Amanda Pottinger and Just Kidding
An Eventful Life is filming competitors on the cross country at Puhinui – click here to find out more
Two of the top three horses in the Honda NZ CCI3* at Puhinui International Horse Trials are off the track Australian thoroughbreds but you would never have guessed it when watching their tests today. The leader, Amanda Pottinger’s Just Kidding and second placed Your Attorney ridden by Diane Gilder both produced lovely flowing tests although Amanda felt she could have ridden the test better!
Amanda Pottinger
Due to the fact that Just Kidding has the thoroughbred habit of holding his breath during the dressage , Amanda has developed a very specific way of warming up to help him ‘let go’ and breathe.
“I hardly do any dressage warm up before the test” says Amanda “I’ve learned over time to just put on a jump saddle and canter him round to loosen him up, get him relaxing and breathing and then get ready for the actual test when I know he’s let it all out”
Diane Gilder and Your Attorney
It certainly worked today with the pair scoring 47.5 although second placed Diane Gilder and Your Attorney are not far behind on 48.9. Diane came to Puhinui as a spectator last year as Your Attorney, a horse she bought from Nikki and Blair Richardson while she was working for them in Australia, had pulled a muscle and was unable to compete so she is very happy to be back here as a competitor.
Tomorrow will be their first time around the CCI3* track here although they finished second in the CIC3* here in May with the second fastest time and, when asked in the press conference if the time would prove a problem on tomorrow’s cross country, Diane grinned and said “Not on my horse!”
It may be a little more of a problem for Donna Smith-Edward’s gorgeous palomino DSE Mr Hokey-Pokey who, although small, has a heart of gold. Or at least he has a coat of gold which was glistening and gleaming in the sun today as he performed his test for a score of 50.3
Donna Smith-Edward and DSE Mr Hokey-Pokey
“I gave him a light warm up for the dressage today because I thought he might get a bit hot in the sun but maybe I should have given him a bit longer” said Donna
And if bigger horses have bigger strides and can cover the ground faster on cross country, Donna and Amanda both agree that, if the forecast rain comes in tomorrow, they would rather be sitting on their nippy, agile smaller horses!
“It’s a tough, challenging course that keeps going all the way to the end” says Donna “But it’s a course that gives you every opportunity to get home safely”
Getting home safely is Amanda Pottinger’s priority tomorrow as she is aiming for a qualification for Adelaide in 2017.
“I’m looking for a really good round but I won’t be going out all guns blazing” says Amanda “The end game is the important thing and, although I’d love to be leading at the end of tomorrow, I’ll have another goal in mind as well. We just don’t have enough qualifying competitions in New Zealand to ignore that”
So who will be leading at the end of tomorrow and how much influence will the weather have? We’ll have to wait and see ........
