Well the start of my 2012 season has come with a bang! With four horses in work at home, as well as working at the office and my largest client base so far (coaching wise) I haven't had much time to think or sleep!
It started of quietly enough in January where horses were still playing bareback at the beach although some proper work started up towards the end of the month. EWA held their annual Awards Night at Gloucester Park, which was a fantastic night. I was ecstatic and proud to receive the 'Sheila Cooke Memorial Award' for the 2011 season, which has really cemented my determination for this year! February saw WA proud to welcome Jon Pitts from the UK over to coach a large group of squad riders and I was lucky enough to have a few really super sessions with Jon on Just Corona. Jon is so thorough and full of knowledge; it was just a great experience. I then made a quick dash across to Adelaide with the gooseneck to pick up new mare to the team, Early Days. On arrival home I also attended a super Lucinda Green clinic as well as a W.A.Y.E.R Stuart Tinney clinic, which was amazing (as usual!) In the same month Just Corona was put on to the National Youth Elite eventing squad, which I am really happy about. We had an unusual amount of rain over the summer, but have been cheering all year so far because the paddocks are looking quite green (see below) and the dust is definitely reduced!
The month of March started with a small local Pony Club ODE with the two babies, Playing with Fire who ran 3rd in the introductory 1 and new ride Early Days who ran about 8th in the same class. WA graced us with a beautiful 41 degree cross country day - Yuk! Talk about putting the pressure on the young horses, but that’s WA though really. I was slightly dreading our first CNC of the year, which usually goes two ways 40 degrees and dusty, or torrential rain and flooding quite literally! However this year down south at Capel CNC we were very happy with a warm but bearable weather forecast. I had three rides entered; Just Corona in the 2* and the two young ones in the prelim, however in the week leading up to the event we saw the sale of Playing with Fire (little sob) So I was quickly down to only two rides. Capel went really well, Corona ran 4th in the 2* and Early Days performed well in all phases. Shortly after Capel I had a Jamie Coman clinic with Trumpet and Early Days and also managed to sneak in a cheeky lesson on Here Comes Murphy who, this season, is being campaigned by Deon Stokes. All horses showed massive improvements in each session, and it has given me a big confidence boost for my show-jumping to come.
Here is Early Days show jumping at Capel CNC in the prelim. Photo credit RedFoto
On Saturday 31st of March we packed the gooseneck up once again (I feel like I spend a lot of my life on the Nullabor) to make the trip across to NSW where I am currently basing myself at the Tinneys. With three horses on board it was a massive trip! It took us four days to get from Perth to the Tinneys beautiful property in Maraylya, NSW. The first three days went relatively well probably due to the fact that all of the horses on board had done the trip at least once before and really got into the routine: Drive for 4-5 hours then stop and have a leg stretch, eat grass (well, where they could eat grass as it’s not always easy to find some pick on the very dry Nullabor) and then back on board and repeat. However day four was one of those days where what could go wrong, did go wrong. At about 2.50am NSW time a horse went down on board (thankfully with only some very superficial cuts). A few hours later we were inches away from blowing a tyre on the gooseneck but thankfully 'Super Dad' came to the rescue. Then going through the Blue Mountains our brakes over heat! I can tell you that it is VERY scary driving down the mountain hanging off the handbrake and towing 1.5 tons worth of horses. Once again dad came to the rescue and thankfully he was driving when the brakes over heated because mum and I would have panicked. We parked up for a while until things had cooled down and eventually (after the longest 15 hour day) we pulled into the Tinney’s at about 7.30pm. Hallelujah!
Taking a break as we make our way across the Nullarbor ... miles and miles of NOTHING except the odd kangaroo, truck or caravan and limiated pick for the horses!
Since arriving I have settled in here to my temporary home for the next few months. Horses are all working and in great condition and I’m slowly learning the different and very thorough routine that goes on here. I’m learning new things every day and am really enjoying myself so far. In one week I am heading off to New Zealand with Just Corona who has been accepted into the 2012 Young Rider Trans Tasman team! Most things are quite organised and I’m working to maintain his fitness and confidence and fine tune some areas before heading overseas. I am incredibly excited to represent Australia alongside WA rider and friend - Ben Leahy, QLD girl Isabel English and VIC rider Juana Andreou. Hopefully in my next blog I can update on our success.
Til then...
