It all began at Melbourne 3DE last year ........................ Photo: Toni-anne Collins
Okay so my last post was all about my first ride in a Three Day Event, at Gawler way back in 1975. Well jump forward 35 years and I am now at last just a week away from starting in my first Badminton.
It still seems a bit unreal that I am here, in England, just a few days away from heading in to the one event I have wanted to run at since I was 16. This has always seemed unachievable, too far away, too expensive, too tough to qualify for, not to mention needing a very special horse. For me, this all started to come together last year with a good run with Wild Oats at Melbourne Three Day where a third place in the CCI3* gave us good FEI points and a qualifying performance for Badminton.
You see Badminton is not like any other Three Day Event; to enter you have to finish in the top 25% of starters in a 3 or 4* CCI with zero XC penalties and then entries are limited to the top 85 on the FEI rankings. Our sixth place at the Australian Three Day Event in Adelaide in November pushed our world ranking up to 74th which meant we were guaranteed acceptance if we entered. Even then I didn't seriously consider it as an option due to the cost and logistics of getting there. I also had my family, work and our business Equine Health Science to consider.
However, a couple of weeks after Adelaide, Chris Webb from Equestrian Australia asked me some questions about my plans for 2014, had I considered going to Saumur, and this got me thinking. Well I wasn't too interested in taking out a mortgage to flying half way round the world to run in a 3* when we had Melbourne Three Day, looking like it was going to be bigger than ever, just an hour from home. But, what about Badminton?
The next couple of months were spent preparing and at the same time coming up with all the reasons in the world why not to go - too costly, too risky to travel the horse, too expensive, impossible to leave our business, too much money etc. but what it really came down to was the fear of failure.
I guess this is something most of us have to contend with but for me to get to Badminton, I was going to have to count on help from many, many people and of course that help is going to come with expeditions and so the need to succeed is so much greater.
So many people helped in so many ways to get us to Badminton
But then I though about it and in reality, just getting here is a win. If I get to ride the dressage test at Badminton and go out through the starting box on cross country, I will have achieved a life long dream. In doing so, I will hopefully help show that, given the right horse and the right path, anyone can do this. Yes, like me, you may need the help of many many people but, as I have found out over the last couple of months, there are many many people out there whose generosity is beyond belief.
We had intended to launch a fund raising drive during the summer and, just as we were about to, the terrible bushfires hit Victoria and so many people, including many fellow competitors lost everything. There was no way I was going to ask for financial help when others had so much more reason for it and I nearly walked away from the idea there and then. The pushing of close friends and family re-ignited the plan in March and both an online auction and a local trivia night were planned. Here I have to mention a few people, our friend Kate Huglin put in so much time and effort along with my wife Dani, to make these two events happen.
The first person I turned to for advice on how to do the auction was Heath Ryan, he just told me to really drive it as hard as I could and he assured me it would succeed and then without being asked he donated services to his two leading FEI dressage stallions. We were off and running. We then got offers from fellow riders Murray Lamperd, who went through a similar Badminton journey last year, and Chris Height both donating a six week schooling or breaking-in service, then Caroline Price and David Middleton both donated stallion services, then I got a call from a guy who I had never even met, Mark Steininger who runs Over The Top Equipment, offering a thousand dollars worth of show jumps!
These and many more offers of goods and services came in from all over the country. Nominate offered to host the auction and fellow riders Simon Tainsh and Adrian Bright happily agreed to host the local night. To say these events were a success is almost an understatement. They were both a huge success and I can definitely say they made the difference between us getting on the plane and not. I cannot say thank you enough to all those who helped run, donated, and/or supported us to where we are now. So, where exactly are we now and how did we get here?
Our actual journey started back on the 16th of April. Nat Blundell had come down to our place with Algebra to night before, our gear and feed was all packed up and picked up by IRT to go on a pallet. We chose to pay extra for this to ensure we had room on the pallet to let the horses get their heads down during the flight. There was just Algebra and Wild Oats on the flight, along with a plane load of cargo including four large crates of Nubean goats heading to Saudi Arabia.
Nat and I along with our IRT groom Pascale were the only passengers so we got the upstairs business class section of a 747 jumbo to ourselves. Once the plane was airborne we were able to get in to the horses and pull the chest bars and wall out and give them plenty of room and better air flow. We then were offered the crew beds to get some decent rest, even more room than First Class!
We landed at Singapore early morning and even though it was still dark, it was already warm and humid. We were then told we had to change planes and the new one wasn't expected for another five hours. Our pallet with us in it was uploaded and was going to be left in a humid storage area until ready to re-load but a very helpful local airport cop arranged to have us towed around into a covered area where he hoped a morning breeze would help when the sun came up. Unfortunately no breeze was forthcoming and when the sun hit it was bloody hot.
Six hours after landing, we were reloaded into another Jumbo and back in the air heading for our next stop Dubai. Our goats were still with us and while we found their smell overpowering, it did seem to have a settling effect on the horses.. We shared this flight with two enormous turbines from an A380 airliner and they only just fit, filling the entire fuselage. It was another eight hours to Dubai, another unload to make room for a Desert Storm Puma armoured car (that would make a great towing vehicle) and we were off again on the last leg…. at last, 35 hours after leaving home we were at Heathrow.
Apart from the time on the tarmac in Singapore we were lucky with the flights, they were all very smooth with no turbulence at all and the horses seemed to travel well. Nat and I had a quick detour through customs and then back to the unloading bay just in time to get the horses off the crate and be met by Chris Burton and his partner Bek Thompson….very happy to see them! Nat went on her way to Andrew Hoy’s yard and we headed south to Chris' yard in Surrey
I have to say here that Chris and Bek, along with their staff Rachel and Jade have been amazing to us. Nothing has been too much for Chris and Bek, they have put me up in their small three room converted barn home, given Cayla (Wild Oats) the best paddock and stable, made time for us with everything, included us in their lesson plans, yoga and fitness sessions, social functions and helped with every request. Whatever the outcome next week it will not be for want of anything in the last three weeks.
Having said that I will be happy to start cross country at Badminton and that I will see this as a major life achievement does not for one moment mean that is all I want. I believe I am fortunate to be riding a genuine world class horse and I know that if I do my job right, and luck is on our side and not against us, we have a real chance of doing well. My aim is to be jumping after lunch on Sunday, the time reserved for the top 20 and if we can do that then anything is possible.
However I am also realistic that in our sport things go wrong all the time. I am also aware that as an amateur only riding one horse a day I don't get the chance to hone my skills like the pro’s do. At Burton's yard I am watching Chris ride up to 10 horses a day, he jumps something every day and he competes multiple on horses every week. Of course his eye for a distance is going to be better than mine, his skill level more practiced, I just have to remember what has got me this far and not lose focus on doing what I do.
Hopefully my next post will be full of good news.
P.S. By the way, for those of you that read my first post, my second Gawler in 1980 was a bit better than the first. We ran 55 seconds under time to finish third and led Tasmania to its only National 3DE Teams Championship.
A great gallop on the most amazing uphill turf at Coombelands in Sussex!
