An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Gisborne Pony Club Horse Trials 2020 - order or view videos here
There were a couple of ‘certain winners’ on my list as I headed to the annual Gisborne Pony Club Horse Trials in Victoria, Australia on Sunday 16th February but, as is often the case in eventing, things don’t always turn out the way you expect
The first one I was looking out for was a rider; the galloping vet Rohan Luxmoore whose red and blue silks are more often found at high level events, including the CCI5* in Adelaide. At Gisborne however Rohan was on board Koda Chrome and they were (not surprisingly) leading after the dressage on a good score of 27 but then (surprisingly) parted company on the Open Grade 3 cross country, which just goes to show that it happens to the best of riders!
That enabled Jessica Harvey riding De Groot to move up from third after the dressage and claim a win in this class at their first competition in nearly a year as De Groot has been recovering from a paddock injury
Jessica Harvey and De Groot
“It was so much fun” says Jessica “The day was great - I was a bit worried at first about the ground being wet but my horse handled it so well and did not refuse or hesitate at any jump even after having so much time off. I didn’t think I had much of a chance of winning after we knocked a rail on the last jump in the show jumping, but then he aced the cross country with a perfect time”
“Gisborne Pony Club is such a nice place, I’m glad that I chose it for our first competition back and now we’re going to enter the Grade 2 at Glenlyon”
The winner of the Open Grade 2 at Gisborne is another combination heading to Glenlyon and this horse was my other ‘one to watch’. The 18-year-old Practise Makes Perfect (Wally) is a horse with an enviable cross country jumping record and, having been competed by various riders through his career including Sophie Fox and Jaimie Stitchel, the Australian thoroughbred is now hopefully going to help the (also) 18-year-old rider Leilani Justice qualify for the Victorian State Pony Club Championships.
Leilani Justice and Practice Makes Perfect
Leilani, who is already studying for a Bachelor of Criminal Justice at university, also helps her father in the family harness racing business and this was her second horse trials with Practice Makes Perfect. She took over the ride last November, they won at Lochard Pony Club Horse Trials earlier this month and now have also won the Grade 2 at Gisborne
“I was a bit surprised to be honest” said Leilani “We were a bit unprepared, but his dressage was much better than at Lochard and he finished on his dressage penalty score of 75”
The fog was still thick as Leilani was doing her dressage test so she was relieved when the wet weather lifted before cross country in the afternoon
“It was a bit slippery in places and Wally really lost his backend as we came round a corner into the water jump but he’s such a star, he got it back together, I stayed on board and he did the rest! I could see the spectators wondering what was going to happen!”
Apart from that, the pair ate up the course and made it look easy, and although Leilani thought the triple of pipes looked challenging when she walked the course, it rode beautifully
“I always come to this event because the course is very straight forward, and the facility is open for schooling, so it helps build confidence” she admits
“It’s a really good ‘step-up’ course and they always add something new or change the order of fences so that there is a new challenge”
Indeed the variety and layout of fences show some forethought so it comes as no surprise that well-known international course designer Ewen Kellett lends a hand to his friend James Lang, Vice President of Gisborne Pony Club
“Ewan and I met when we were competing against him at Pony Club Horse trials in the late 80’s and early 90’s, where we became friends at horse trials similar to this one and we’ve stayed mates ever since – it’s just an example of the benefits of Pony Club!” says James, who was on hand at the event on Sunday despite just flying in from a business trip in Malaysia on Saturday morning
James is keen to promote all of the benefits of Pony Club, especially the introduction of new members to competition through the ‘Gisborne Gallopers’ programme he told us more about in our interview here
Tara Lawrey and Simmering
Tara Lawrey won the Open Grade 4 on board Simmering, another ex-racehorse who has now come to eventing after a dressage career
“He was retrained by Cath Sfregola and was in the top three of the Off The Track Dressage Horse in 2018 but now he’s come to me for eventing and he’s really enjoying it”
“Despite the wet weather our day went really smoothly; we led after the dressage with a very neat test then had the best show jumping round we’ve done yet, although I needed a bit of extra leg for the double, jumping towards the trade stands, but we got there!”
“The cross country was so much fun; his legs slipped out from underneath him after jump six but he was so clever and kept upright, then we almost ran over the photographer after the water so it was a bit eventful between the fences! But it was a great local competition for our first horse trials and I think we’re really on our way now”
The Open Grade 5 winner Caitlin Frewen was ‘shocked’ to win.
“I’ve owned my horse Leawarra Grace (Grace) for just over two years now, she is a 16.3 hh Percheron x Clydesdale x Warmblood and is worth her weight in pure gold”
“When I first brought her, I wasn’t very confident nor keen to go over anything that wasn’t a trot pole or 30cm jump so I stuck mostly to dressage. But during the past couple of months, I’ve grown more bold so we started jumping more, and we really haven’t looked back since. Grace loves to jump now more that she loves to trot around in a pretty circle these days and who could blame her”
Caitlin Frewen and Leawarra Grace
“Yesterday’s overall results shocked me completely, riding a clean dressage test, a clear show jumping round and, well, a really fast cross-country round (as the video could probably vouch for)!”
“Even though her and my size should slow her down she puts in all of her power and strength into the course and just focuses on the next jump whether you’re ready or not. Sometimes you just have to sit there and just ride over the jumps; these jumps may only be small but she jumps them like it’s a meter high jump! I could not have asked for a better horse to own and compete with”
It was a good day for Shanae Reid who won both the Pony Club Grade 2 riding Little Man Delargo and the Pony Grade 4 on board Barney.
Charlotte Armstrong and ESB Golden Musician enjoyed a strong win in the Pony Club Grade 3, finishing with more than 10 penalties in hand over second placed Evie Crawford while Nadia Evely riding Forestway Mystical took the Pony Club Grade 5 and Emily Bartlett riding Lucy won the Grade 6
