Winning a ribbon at our first event was pretty exciting
While my trip to London and back came to end at the beginning of August, Arvey finally made it home to us on Saturday after spending seven weeks in quarantine in both England and Australia. The team at IRT did a wonderful job of looking after him. He has come home lovely and fat and rather full of himself. He was very excited to get back into his paddock, bucking and carrying on like a 2year old. Even more excited was his best friend Moritz who couldn’t believe his best friend had finally come home! Every time Arvey moves he screams out and comes trotting over to the fence!
The two happy friends with Shane
Meanwhile back home we have been busy as usual. Normally the second half of the year for us quietens down a little with the racehorses, but for some reason this year we have been full all the way through.
The yearlings that we broke in throughout the year have now turned two and the official two year old races begin in a couple of weeks, which means that of these horses will head out to the official two year old trials very soon. The first of these trials were held earlier this week and we had a couple of graduates running. One of the fillies named Fiftyshadesofgrey won her trial, beating More Joyous’ sister Most Joyful. Its always fun to try and pick which yearlings we think will make it as racehorses and to follow them through their racing careers. Some of the horses are easy to pick, they just look like winners already where as some can be a bit of a surprise. We also try to keep an eye on the ones that we think will make good eventers. That was how we came across Il Vici.
I enjoyed riding Vici when he first started his career
Vici came to us early in his racing career for pre-training and was a stunning type of horse and very well balanced in himself. When he failed as a racehorse Shane contacted the owners and asked to buy him. I was lucky enough to ride him for the first 12 months and always knew he was going to be special. I even tried to buy him off Shane but he wouldn’t sell him to me! We had a very strong bond though and he was always so willing to do what was asked of him. He was unfortunately sold (almost a year ago now) to America where he is going well for his new owner.
I have had some very special relationships with some of the horses over the years. All Luck was probably the first. He was sort of the first horse I was left in charge of when I came to work for Shane. He wasn’t the top horse at the time but was on his way up and we became great friends. The time spent with horses in training camps for championships like the games is very intense and you learn every little inch of them and their likes and dislikes. They all have their own personalities and it’s fun getting to know them. I’m also fortunate enough to ride them at home. It’s hard not to have favourites but I think I have found a new one ... my new horse Capone.
It’s was hard to get him going with various interruptions at the beginning of the year but we have been busy in the past six weeks. We have barely had a weekend at home since getting back. We made our eventing debut at Camden a couple of weeks ago as well as a couple of show jumping competitions.
Camden was another busy event for us. While not quite as hectic as the event in May we still had over 500 entries and we are becoming one of the most popular events on the calendar. For us that means a hectic week in the lead up trying to work all the horses and then get down to help set up dressage arenas and courses. Shane also managed to sustain yet another injury, a torn groin, that has been giving him grief for a little while now. It didn’t slow him down too much though, he still rode five horses!
Capone and I were in the introductory class, which normally we would be condemned by Shane saying “Intro is for pony clubbers and grandmas!” but I entered before I told him what we were doing! He warmed up beautifully for the dressage and then as we went down to speak to the judge, the cows in the paddock next door decided to make a commotion, which was considered very scary by my little pony and so he was a little tense in the test but we were off to a good start.
Show jumping came next and as he finds jumping a little exciting he gave the fences lots of air! The cross country was always going to be interesting. I had only taken him schooling once before and if coloured poles were scary then logs were just going to eat him alive! The warm up was an eye opener for him also with horses going everywhere. He wasn’t sure which way to look and got a little excited. Once out on course though he settled down and got on with his job. He always makes me smile when I jump him because he tries so hard.
Capone gives one of the fences at Equestriad plenty of air
A lovely clear round meant that we finished the competition in 4th, not a bad start to eventing! Not to be outdone Shane won the 1star on CP Qualified and the 2star on Virgil. He also had three young horses in the preliminary who were having their first starts and managed to place on a couple of them. It’s hard not to get competitive with Shane around!
We headed off to Berrima a couple of weeks later but with not quite the same success. Capone and I stepped up to preliminary but the busy month we had was taking its toll. He had been a little tired all week and wasn’t quite his exuberant self. He still did a reasonable test and show jump round but the cross country he found far too scary, fence one and fence three in particular! Back to the training paddock for us, but its hard to stay mad at him because he’s just so cute.
Shane had a tribe of horses again with three in the 3 star and 2 in the one star. Virgil was having his first 3 star start along with Moritz and Corambo, a new ride for Shane. CP Qualified and Shanghai Joe were in the one star and once again finished first and second respectively. Moritz won the 3 star and Corambo was 4th. Virgil had a stop at the water but then jumped through beautifully. Not a bad effort given that he has only just turned seven.
The team is off to Mirrabooka this weekend, while I enjoy a weekend at home for a change. Capone has had a week off and is now back into work to get ready for Goulburn and Canberra. As I look at the calendar and see that its only eight weeks till Adelaide, another year has nearly passed already. Time flies when you’re having fun!
Photos: Thanks to www.maineventphotography.com.au
