Hello everyone, WOW Adelaide was fantastic !!!!!
Mustang the Champ was placed 7th!!!!! Yay and I won an award for being the highest placed first time four star competitor!!!! The dressage was amazing! Monyana even beat Mustang! We were right up there in 4th and 6th. I'm so happy with them, and I was given a 9 for my riding from one judge, so that's very cool!
Cross country is usually our walk in the park phase..... not quite this time! Mustang and I had an unpleasant jump into the water which unseated me and we had to turn and reapproach the second obstacle in the water. With that mishap we flew around the rest of the course amazingly and ended up with minimal time penalties of 7.6. This unfortunately did put us back to 10th place.
Monyana the cross country machine was going so fabulously but one of the trickiest fence on the course caught Monyana by suprise a little and he tried to but in a stride in the bounce combination where there wasn't enough room but still bravely attempted to jump. Unfortunately I couldn't stay on the awkward jump and fell off!!!!!!
I immediately got up and was eagar to get back on and complete the course but unfortunately it meant we were eliminated. Mustang was fit as a fiddle the next morning and produced a great showjumping effort only adding 4 penalties to our score and claiming 7th position! A fantastic result which I'm very proud of.
I'm extremely happy with the performances of both my horses all weekend. Being the winner of the HSBC FEI Classics Training Bursary Award is also a great honour. It was awarded to me for being the highest placed competitor completing their first 4* event. Plans are being made for the future and we will be full steam ahead for next year's competitions and endeavouring to put us on the map for London 2012.
Big thanks go out to my great supporters and coaches who have been vital to my success, Mum of course who really keeps the wheels turning and comes to help every event. Jase who makes the horses look amazing! Tony who keeps me focused and handles the emotional highs and lows of the weekend!
The rest of the family who are all of great support to me Mal Byrne Performance Saddlery which has me use the best quality gear available. ThinLine Australia supplies me and my horses with fantastic back pads and products to keep my horses fit and well NSWIS who supplies great regular and competiton coaching assistance Caroline Twomey who I can't say enough good things about as a dressage coach Balranald Community who have really been getting behind me and my endeavours
All of your love and help is very much appreciated!
Emma, Mustang & Monyana Emma and Monyana set off on cross country
