide run for me, with Zone finishing on his dressage score in the CNC 2* to take out second place. He was the most rideable he has ever been in the dressage phase, and then zipped around the cross country clear and under time. He gave me such a great ride, making it feel very easy! To finish off we jumped a lovely clear round in the show jumping. Overall it was a great confidence boosting run for both of us before Adelaide.
This week we have been focussing on fine tuning the dressage, as well as doing a few jumping exercises and our final gallops. Some of my best friends, owners and supporters surprised me with a set of my favourite PEI cross country boots as a good luck present which has made it all seem very real. Thank you so much Kristy, Iliana, Catie, Ruby, Vanessa and Sally, you guys are amazing, your support is incredible and has allowed the dream of competing at Adelaide to now be realised.
I am very much looking forward to beginning the journey on Monday with Ruby my amazing groom who will be coming with me. We will be keeping everyone updated with a behind the scenes album on my facebook page ‘Sophia Landy Equestrian’. I think it is going to be quite relaxing having just one horse to look after compared to the nine in work at home!
Sophia
