I’m going to go out on a limb here and declare that there is no sport that can rival eventing in the way of giving you the biggest high and then a split second later give you the biggest low….
WARNING! If you have a bit of a weak stomach and cant handle looking at X-rays of broken bones you might want to scroll quickly past the below photo!
My very very broken collar bone... It now has a pin straight through the middle!
Yep! That’s right! I have broken my collar bone… which in itself isn’t so bad but it did need to be operated on and I did do it on my birthday… exactly a year (nearly to the day!!) after breaking my humerus! Note to self… don’t ride horses on, near or around my birthday! AGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
But if that was the low, my high was without doubt my favourite little pony in whole world doing his first 1*!
Sizzle at Candlebark Photo: Equine Focus Photography
I had never competed at Candlebark Horse Trials before and despite a last minute campsite change (after setting up ALL our yards we were told we had to move all nine of them… so we finished platting at 11.30pm!! *cue angry face!!*), we started off the weekend well! Poppy did her intro test… it wasn’t fantastic but she was good considering it was only her second ever event. Then she did a brave show jump round which again wasn’t perfect but the course was very spooky and pulled up quite a few horses so I was really happy! Sizzle was awesome as per usual and warmed up exceptionally and then we produced a really solid test for 61%. There were elements that still needed improvement and places that needed more finesse but I was stoked with his first attempt as we placed 6th in the Young Rider 1*.
The 1* XC looked quite fair but there were a few spooky fences which I was a tad worried about but I knew that if I rode him with confidence he would eat the course up! Poppy’s course I was more worried about than Sizzle’s! But I knew that if we made it over the ditch and rail we should be fine.
One of Sizzle's tougher lines at Candlebark which he executed like a pro
Sizzle warmed up superbly and then jumped around the XC like it was a prelim! He tackled the tough and technical lines like an old pro and gave me an awesome feeling all the way around! He just loves his job!! He then tried his guts out in the show jumping and even though we got two unlucky rails, it was only his second attempt at jumping a course of that height and for a little horse (15.2h) who had galloped XC an hour earlier he did a super job and I was thrilled with him! And then to top it all off he ended up placing 4th against some very experienced horses!! Super little man!!
Then Poppy jumped really well around nearly the whole course, did the ditch and rail without an issue, all the way up until a set of three steps when she just had a bit of a mental overload and she jumped the first one big and ran off, which was fine and as I re approached she decided that backwards was the preferable option… straight off the bottom step… and being the clumsy, leggy young warmblood she is, she landed flat on her side taking me with her! She got up and ran off (apparently jumping some practice jumps and bunting along the way!) but I wasn’t so fine and was carted away in the ambulance and then after some quick wrangling of flights I was back in Tasmania and in the Tasmanian accident and emergency booking in a date for an operation all within 24hours of the accident!!(I don’t recommend flying on a plane with a recently broken bone… ouch!)
Tazzie Eggins took this just before my fall on Poppy - mind my chicken wings!!
I want to make an EXTRA special thanks to EVERYONE who helped me and looked after my horses as I was hightailing it back to Tasmania! Especially Georgia Spangaro, Will Enzinger, Emily Anker and Emma Price for looking after my horses and finding all my clothes and bringing them out to me so that I didn’t have to travel home in my dirty jods and butchered XC top (*Cries*)!! And I am so sorry Georgia and Meryl for leaving you in the deep end in the lead up to Adelaide and Lakes! Such atrociously terrible timing!!!
So there goes my plan for taking Sizzle to Lakes and Craters YR 1*! Which means I have missed EVERY SINGLE 3DAY THIS YEAR!!! AHHHHHH!!!! But I just have to grit my teeth and sit tight until I heal so I can get back over there and get straight into it again!
Until next time,
Alice 
