I don’t know if it’s because I’ve just arrived back from the UK but the sky at Goulburn is blowing me away so please excuse some of the arty photos where I’m more focussed on the background sky than the horses!
There is definitely something a bit surreal about the open space at the Lynton Horse Trials, just outside of Goulburn in NSW (for those of you unfamiliar with the area, its claim to fame is as the first inland city settled in Australia and its sheep, particularly the Big Merino that greets you as you enter town – not to be missed)
Whether it was the unreal sky, the cool wind or just the big empty space where the dressage arenas are located for the start of the Lynton Horse Trials, host of this year’s NSW State Eventing Championships, there was definitely something sending horses a little crazy today. Forget Badminton and Burghley, I haven’t been this entertained watching dressage for a long time although some of the riders may not have been quite so amused by their horses’ antics
It started with the first horse in the Willinga Park CIC3*. Andrew Cooper’s Hunter’s Hill looked at one point as if he was going to lie down in the arena with Andrew on him rather do as he was asked and the fact that Andrew coaxed a test from him AND that they stayed inside the arena is a testament to Andrew’s riding skills. As Andrew has previously told us, Hunter’s Hill can be very good or very bad and today he was definitely the latter! It seemed to start a trend with Michelle Robson, another very elegant rider, in the next door arena also having a few unwanted movements in the CIC2* test on board Eastern Star Capone and later Shane Rose’s Finch Farm Spruce put in an almighty leap that startled even the unflappable Aussie Olympian during their test
Further up the line of dressage arenas Callum Buczak retired from his EvA105 test on board Caruso Blue after a series of athletic antics (Caruso Blue definitely thought there were gremlins at one end of the arena) and we’re looking forward to reading all about this in his next blog for the Aus3DE! So the next time you think dressage is boring, jump in your car, head up the highway to Goulburn, say hi to the Big Merino and come enjoy the fun at Lynton
Emma Bishop and CP Issey Miyake
Of course, many of the horses were very well behaved and Emma Bishop’s CP Issey Miyake was one of those. Emma and the 10-year-old mare scored 30.60, just a little shy of their sub-30 scores at Tamworth and Sydney where they placed second and third in the 3* classes earlier this year, to take the lead off Stuart Tinney and Celebration
Stuart Tinney and Celebration
Stuart is now back in competitive mode after spending some time with his coach hat on as Chef d’ Equipe of the Australian team leading up to Tryon. Luckily Stuart has some pretty handy jockeys at home in his wife Karen and daughter Gemma plus Celebration’s owner Elisabeth Brinton is also involved in some of the horse’s preparation work, so they may be claiming some of the credit for the score of 30.80.
The seven-year-old Celebration, imported from Germany by Elisabeth, is having his first 3* start here and has some impressive notches already on his belt to live up to with four international wins from five starts. He also won both his first 1* and his first 2* competition so the pressure is on …..
Katie Taliana and Friday Street
Katie Taliana occupies both third and fourth places in this class with the less experienced Friday Street ahead of his stable mate Trevalgar II by a whisker with scores of 32.80 and 32.90
The 3* class completes tomorrow with the show jumping in the morning and cross country in the afternoon and we'll leave you with some snippets from Emma and Stuart's tests
