Poker Face (aka Harley) warming up for dressage at Lynton
When Alison told me that my next blog was due, I thought she must be mistaken (surely I only wrote the last one a couple of weeks ago?). But no, it has been some six weeks since my stint at Byron Bay, so it’s again time to fill you in on what’s been happening …
I’ve recently been involved in a 7-day hearing in the Federal Court in Sydney, as an instructing solicitor. It was a full-on, intense experience, although for me the pressure was more in the lead-up, rather than the hearing itself. Actually, much as I tried hard to stay attentive, there were times in the Court room where I found myself a little bored, so, being careful to maintain a studious, legal expression on my face, I would quietly direct my laptop to more interesting things, such as checking out the horses for sale on Horsezone, updating my website and booking tickets to Cirque du Soleil. My only real slip-up was when I clicked on the website of Eric Bibb, an amazing acoustic blues singer, to see when he was next touring here, and the opening chords of his latest single filled the Court room ...
While the hearing was on, I took the opportunity to run around Sydney early in the morning or late in the evening. It was pretty amazing running along the harbour, to the Opera House, through the botanical gardens and over the harbour bridge. I nearly always hear the beeping car of a farrier or someone I teach when I run in my local area but was pretty confident I’d be completely anonymous going for a run in the big smoke. But no sooner had I arrived in Goulburn for the NSW Eventing Champs the following weekend, that an enthusiastic eventing supporter hurried up to tell me that he’d seen me running on Elizabeth St in Sydney.
Harley and I jump up the step at the road crossing
After a chilly start, I really enjoyed Goulburn - not only because it was a well-organised, friendly event, and Poker Face (aka Harley) placed 3rd in a strong 2-star field, but because not a snowflake was in sight once we arrived. Unfortunately, Pharinelli didn’t compete at Goulburn, which he was disappointed about, and I found myself in the disturbing position of only having one horse at the event. I am on the lookout to buy a horse with genuine international potential, but haven’t yet come across the right horse (on that note, it you are reading this and have said horse sitting in your paddock at home, please let me know!). I was telling the mother of one of our promising junior riders about my not-enough-horses predicament, and she commented, in relieved tones, that at least I would have time to have ‘a bit of a life’. I interpreted that to mean ‘if I can’t find a boyfriend now, I really do have a problem’.
I am excited to have just picked up young Dempsey, (pictured above) a gelding I bred (by Don Duchovny). Dempsey was broken in a quite a while ago, and has since lounged around in a large paddock, gnawing on show jump poles and snacking on the brush on my brush arrowheads. Needless to say, Dempsey is sporting a rather portly figure. After my initial concerns that (a) I wouldn’t have a girth long enough for his bulging belly, (b) he wouldn’t fit into one bay in the truck and (c) he just might be in foal, he is going well so far. Whether he likes it or not, Dempsey is in line to be my next eventing star.
The plan now is to head to Canberra, and then Adelaide, where Harley will compete in the CCI2*. The only downside of competing at Adelaide is that it means taking Harley to gallop every fourth day or so in the lead-up, which is a pretty scary thought. Harley is not a horse that I particularly enjoy (or feel even remotely safe) galloping – if he isn’t hearing monsters in the surrounding bushes and dashing forward (or worse, sideways), he is hearing monsters up ahead and, from a full gallop, stopping, doing a 180 spin and running back the other way. My favourite part of those gallops is when my feet are safely on the ground at the completion of them.
Maso
Photo credits: Jenelle Christopher and Elysha Sargeant (Harley) and Kate Kerslake (Dempsey)
