Megan Jones and Kirby Park Impress
Megan Jones’ Kirby Park Impress certainly impressed the judges at Tonimbuk Horse Trials in the dressage this afternoon to take the lead in the CIC3* on 42.10, ahead of Katja Weimann and BP Cosmopolitan in second place (50.10) and Yona Lloyd on Seargeant Crisp in third on 53.10
Megan was the first cab off the rank and, although it was not an error free test and Megan felt her homebred chestnut mare wasn’t quite sparkling the way she did in the warm-up, it was certainly good enough to take the lead. This 10 year old homebred mare is starting to look like a serious prospect at this level and this was their best score at this level to date
Another homebred horse is Katja’s BP Cosmopolitan who we haven’t seen in competition for a little while. This is one horse that can point a toe but the test that stood out for me today was Yona and Seargeant Crisp, which is not to say that they produced a wining test but it was the best dressage I’ve seen this pair produce. From the start it was relaxed, rhythmical and just enjoyable to watch – Crisp maybe not the flashiest mover but it was certainly a very solid test with three good paces shown and good harmony between the two
Yona was injured last year and his rehab has included lots of core strengthening work which he thinks is helping his riding now
“I’ve never really focussed on things like this but it helped my recovery and now it is helping with my riding overall. I even do Pilates!”
Yona and Seargeant Crisp
As the 3* dressage continued ominous clouds started rolling over accompanied by thunder and lightning but mercifully the forecast storm skirted around Tonimbuk and dropped it bundle elsewhere. Mind you, a drop of rain would not go amiss as it is very dusty although the ground underfoot on cross country is not too bad
This year the cross country course is quite different with the start of the course at the back of the indoor arenas and a new area being opened up, as Kate Wallis explained to us in an earlier interview. There are also plenty of MIM clips and frangible fences on the new 2* and 3* courses
TD's Roger Kane and Michelle Debenham checking out some of MIM clips (above) and course builder Mick Pineo's team hard at work (below)
But before the cross country starts, there was the evening show jumping for the CIC3* to decide who leads going into the final phase. Megan kept the top spot with four penalties in the indoor arena jumping but Rob Palm on Koko Story moved up from sixth to third, also with four penalties and Katja stayed in second place
It’s been a good day for local rider Katja who also leads the CIC2* on BP Escapade and the CIC1*, who have yet to show jump on BP Maximus.
We’ll be back at Tonimbuk tomorrow so stay tuned for final reports, interviews and photo galleries over the next few days ..........
Peter Shaw from NSW is a new face on the Ground Jury this year
