My last blog was before I had even travelled across the Nullarbor, late February to base in NSW for some time. If I think back over the last three months, I struggle to pick a time that I could’ve sat down and done a blog … aside from now!
It has been a very busy few months and I’m struggling with where to start. On March the 1st I arrived at Willow Park in Wilberforce to base at Matt and Christine Bates’ with two of my horses; Early Days and Love That Blonde. Based here during this time as well happened to be friend and competitor Jess Manson from WA with some horses of her own. We regularly have commented over the last few months that we should’ve written a book about our time away as we have encountered many disasters, hilarious moments, excitement, terror … among other emotions. I’m going to try and start from the beginning, not make it boringly long, and hopefully remember even half of the entertaining times we have had.
Personally, I had a stress free trip across to NSW which was great. Both horses arrived quite bright from memory, and we had a week to prep for our first event which was Scone CNC. Jess on the other hand … had severe break downs, (yes, plural) and had another trip east that I think she would rather forget! This was the start to the ‘adventures of Makayla’s and Jess’s breakdowns/car mishaps/tyre blowing saga’ etc. We managed to somewhat settle in at Bates Equestrian for five days before making the apparent five hour journey north to Scone. Which ended up taking me about six hours, and Jess about 10, after she blew yet another tyre and managed to luckily catch a lift to Scone in Fiona Hughes’ gooseneck!!! Whilst I was plaiting horses at 11pm Friday night before the event I distinctly remember thinking to myself; do I really want to be here? It’s so entertaining now in hindsight.
We managed to be successful on the riding front at Scone, bringing home some places for WA. Early Days placed 3rd in the CNC 2** and Love That Blonde 8th in the EvA95. This was a promising start to the campaign and I was very happy with the result. I did have a bit of an adventure on the Saturday night of Scone – visiting the Scone Hospital with Christine after I had a suspected spider bite to the hand, resulting in me having to have my rings cut off (and pray that my very fat fingers were less swollen the next day so that I could actually hold the rein!) Again, all part of the adventure.
Above: Early Days at Scone CNC. Photo by Main Event Photography
Over the next 6 weeks we managed to get very good at packing and unpacking our goosenecks (or should I say, shoving things into any space we could find and praying that we had some clean saddle cloths and boots somewhere in there, come competition time) Jess and I competed at five events in six weekends which in hindsight was always going to cause absolute exhaustion and quite a bit of stress. All part of the adventure though!
Five days after Scone we were Canberra bound and the ‘adventures of Makayla’s and Jess’s breakdowns/car mishaps/tyre blowing saga’ etc continued, this time for me. It would appear that my F250’s windscreen is in fact not invincible, as the ‘attack of the flying cockatoos’ highlighted. I was a mere 45 minutes from home when I hit a pack of white cockies and ended up with quite a badly smashed windscreen. It was a huge shock but I made it to the event without a problem which was my main concern!
Here I had Love That Blonde in the EvA95 and I think she finished about mid field after a naughty dressage test. Not a problem – we’ve got Berrima next weekend! I was starting to like the NSW eventing calendar and how often there are events! If something goes wrong one weekend, you’re almost guaranteed another run the following weekend, if you like. By this stage I had been having a few lessons with Christine and I felt both horses were improving in each phase already.
I think it was about this week that the ‘adventures of Makayla’s and Jess’s breakdowns/car mishaps/tyre blowing saga’ etc got even better, as I ended up with a $100 parking fine in Windsor due to (and I quote) “NOT STAND VEHICLE WHOLLY IN MARKED PARKING SPACE” … well I would like to see any normal car driver try and park my mini truck in a standard bay! Again, all part of the adventure.
