Arvey will soon be back at Bimbadeen Park
Well the last 6 weeks have been some-what of an emotional roller coaster ride at Bimbadeen Park. The excitement of being selected and getting on a big plane to fly halfway around the world; The thrill of being back with the Aussie team and working with people all with the same aim of winning a Gold Medal and then the devastation after being vetted out. But let's start at the beginning!
Our trip began very early one Tuesday morning when we were picked up by a transport company to begin our trip to London. Arvey, (Taurus) Shane and myself were all packed and ready to go. The truck arrived with our fellow travellers; Billy Elliot and Jess Grossman (Billy’s groom) Tim had opted to fly down as there wasn’t a whole lot of room in our little truck. I was a little concerned when they opened up the truck to reveal that Billy’s gear took up nearly the entire back of the truck and then a little relieved as I thought I had packed too much for Arvey!
After everything was finally loaded we all squished in the front and headed on our way to Melbourne. We were to meet up with the third member of our travelling team Megan Jones and Floyd aka Allofasudden. We stopped over night at a transfer station about 20mins from the airport. Denis ‘Bear’ Goulding met us there and did a final check over of the horses to make sure they were healthy to fly. We also had our first glimpse of media frenzy as the horses paraded around for Foxtel and Channel 9 reporters.
Arvey and Billy waiting for their plane to London
The riders had opted to fly with the horses so fellow grooms Kate, Jess and I headed to the airport for our flight to London. We were all getting very excited by this stage and were over the moon when we saw that our plane was one of the airbus A380’s! However after over 24hrs we were well and truly ready to get off!
We landed at Heathrow at five in the morning and jumped in a car to head off to our training camp. The idea of flying the grooms first is so we could get everything set up and ready to go before the horses arrived. They were scheduled to land at about 4pm and get to us around 9pm. Our camp base was The Unicorn Trust Equestrian Centre, a lovely establishment in the Cotswolds region near Stow. The three of us were very quickly taken under the wing of the manager, Sydney, and her offsiders Fran and Kate. The property was beautiful with a massive indoor and outdoor arena as well as 14 stables that attached onto the indoor. This came in handy when it rained for the first week! At one end of the indoor was a conference room and kitchen/dining area. Fran was our head chef and it’s safe to say that we all put on a few kilos thanks to her fantastic cooking!
The horses turned up bright and excited, no doubt happy to be out of their confined boxes. The riders on the other hand looked a little weary from their travels. Fortunately we had prepared them a hearty meal of spag bol and garlic bread so with full stomachs they headed off to bed while we tended to our wards. All three horses travelled well but it was important that we monitor their temperatures and kept a good eye on how they were eating and drinking.
The next morning we took them out to the paddocks for some green grass and fresh air. However Arvey took an intense dislike to the flys, so we had to pick our time to take him out to eat so he wouldn’t get attacked by them.
With only one horse to ride each and no one else around for the first ten days the riders were rather restless so after acquiring a couple of cars we headed off to do some sightseeing. Tim, Jess and I headed into London one day to deliver some documents to the EA hotel and took a quick trip on one of the big red buses to check out some of London’s iconic landmarks. We also managed to check out quite a few of the local pubs!
Bill and Ben!
Joining us in camp were Prue Barret - our fearless leader, Rob Hannah - Chef de equipe, Brett Mace - the money man, Brett Parbery - dressage coach extraordinaire - Gilbert Boekman – show jumping coach, Pottsy and Bear - our wonderful team vets (aka Bill and Ben), John Pitts - the video expert and general go to man and Vic Kahn and Narelle Stubbs our physios! Michelle Battams also joined the team when they moved into Greenwich and Lauren Ryan was our media liaison. Of course there were the other team members and grooms, Chris Burton and Lizzie, Andrew Hoy and Alex, Clayton Fredericks and Lisa, Lucinda Fredericks and Ems and Sam Griffiths and Mouse.
