Love That Blonde enjoying some relaxation time at the beach after her super run at Brigadoon CNC
Photo by JG Photographics
Well it’s Christmas Eve and I came to the realisation that it has been a while now since I have written a blog … too long in fact, before even Adelaide 3DE! A lot to tell, however I will make it reasonably brief. With present still to wrap and last minute Christmas festivities to be held, the year is all too quickly coming to an end.
November commenced with the Brigadoon CNC event on the 2nd/3rd, which was the last event I would compete at in WA in the lead up to Adelaide. Here I had Early Days in the 2** Combined Training class where we ran through the test we would compete at Adelaide and then rode a show jumping round to the height. Thankyou very much to the committee behind running Brigadoon for allowing us to have this opportunity of practice. After this last ‘tune up’ I just about felt ready to compete at the biggest event of the season with Daisy, and we only had about 2 days of packing and 3 days of driving before we would get there! In the actual event at Brigadoon I had my young horse Love That Blonde competing in her first EvA95. She showed maturity beyond her years throughout all phases at the event and I was very proud of her considering that about 8 months prior to this she was still a racehorse. She competed for a 52 penalty in the dressage phase, a clear round in the show jumping and then a fantastic cross country round coming in clear and on time – finishing on her dressage score for 5th place overall in a tough field! She is showing a lot of promise for next year and I look forward to campaigning her hopefully to the higher grades.
We had 5 days after Brigadoon until we had to leave to make the journey across the Nullabor to Adelaide. Fellow rider and friend Ben Leahy and his horse Ollie were travelling with myself and Daisy on the way over, as well as partner Aaron and then mum and dad – talk about a squishy car ride, even in the F250! Leaving Friday, we had 3 days planned of travel to arrive at Kirby Park, Hahndorf SA on Sunday afternoon. The event was then to commence on Wednesday13th November with the trot up phase.
The horses settled in really well and we gave them some light work on Monday and spent a bit of time in Hahndorf being tourists and eating lots of German food. It was also great being able to catch up with a few of our South Australian eventing friends for dinner before making our way into the stables in the city on Tuesday. The excitement of even getting to Adelaide and unpacking is something to look forward to! Tuesday was a busy day getting the tack room organised and getting Daisy settled in before giving her a ride near the grandstand area. Little miss Daisy took a few days before she really settled in to being ridden right next to a major road and in an atmosphere as intense as Adelaide is. Thankfully I had pulled in a late dressage time which meant that I was going to compete my dressage phase on Day 2 of the event. The extra day of being able to ride her around would help out with her brain being able to cope. It is very easy to forget that she is only 8 years old and still has a long way to go with experiences like this one!
The trot up phase was completed on Wednesday with all of ‘Team WA’ sailing through. We had 4 entries in the 4**** competition, as well as 7 in the 2** - including 6 young riders. Smaller numbers for WA than the last few years but all good competitive combinations. The Young Rider teams were named and we had myself, Michaela Martindale, Emily Gray and Emily Early in the WA team, as well as Ben Leahy and then Luke Ellis in a composite WA/QLD team. The YR Teams event is an exciting one and I think we were all pretty competitive to try and win back that rug that had slipped away from us for the last 2 years!
Photo courtesy Petrina White
Friday was upon us and myself and friend Tash Krulatz who had come over to groom for me were up early to plait and prepare Daisy for her mid morning dressage test. She looked absolutely stunning and all credits must go to Tash as she did such an amazing job preparing the girl. There were a few small flaws in our test but nothing green or drastic, I came out of the arena smiling and at the end of the day that is the important thing. Daisy had had a good experience, kept her ‘knickers’ on and shown real promise for the future once we can just produce a little more movement and really go for those extensions, whereas currently things are still a little ‘tame’ and understandably the judges weren’t quite marking this for the event. A disappointing score in 64 penalties however with everyone in the same boat there was nothing to do except concentrate on the cross country course and riding that to the best of our ability!
After walking the 5km long cross country course about 4 times I can understand why everyone brings their bike to ride around and every year I find myself saying half way around the course ‘why didn’t I bring my bike…’, not that I am a very coordinated bike rider anyway! On cross country morning, I had the opportunity to be able to head out on the course and watch how a few of the tricky lines were being ridden.
Photo courtesy Emma Kalderovskis
Emily Gray and I headed out not long after the start just in time to see Heath Ryan flip into the water jump on his horse – ouch!!! Not such a great thing to watch as a competitor either! Poor Heath had some very soggy breeches however both horse and jockey were fine. The course at Adelaide was most definitely already taking its toll with many eliminations, falls and stops being posted on the board and with it being Daisy’s first Adelaide I didn’t really have much idea of how she was going to handle the different atmosphere. Weaving in and out of the parklands, down the lane ways, crossing the roads and jumping into the Rymill Lake. She felt good going out of the start box and through the first combination at 4AB, and then a little spooky over a few big ditches and over the first road crossing. All the while though kept galloping and trying to absorb what she was being presented with. However heading down to the lake for the first time she just couldn’t work out where to look and through the combination of 9AB just ran out of power and we unfortunately had a stop at the entrance of the water. I didn’t waste any time and after some use of the crop we had re-presented and she jumped into the water very well. In hindsight – I should’ve had the crop out earlier however as I said above, with no idea of what to expect it’s hard to be too disappointed with this. Early Days jumped around the rest of the course and made it feel like a pre-novice. She was on her game, became settled into a super rhythm and came home smack on the optimum time of 9 minutes. We were home safe and sound with a 20 penalty to our score and after accepting the initial frustration of such a simple yet costly error, I appreciated this result a little more. We had jumped up 14 places and after trotting up very well the next morning, would go into show jumping in 34th place.