The coming weekend was Berrima CNC where I had Love That Blonde entered again in the EvA95, and picked up a catch ride in Pronto E Allevamento in the EvA80. Both horses did a great job and finished on their dressage scores to place 7th respectively in their classes. I’m fairly sure that we had a drama free drive to Berrima which was a total shock, however never fear; stress was created when the skies opened up on the Saturday evening when we were camped at Moss Vale Showgrounds. Camping in lightning, thunder and even hail was not fun. As Jess commented that night; ‘this was not in the marketing brochure!’
That next weekend was our first weekend ‘off’ since arriving in NSW. Instead of relaxing and taking it easy like we probably should’ve done, after teaching for a few hours in the Bates Equestrian clinic held here on the Saturday, Jess, Rosie and I decided that it would be a good idea to hit the town, have a girls night out, and act our age! The next day I was totally regretting not cuddling up in bed with a movie and popcorn, whilst Show Jump Judging at the Bates One Day Event.
It was around this time that the ‘adventures of Makayla’s and Jess’s breakdowns/car mishaps/tyre blowing saga’ etc got even more heated after a day at Sandy Lucas’. During my time over here I’ve been lucky enough to ride for Sandy during the week. On this particular Wednesday afternoon, I had finished riding the horses and was on my way out down the driveway. There were a few pot holes in the driveway which had some large rocks in them, so upon merely trying to avoid said pot holes, I slightly over compensated. Think the photo says it all! Lucky that Jess has over here, an F250 and thankfully could pull me out. Oh dear..
Although it was nice to not have to pack up and unpack for a whole 2 weeks, the next weekend we were off again, this time to Albury CIC. It was great to have my boyfriend Aaron fly over during this weekend too. It made the seven hour drive south much more bearable and I had a good drive down, aside from stressing about the amount of rain we were having. Jess on the other hand … did another tyre on the highway. The ‘adventures of Makayla’s and Jess’s breakdowns/car mishaps/tyre blowing saga’ etc was still continuing.
After arriving at Albury and being greeted by so much mud that I thought the horses would sink into the ground over night … the event shaped up to be a super one. Early Days finished in 6th place in the CIC 2** and Love That Blonde upgraded to EvA105 here and came home with 7th place.
I even managed on the Monday/Tuesday afterwards to sneak away into the city with Aaron and enjoy feasting on some amazing food and a very lazy night in a nice hotel!
Above: Early Days waiting to show jump at Albury CIC 2**. Photo by Jenelle Christopher
The following weekend we headed north again, this time 6 hours to Quirindi. 50kms short of Tamworth and this had me convinced that I had just about travelled the whole of Australia to compete in horse events. A feat that I am proud of! Here I had Love That Blonde in the EvA105 and it wasn’t my weekend at all, and certainly one to put behind me. I was looking forward to the following weekend off to have some time to relax and re coup after a seriously busy month or two. With competing every weekend, working quite a lot on the yard at Bates, as well as riding for Sandy, I was pretty ready to have a day of rest! The following weekend provided this and it was a breath of fresh air before the big one - Sydney 3 Day Event!
That Monday after Quirindi, Jess and I got talking over breakfast that we needed something to ‘de-stress’ us. What better than a puppy! Literally, over breakfast, it was decided. We were getting puppies. They were going to be travel puppies to keep us company on our trip and then always remind us of our time away in NSW 2014. We headed straight to the Hawkesbury Animal Shelter where we picked out two beautiful 10 week old Border Collie X Cattle Dogs. The next day I picked up my little girl however much to Jess’ dismay – her mum arrived that day and despite our best efforts to convince her of the puppy adventure (including picking her up from the train station after flying in from WA and driving her straight to the shelter) she wouldn’t cave. So my puppy came home alone, most likely because I may have forgotten to tell my Mum and Dad. She became ‘Willow’, after Willow Park where we are living, to always remind me of my time here!
