Ballarat Pony Club Horse Trials 2021 Wrap Up

An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at

Ballarat Pony Club Horse Trials 2021 - order or view videos here

There is probably no better way of celebrating Australia Day than with a Pony Club Horse Trials report

Each Australia Day we usually focus on the high-flyers, the Olympians who represent their country but, fingers crossed, we’ll have plenty of that later this year if the Tokyo 2021 Olympics Games do go ahead.

However Pony Club is where it starts for most Olympic riders; certainly, the five Australian eventing Olympic medallists featured in our book An Eventful Life – Life Stories of Olympic Champions (which several riders won copies of on the weekend) all started their riding lives as members of the Australian Pony Club. So, it was fitting that our first event of the year was at Ballarat Pony Club Horse Trials on January 23^rd and 24^th.

The home venue of the Ballarat Pony Club also hosts the Friends of Ballarat CCI4* competition in May so, as you would expect, the grounds are very well looked after and the courses, designed by Ewan Kellett, are great for all levels. The water jump was particularly inviting on Sunday when the temperature reached the mid-30’s but the Organising Committee had planned the schedule well.

Emilia Jones and Kenlock Casino Royale, Open Grade 1 winners

Most of the dressage and show jumping took place on Saturday and the cross country started at 8am on Sunday, with the final phase completed before the worst of the heat. Luckily, it also remained slightly overcast most of the morning, but it was still pretty hot.

Hats off (or rather on) to not only the riders but also the officials and fence judges who sat out in the heat, manning their posts. The only thing that the Ballarat Pony Club grounds could do with more of is trees for shade!

Unfortunately, the heat also affected some of our cross country cameras which were in the direct sun, causing some slight focus issues – our apologies for those affected and we’re looking at ways to try and avoid this issue in the future.

The first combinations out on cross country on Sunday morning were the Open Grade 1 competitors. The event ran Grades 1 – 5 in both Open and Pony Club classes and when the leader of the Open Grade 1 after dressage and show jumping, Usman Khan riding AIK Kashmir withdrew, it was Emilia Jones riding Kenlock Casino Royale who jumped into the lead, from equal fourth after the first two phases.

Emilia, who had one rail in the show jumping, finished on the same score (65 penalties) as second placed Annabel Nelson riding WS Poncho Loco, the only combination in this class to finish on their dressage score while Yona Lloyd riding Havelock Brandy took third place (67 penalties)

Through the first water complex for Pony Club Grade 1 winners, Clara Galvin and Royal Star Cha Cha

Clara Galvin riding Royal Star Cha Cha also finished on their dressage score of 37 penalties to win the Pony Club Grade 1 and, as you can see from the video above, was very happy with their performance.

Clara and her off the track thoroughbred ‘Charlie’ are no stranger to winning – they took the 2019 Australian Pony Club Junior Eventing Championship – and it is a very good start to the 2021 season for them.

Manon Schey with Northern Farrington (above) and Leilani Justice with Practise Makes Perfect (below)

Manon Schey riding Northern Farrington took second place (44) and the 19-year-old off the track thoroughbred jumping machine, Practise Makes Perfect ridden by Leilani Justice, added nothing to his dressage score of 52.5 for third place.

But it wasn’t all about the top grades with some very small riders and ponies putting in enthusiastic performances that just melted the heart. The winner of the Pony Club Grade 5, Oliver Mair riding Pindari Lola looked very professional and a good partnership; they moved up from fifth after the dressage to win on that score of 30 penalties while Ellie Casey on Macy and Jade Chow on Jimmy took second and third places.

13-year-old Sienna Edwards, who finished in fourth place, stole the show on our Instagram page, riding the 12.3h Diva around the course with encouraging vocal directions (turn the volume up!).

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Other competitors in this section may not have been quite so chatty with their ponies but they were keenly encouraging their friends as they made their way around the course and tackled each fence. It was great to listen to them supporting each other and is almost more fun than watching 5* riders!