The show jumping was another buzz of adrenaline and after Daisy jumped her little heart out for me it was one of the most incredible feelings having gone through the finish flags with just an unlucky rail down. The cheers from Team WA were so loud and we definitely were the loudest state – the commentator mentioned this numerous times! The support behind the riders just makes such a difference and is great to have. The show jumping of course proved to be very influential and after my round for 1 rail I ended up jumping up the scoreboard another 10 placings, finishing in 24th place overall, just nabbing 6th place in the Young Rider Championship and after an amazing competition; Team WA coming home with 1st place overall in the Teams competition. We had won a rug!!! As the joke became … “The M’s and Em’s” had won. This was another great feeling – the lap of honour with my team mates and friends. Hopefully in 2 years time Early Days and I can achieve a result back at Adelaide, this time in the 4*. Time will tell!
Homeward bound we were on Monday, this time with Michaela Martindale in the gooseneck with her horse Gus and we made it home for just after midday on Wednesday. This time, thankfully, another uneventful trip, well, aside from an unfortunate incident with an emu. Early Days went straight out into the paddock to enjoy a well deserved rest.
Photo courtesy Jenelle Christopher
Three weeks later, Western Australia was hosting the first ever ‘eventing exhibition’ like spectacular in the city called Eventing in the Park. EITP was a one day eventing like competition that incorporated show jumps, as well as cross country jumps and all had to be completed closest to an optimum time. Peter Hickson and the Hickson family were the masterminds behind this incredible plan that ended up being an incredible event to be a part of. Eastern state competitors even flew over to compete on pool horses including Stuart Tinney, Christine Bates, Megan Jones, Tim Boland and even Clarke Johnstone came from NZ. There were 2 classes on the day, the Grand Prix class (approx 1*/1.15cm) and then the Diamond Class (approx 1.05cm). I was originally going to have both Love That Blonde going (Diamond Class) and Early Days (GP) however was bed ridden with tonsillitis for a week and a half before the event. I managed to keep Daisy ticking over with work however that’s all I could do, so Blonde ended up having to be withdrawn. In hindsight this wasn’t a bad thing, as the course shaped up to be a very serious test! Although Daisy wasn’t too happy about more work and more jumping, being the honest and determined mare that she is she pulled through for me at the event. With only a small handful of rides since Adelaide, Daisy jumped around the tough track absolutely fantastically and came home with 4th place from 50 starters! Only to be beaten by Tegan Cook (WA rider – winner) and then Stuart Tinney then Clarke Johnstone. Not too shabby at all! Thanks to Horseland for sponsoring my prize with a $3500 saddle voucher as well as $500 to spend in store – what generosity and it was so exciting to win such great prizes.
The 2013 season was officially over. The horses are on a break, we had a few December 21st parties as well as festival season. I even managed a weekend away with Aaron living like ‘normal people’ without horses – a unique experience!
Aside from all of this, the only other news I have is that I made the decision upon arriving home from Adelaide to sell Trumpet, aka Just Corona. We had such an incredible 7 years together and he took me from a preliminary rider to giving me a few 3* experiences. I just couldn’t justify such a super horse sitting in the paddock and at only 16 years he has a few more years left in him to teach another rider a lot. Thankfully, the sale was made so much easier as I believe ‘fate’ stepped in and Trumpet found his new home with his Interschool Nationals rider, Jess Grant. If you check out my last blog you can read all about the fantastic job that Jess did with Trumpet at the Nationals, and I couldn’t have asked for a better home in the Grant’s. Trumpet made the journey over to Victoria at the start of December and has already enjoyed a show jumping competition with Jess where he performed really well. Congrats Jess, and I hope he brings you all the experiences and happiness that he bought me.
Looking back on 2013 there is a wide range of people I need to thank. My Mum and Dad who are probably my biggest supporters of all time – I couldn’t do it without you. To my sponsors; Saddles Plus Saddlery, Spooks Riding and Fox United Building – thankyou for being a part of my journey, and I am very excited and proud to also welcome on new sponsors for 2014 in Kelato Animal Health. To my coaches who have given me so much knowledge this year and helped me get to where I am today. To all of my clients including those who trusted me with their horses, and each of my students who reliably come week after week for their lessons – thankyou and congratulations on each of your own successes and bring on the next season. To Wallangarra PC who I’ve been with this year and was very proud to accept their ‘Coach of the Year’ award – thankyou for having me. To my vets and farrier Rob Smith for keeping the horses happy. To the team at home including Aaron, sisters Sam and Tara for their help when I’ve been away, and to Tayla Cooper and the whole Cooper family for being such super workers and caring for the horses. Most importantly to my horses. Each horse who has entered and been a part of my life has made a difference in some way and these time taking, money eating, emotionally draining yet incredible animals are why we all do what we do, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
See you next year, I’m off on the 27th December to travel around Europe with my sister Sam. We are away for a month and visit London, Paris (for New Years!), and then throughout Europe; Rome, Italy, Netherlands, Austria and more. Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Bring on 2014.
Makayla x