To add to this puppy adventure, unfortunately two days later poor Willow was trampled by a horse during the morning feed run. It was an absolutely horrible experience and we thought that my poor pup had died upon impact with the horse however after rushing her to the vet it is suspected that she was in fact knocked out. Three days later she was allowed to come home, she had been on a drip for two days and we have no idea how she survived and came away relatively normal, with only a fractured tooth and a blood shot eye. She is now absolutely healthy and full of life like a normal puppy and I’m having an absolute ball with her. Over the next few weeks mum and dad have found out about Willow, otherwise there is no way I would be commenting about it in my blog!
Above: Willow at Sydney 3 Day Event sporting her Schockemole collar and her Riviera Rug!
Easter weekend was spent lazing around the gooseneck and enjoying not having to do anything, as well as taking care of Willow once she returned home. Mum flew in later that week to help me at Sydney 3DE. I was very excited to see mum! And happy that she fell in love with Willow too.
Sydney 3DE is luckily just around the corner from us here, which for once resulted in us not having any car dramas on the short 45 minute drive. We headed in very late on Wednesday and unpacked our things into the stables. At Sydney I had Early Days in the CCI 2** and Love That Blonde in the Young Event Horse 5 year old class. Also joining mum and I was my best friend from home Caitlin Baptiste and her mum Jo. It was nice to have family back around! The extra support really makes a huge difference.
Sydney was another learning curve, Daisy got a 20 penalty on the challenging cross country course, due to a bit of green-ness on my part. I long to be able to make a split second change of plans when something hasn’t quite gone right but practice makes perfect! I was very happy with the rest of the event with Daisy and she ended up placing 6th in the CCI 2**. Love That Blonde handled the stressful and different atmosphere very well and placed 10th in her Young Event Horse class, behind some very well bred horses. I was pretty pleased with my little random off the track horse from down south in WA! Monday was goodbye to Mum, as well as Caitlin and Jo. Mum is heading back over soon though with Aaron, for Equestriad CIC and then to drive back home to WA.
Above: Early Days show jumping at Sydney 3DE. Photo credit Caitlin Baptiste
Above: Love That Blonde in the Young Event Horse 5 year old class – Sydney 3DE. Photo by Caitlin Baptiste.
We enjoyed last weekend off and now are in preparation for the upcoming event – Wagga CNC. At Wagga I have Early Days in the Combined Training 2** class, and Love That Blonde in the EvA105. I am looking forward to the weekend and hope it will be a great lead up to Equestriad which is the following weekend. All too soon this huge trip will be over and I still can’t believe how the last few months have flown by.
Including travel, in the end I would have been away from home for three months. This cannot be possible without a huge network of people and I feel honoured to be given the chance to publicly thank them.
First of all to Christine and Matt Bates – for not only your hospitality but for welcoming me onto your beautiful property and into your family, and for your generosity with opportunities given. I have been very spoilt also with the amount of coaching I have received from Christine and I think myself and my horses are going to miss that a lot once we head home. We will just have to get you over to WA!
To my sponsors who I am so thankful and lucky to have supporting me and my horses. Saddles Plus Saddlery, Spooks Riding, Kelato Animal Health, Fox United Building and Northam Auto Electrics.
To Sandy Lucas for the opportunity to ride so many horses whilst I have been here.
To Jess Manson for being such an entertaining ‘hummer’. But on a serious note for being a great friend – I have so many memories and we have had so many laughs.
To the team back home keeping the place running including my sisters Sam & Tara and also Tayla Cooper, and of course to Aaron for your understanding in my wild ideas of such a big trip and long time away.
To all of my clients at home who have sent me supportive texts whilst I have been gone – I’m always stalking the WA event results!
Mainly of course to Mum and Dad – Mum for working so hard with the horses at home but still finding the time to answer my phone calls of distress at various times and be my verbal shoulder to cry on when things weren’t going right. Dad for being the ultimate leveller at all times and always making light of the horrible situations I have found myself in!
And I wouldn’t be here without my horses. This is why we do it!
That’s all for now … three months worth of blogs squished into one. 2500 words … it’s turned out more like the book I was talking about at the start!
Till next time (more frequently)
Makayla X
