It’s been a busy start to 2015 here at Wallaby Hill. But before we dived into the year Will and I managed to take a three week holiday. We headed back to his family’s property in Western Australia where they are one of the leading producers of organic beef. The property is hard to describe really, given that they have more than 3 million acres spread over two places. The water run can take most of the day and there is always plenty of things to do! We did however manage some time just to chill out and relax. We made a quick stop in Melbourne on the way back to catch up with some of my family and also a certain eventing couple’s wedding. Then it was straight back into work.
There has been a lot happening on the new property next to Wallaby Hill; this is where Will will be operating his breaking and pretraining business out of. It will also become a major part of the new cross country course that Mike Etherington Smith is designing. So far they have put in a round yard, cross tie area, wash bay and paddocks with shelters. There has also been a large amount of moving earth around to make a lovely area for grass dressage arenas.
I’m not entirely sure what Alex thought she would be signing up for when she organised Mike to come and design the new course. Basically he was given free rein of the property and told to build where he liked. And he has done just that! I will warn you all now to expect a lot of ditches in the new course. It’s going to be very exciting to see the new fences go in over the coming months and see what challenging combinations they come up with.
Alex and I also set out on a mission at the start of the year to find some nice young horses to take on. We visited quite a few studs and came across some very nice horses which is encouraging for the breeding industry in Australia. Alex settled on a lovely filly by Rod Brown’s stallion Higgins. I took a little longer to make up my mind but when we saw Federico down in Victoria there was no going past him. He is a beautiful gelding by Fiderstern and I am very excited to get him up to Wallaby Hill and start working with him (we only finalised the sale today!)
Back to the horses here though and we are set for a very big year. Alex has her five horses in work and they are all being aimed at either Sydney or Melbourne 3 Day Events. Add to that her new horse that she has in the UK which she is flying back and forth to ride and our weeks are quite full. I also have my two horses, Capone and Yogi, in work and they are hopefully headed for Melbourne 3 day.
The Wallaby Hill event started off the year much how we ended last year with strong showing from all horses including Alex and Mumbo Jumbo who took out the 2 star. Alex and I also fought it out in one of the EA 105 classes with Alex and Bomber (Something To Talk About) edging out Yogi and I. Its game on for the rest of the year though.
Yogi and I stepped up to 1* at SIEC midweek and we put in a good showing in all three phases up until the part where I forgot to jump the last fence in the show jumping. There’s a lot to get through when everything runs on the one day, especially when you add a couple more horses to the mix. Although I know it happens to the best of us and I’m sure to do it again in my riding career I was very mad at myself for being so daft!
Capone also stepped up a class to the 2* after finishing last year with a win in the 1* at Wallaby Hill. He kept his head in the dressage which has proved to be somewhat of a problem at times. We took things a little slowly cross country but he jumped everything I set him at and didn’t touch a thing. Because we ran cross country before show jumping he was feeling a little tired. We cantered around the corner to a double of a large oxer to a vertical and as I sat up to balance he thought that meant trot. So we trotted into the very large, very square oxer and he just popped over it and out over the vertical! He has so much power and never ceases to amaze me his desire to not touch anything. We finished with a clear round and I was so happy with how he jumped. Now just to work on the dressage and we might nearly be there!
