Darcy settling into Team Australia camp at WEG
If you’ve been following every horse-based multimedia lately, you would probably already know that my and Shane Rose’s grey (CP Qualified) didn’t compete in WEG or Burghley this year. BIG poop!
Mind you, the horse is 11, he’s fit, he’s strong and he has the best competitive years ahead of him still – so we’re not complaining that much. Just being over in Caen (pronounce ‘Con’) for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was amazing. With the calibre of horse and rider – it truly did feel like you were at the world’s stage of eventing and that’s just what it was.
Monet, French food and Versailles - all part of the tourist experience
This trip seemed to include it all: mesmerising horse and rider talent, the 20,000 seat sold out stadium, history, culture, an abundance of delicious foods! What more could you ask for?
The cross-country seemed to pull up a lot of combinations, and quite a few people on Facebook were questioning the difficultly of the course. Personally, I thought it the course was great! These are the WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES, it’s an event with the best riders in the world and they’re here to be tested to the best of their ability – so it is bound to be a difficult cross-country course, one would hope.
Talking about cross-country, did anybody else notice Australia was the only country to have their entire team to start the course, finish it without jumping penalties? That’s pretty remarkable, and goes to show the quality of riders and horses we have worldwide.
France became a trip to remember, not only because of the experience in the event and tourism itself, but what I left with it. It seemed to re-spark a very big passion I’d left behind over the past two years. Horse riders have set backs, that’s the sport, that’s life but with these setbacks also came a distance between myself and the competitive world – which I’d only realised after walking from Le Haras Du Pin post cross-country day. These riders are the best in the world, on the best horses in the world – and they were doing what they do best in front of 50,000 people on cross-country day. Not that the crowd was the important factor, but being able to say to yourself that you’ve developed such a great partnership with your horse, you’ve both worked and trained tirelessly for so long, with that one major goal in mind to be able to say ‘We’re here’. What an amazing feeling that would be.
Imagine jumping in fron of that crowd! Shane and Taurus
The feeling of complete freedom, adrenalin, excitement and passion of a regular cross-country course wouldn’t even compare to that at an Olympic Games, a World Equestrian Games, a Badminton, a Rolex Kentucky, a Burghley – the list goes on!
I’m fortunate enough to have some really lovely horses, even my 16yo off the track TB is a good competitor when we’ve trained hard. To be blessed with the young horses I currently have training now, and to wait for the two foals to arrive this October, the competitive future is looking very exciting.
Much to my father’s uneasiness, I’ve decided to put my full attention back into my competitive riding. I’ve always loved my horses; that’s never going anywhere. What’s about to happen is that the little girl’s dream of being like Andrew Hoy has been re-sparked. Many more Friday nights will be spent scrubbing away madly trying to polish gear, getting cold hands while plaiting up, coming inside around 10pm after you’ve worked, washed, plaited and packed after work or school/university, Saturday nights spent in a horse float or a country pub instead of a party, money earned being spent on new jodhpurs or horse boots instead of ‘regular human clothes’. But it’s these changes, and I guess you could say sacrifices, that makes the event and perhaps that blue ribbon even more magical.
It’s the hard work I miss the most – oddly enough. The jumping lessons in the stinking heat, getting up at 6am to take your horse to the beach in the summer, ‘sucking it up’ and putting trackies over your jodhpurs during the coldest winter days, it’s everything that may seem horrible to non-horsey people which are my most cherished; and I hope to see many more of them, and soon!
Happy riding 