Inspecting the dressage arenas - Pittsy, Bear and Shane
We organised some team bonding including a night of Charades and Celebrity Heads, a trip to Worchester jumps races, a coin tossing contest and a talent quest! There were many hidden talents unearthed that night but we all swore to ‘what happens on tour stays on tour!’ There were also a good supply of sporting equipment to muck around with. Most evenings ended with a game of indoor cricket or touch footy. Andrew was trying to desensitise his horse Rutherglen to noise and so joined us in the arena one night. It wasn’t long before cricket balls were flying over his head and he was completely un-phased by them!
Showjumping practise
Arvey was working well and had settled into London time without a problem. We visited a nearby property called Rectory Farm to jump a couple of show jumping courses and we were also heading out every four days to do our gallop or fitness work. We were lucky enough that one of the local racehorse trainers offered us the use of their tracks. The track was an all weather track similar to the surface they used in the main arena at Greenwich and the view from the top was spectacular! A local property also held a dressage day for teams to run through the 4 star test where the Aussies were joined by the Japanese, Irish, Americans and one lonely Kiwi. It was good to get out and practise and also for us grooms to get some practise on our plaiting!
Arvey galloping after the racehorses
We were to have our final trot up for the vets and Prue on the Sunday morning before moving into Greenwich on Tuesday. We all went out one by one to trot up. They use this trot up to check and make sure that the horses are 100% right to compete. Arveys turn came and as they headed off we could see that something wasn’t quite right and as Shane got to the end his shoulders slumped as we all realised that this dream that we had all worked so hard towards was slipping out of our fingers at the last minute.
After a 20 minute chat with management, giving us all time to compose ourselves we headed back inside. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone until a replacement was chosen and the press release made so I headed straight out to the paddock with Arvey to avoid the other grooms and any questions as to why we had bloodshot eyes. I was devastated. It had been a long 18 months to get this far and for it to fall to pieces days away from the games was shattering. But Arvey was clearly unhappy and it would not have been fair on him to ask him to push on any further. I really felt for Shane who had to get on a train to go into London and do his press conference before his accreditation was stripped and he was no longer welcome in the village. It really is quite brutal how as soon as you are out you lose all accreditation and access to any areas within the compound.
Everyone within the camp was crushed after hearing the news and were all very supportive. Living together for the past week, we had become an over sized family and the camaraderie amongst everyone was fantastic. Brett Parbery was appointed the task of looking after Shane and I for the night as we tried our best to drown our sorrows.
The team - before it all went wrong
Things moved by in a bit of a blur after that. One minute we were getting ready to head into Greenwich and then we were in limbo unsure of what would happen. Shane headed off home as soon as he could. He doesn’t like to sit still at the best of times and he had Niki and Olivia to get back to. The team packed up and headed into Greenwich. It was very sad to see them all go. Arvey and I headed off with Billy, Jess and Tim - they would be staying on for Burghley while Arvey and I waited to go into quarantine. We moved to yet another picturesque stable in Surrey this time. It seems that all the yards over in England are beautifully set up. Here we got the horses settled in and waited for the games to begin.
As part of a back up plan for the team, Billy and Tim were required to drive into London the morning of trot up in case there was a problem with one of the team horses. Arvey and I went along for the ride to keep Billy company but that would be the closest that we would come to Greenwich Park. For our troubles Equestrian Australia managed to secure tickets for us so that we could go and support the team.
I was keen to head home so once Arveys quarantine plans were sorted out I headed back to Australia. I arrived home to find that Shane was more determined than ever with his riding and had brought every horse back into work on the property - except for the broodmares! I was looking forward to finally being able to put some work into my own horse who had been worked intermittently between our gallivanting around the globe. And it’s been full steam ahead ever since, with jump club and show jumping competitions and now getting ready for the second Camden (Equestriad) event for the year. Capone will be having his first eventing start and he is showing a lot of promise in the jumping although he thinks water is a little bit scary!
Arvey flies out of London on the 30th and will then do two weeks of quarantine at Eastern Creek before finally making it home to his paddock. His injury was minor and he only needs a month off but given that we have pushed him hard for the past two years he has earned a holiday and will have the rest of the year off before coming back bigger and better. This can be such a hard sport at times but we will be back to fight another day!
Next time ....
