Vincent with his owners, Heather and Alan Cato, along with class sponsor Neil Houston at Puhinui
Puhinui is becoming a happy hunting ground for me! I teamed up with the Cato’s Vincent at the weekend to win the CCI* this year, which makes it two years in a row and three for the Catos who won the class with Matthew Grayling in 2010 as well! I hope I am not becoming a 1 star specialist though …
Vincent jumping into the water at Puhinui … nice quarter marks Lyd!
My team was also on winning form on Saturday night at the rider’s party where team ‘Puss and Co.’ took out the mechanical bull riding competition in fine style. The team consisted of Kate ‘Katie Puss’ Wood (Team Captain), Campbell Draper (Individual male champion), Kelsey Rothery (Individual female champion) and myself (discard score L). It was a great social function and a lot of fun was had by all. Congrats to Hayley Pickmere for organising it. What a great idea.
TomTom at Puhinui (For Sale!)
After Puhinui it was time for me to head home to the South Island for the first time in a year (save for a quick trip home for one night for Dad’s surprise birthday party). It is usually a bit of a chore after a big event having to spend the next three days driving home but I really enjoyed it this year. Driving down the Kaikoura Coast has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world. You kind of forget that when you do it all the time. Lydia Beales was riding shotgun on the trip, which was great. It was very nice to have her back in action as chief groom at Puhinui although I was lucky to be able to borrow Jen Calver for the other events and she did a fantastic job.
On the ferry on the way South
Lydia and I had a fairly leisurely trip South and stopped off to catch up with some good friends and people I haven’t seen for a while. It was great to see some super young horses free jumping at Goldengrove Stud and I particularly enjoyed the owner, Paul’s, description of the groom’s pug dog as, ‘having a face like a melted gumboot!’ One of the best calls I have heard for a while. It was very exciting to see Janene Maxwell’s young horse ‘Zack’ who is 3yr old out of Incognito’s dam Flow Gate. He is being broken in by Jeff Hill and we jumped him in the round yard for the first time and he looks like a jumper to me! Janene’s father bred Incognito as a racehorse but once the mare had finished breeding thoroughbreds Janene put her in foal to some sport horse stallions and it will be really interesting to see how they end up. I hope they jump like Incognito!
Watching the cross country at Nationals with friends and family
Now that I am home I have some teaching lined up for the next few days then I am looking forward to a couple of weeks holiday with the family in Wanaka without a horse in site! Hopefully it will be a hot Christmas period like last summer. I will then have to remember what warm feels like for the next few months as I head back to the frozen north on the 3rd of January. I see they are predicting the coldest winter in years for England, which is not a good sign. Lucky the New Zealand Eventing team is sponsored by Icebreaker clothing!
Til next time
Clarke
