Jonelle Price - on the up and on the go
Well this year’s big trip is finished, the long awaited Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is over, Burghley and Blenheim have been and gone and I even managed to squeeze in a day at Gatcombe. Now I’m back in Australia, battling jet lag and 100kph northerly winds at my first event back!
The eventing world never stands still and as soon as one event is over, another one rolls along, especially in the UK where multiple events happen not only every weekend of the season but mid-week too. The stamina of eventers never ceases to amaze me – and I’m not talking about the four legged ones. In my interview with Jonelle Price (who is on a roll that I think will only keep gathering momentum) at Blenheim she talks about heading to a competition the next day i.e. Monday, with the young horses. “It seemed like a good idea when we put the entries in” she smiled.
Jonelle and her husband Tim had just been through the rollercoaster of WEG, then they headed to Burghley only days later followed immediately by Blenheim. She certainly wasn’t complaining about their schedule but it really puts a top level eventing life into perspective. Not only does it take huge resources, physical and financial, to keep such a show on the road (literally) but an amazing focus and ability to move on, again literally and metaphorically.
If you have a bad day you just have to forget about it or you will lose the will to keep going. If you doubt yourself, you won’t be able to ride with the same intensity. If you get distracted by other issues you will not have the same focus. Sometimes there isn’t even the time to celebrate a big win
Spending time watching at close hand and talking to these elite riders is a joy for me. There is nothing in the world I would rather do; I find what makes them tick fascinating, their relationship with their horses absorbing and what makes the eventing world go round interesting. I too like the life on the road, being a bit of a wanderer from way back, and happily this all adds up to what I do as a job.
Some of my favourite moments at big events happen during unguarded moments. Watching the young Dutch riders’ reactions when they realised that they had won bronze in Normandy was just uplifting – they truly were amazed by what had happened and overwhelmed by their achievement; it was all a bit much for Elaine Pen who sobbed in her mother’s arms for several minutes (whether in joy or sheer relief, it was hard to tell) before the prize giving ceremony. On the other hand, their gain was another’s loss as Australia fell from bronze position in the show jumping. The look on Shane Rose’s face coming out of the arena told the entire story from the Australian point of view – all endings are not happy ones on the big stage but again you just have to be big enough to get over it.
So what’s next on the agenda? Well, once I manage to stay awake for 12 hours straight, we too roll on to the next events. Our video team has a busy time coming up at various events in Australia and we’ll be covering all of the events we can here in Australia leading up to the big one – the Australian International 3 Day Event. Over in the UK Libby Law will see out the season with our coverage of Osberton, Le Lion d’Angers, Les Etoiles de Pau 4*, Boekelo and a few special treats we have lined up
Stay tuned .............................
