What an exciting weekend Adelaide has been this year! Not that it isn’t usually, but this year the level of competition seemed to be much harder, the dressage scores were incredibly close and the cross-country proved to be very exciting (not always positive excitement for some).
Mum and I road tripped from Victoria this year as we had two beautiful horses competing in the CCI**** and the CCI** with two talented riders.
CP Qualified and Shane taking the crowd (and judges) by storm
Shane Rose has been competing, and now part owns our grey CP Qualified. Leading after the dressage on a score of 39.7 was seriously impressive for such a young and green horse at this level. Being a 10 year old warmblood, you can just imagine the amount of hours and work Shane has had to put into Darcy for him to be fit enough to compete in a 4 star, let alone be competitive! Though this is why we chose Shane for the ride, as he’s the perfect rider for Darcy.
Wyuna Clear Image and Rob looking smart for the dressage phase
Our other horse Wyuna Clear Image, whom I recently given the ride to Rob Palm (see past blog on ‘spring cleaning’) only had a mere 4 weeks of preparation for this event; the end result we were very delighted. Ace, being Ace, had a tense dressage test. Personally I was actually thrilled with his test solely because of Robs riding. I saw how tactful and well he was riding Ace, so I was (and still am) seriously impressed how he kept Ace’s lid on and received some half decent marks.
Wyuna Clear Image and Rob ready to go cross-country
Cross country day was a day of relief to be perfectly honest; I was so nervous!! Ace and Rob went out and just looked awesome to come home clear and under time. Darcy and Shane on the other hand almost gave me a heart attack at the first water! Because Darcy wasn’t quite looking where his feet were, he left a leg on the second part of the bounce and almost fell onto his shoulder. The few seconds of Shane falling, then landing on one side to then jump back in the saddle while Darcy continued was not a nice moment, but certainly a sigh of relief when all done.
CP Qualified and Shane flying over an oxer in the show-jumping
Show-jumping day didn’t end too well for either of our horses, but hey, that’s horses! Darcy seemed to forget he was show-jumping knocking down two rails to then realise what he was jumping and absolutely flying over the remainder of the course. Poor Rob had to deal with Ace’s feet. First half of the round was beautiful, but then for some reason Ace got tense and knocked down quite a few rails (I’m not 100% sure of the exact amount because once the second one went down I slumped back into my chair thinking ‘god damn it Ace’)
Both rider combinations looking a picture on the weekend
On the non-horse side of things mum and I had an absolute BALL this weekend. We were invited into the VIP tent with a 3 day pass and met Holstein Park Leilani’s owners, Jean and Herman, and their friend, Jenny. They were all just so much fun to be around during the weekend to ‘show us the ropes’ of horse ownership and introduced us to Chris Burton as well. Being able to move in and out of the stable block saying hi and good luck to the boys (four and two legged included) and having very interesting and well worth discussions of performance and future progressions with both Shane and Rob was really worthwhile. I won’t lie, I do love picking Shane’s brain on certain things and asking for advice for my own horses – he sure does know a lot and is willing to share.
Feeling like a VERY important person!
On a more personal matter; my 1* horse Touch of Honour (Drum) is coming back from a 6 month lease at the end of the month, and I have two very beautiful (and hopefully talented) young horses waiting to get started. Hopefully 2014 is going to be filled with a lot more riding, and many more competitions. So far I’m already planning on heading up to Sydney with all three horses in April, and then Camden in September on Drum. Right now my main focus is Adelaide. I know Drum isn’t a winning 2* horse, but we sure can train for this spectacular event and give it our best shot. After all, I’ve had him since I was 12, and he’s taken me from grade 4 Pony Club to 1* - so I think it’ll be pretty cool if we made it to Adelaide eventually!
Happy riding, until next time
Lil xx
