Sizzle leaving nothing to chance (as usual) at Longford Show Photo: Sarah Walker
Entries are in, the boat is booked and accommodation is arranged. I guess I am going for another trip over the creek! Also I have a broken tree in my dressage saddle three weeks before I leave (yes, I cried) and my back up horse might just be a little bit amazing and not a back up horse for much longer…
I thought this blog would be a good opportunity to discuss the processes I go through when preparing my horse for a trip such as this. When you pay thousands of dollars in boat fares, entry fees and all the other paraphernalia that tends to go with eventing horses, you try to take every precaution to make sure your best mate gets to said events in the very best condition possible. So here goes!
Tasmanians preparing for Lakes and Craters 3 Day Event in Victoria don’t have an easy run. Our eventing season typically runs from November (we were lucky to get one in late September this year…) to March, so it is really only a five month affair with a break for Christmas and New Year thrown in! So us Taswegians are flying by the seat of our pants a bit.
Sizzle was meant to have a mere month off after Melbourne 3 Day but due to various complications he ended up having over two months off - not ideal! This meant that we missed a few key show jumping and dressage competitions in the lead up to departure in an already sparse calendar. I did get one event in on Sizzle in September as I discussed in my last blog, and since then I have done two show jumping days, lots of clinics and quite a few XC schoolings. He is feeling back to his usual self if not better.
Smashy at Longford Show Photo: Sarah Walker
After Monmouth ODE we started to ramp it up a bit and started trotting the forestry tracks on our property once a week. Longford show came next and that was a great event. I took not only Sizzle, but Smash (CT Aurenda) and a client’s horse Chunky (Funky Chunky). They all did well but Sizzle placed in his 105cm Speed class and Smash blew me away by placing in the prestigious Longford Equine Clinic 110cm Championship class!
In the last two weeks leading up to going away (six weeks away from Lakes) I started to gallop hills once a week, trot out once a week and flat and jump for the rest with one day off. Westbury Show was last weekend and it was a great few days at the office! Sizzle jumped superbly on the first day in the 1.10m two round being just out of the placings and Smash jumped the only first round clear in the U21 1.15m Championship with an unfortunate rail in the second round for third.
Then the second day Sizzle jumped a great first round in the highly prestigious Saddleworld Future Stars 1.10m event, however the hard ground caught up with him and I didn’t want to push him when he was leaving the next Tuesday, so he finished on a good note. Smashy however jumped great in both rounds of the Future stars event, then we attempted our first 1.20m! He was SUPERB and jumped like a pure showjumper! We would have won the class if not for a silly eventer rush of blood on my behalf which cost us the rail that pushed us to third. He was just awesome and I can’t wait to get him out and about! He feels like something very special…
Sizzle at Westbury Show Photo: Berris Atkins
Sizzle will now have a day off to recover (they both had SwellDOWN on their legs overnight as a precaution) then a light flat on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday night he will be on the boat bound for Victoria! Hopefully with a dressage saddle which is (I’m crossing my fingers) going to be fixed in time (broken tree!!)… thanks sister darling dearest painful kid and her ever so lovely naughty spooky nutty horse… UGH! It is perfectly acceptable for a 20 year old to throw a three year old – like tantrum with feed buckets flying, upon hearing news such as that… right?
Sizzle will have his normal breakfast of 2kg of Prydes Easifeeds Biomare on Tuesday, then about two hours before he gets on the truck he will have a biscuit of soaked lucerne hay, his Kelato GastroAid Digestive to prevent any excess acid and a half a Kelato Muscleguard just as he goes on and just as he gets of the truck. The horses will have no rugs or boots on and must stand in the truck for the duration of the approximately 12 hour trip. We are locked out of the car decks until the next morning and we just have to hope they are sensible enough to stand still and not work themselves into a lather.
All Sizzle's bits and pieces to keep him feeling awesome
Sizzle has done this trip a few times now and we have never had an issue but I will always routinely check his temperature every hour / two hours for the first day and then a couple of times the day after just to be sure. This is because horses can get sea sick the same as us however for them it can be fatal… so any temperature change above the usual (Sizzle normally sits around the 35-36 deg mark) is your first real indicator as well as the usual not drinking, not eating or lethargic.
Hopefully all will go to plan and the trip will be a good one! I am doing Colac HT 1*, Boneo Showjumping Carnival and then Lakes CCI 1*. If you see me, feel free to say hi!
Until next time… wish me luck!
Alice
P.S. Quick update as I was slack sending my blog through… The horses travelled well on the boat and had two days of light work before heading to Colac HT. Full report on Colac will be in the next blog but in short… we won the 1*!! AHHHH!!! Go Sizzle!! And travel buddy David Gardiner managed a fantastic top 10 finish in his first ever mainland event in the Pre Novice
Super pony! First jump in the big 1* SJ at Colac HT in which he achieved the only rail free round securing a blue ribbon and rug!! Photo: Vic Eventers
