Finally I am competing again! Yea!
Sonja and Ben Pony at Melbourne 3DE
On the weekend of the 17/18th of September I took Nikki Brooks’ Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison (Ben pony) and Simon and Rebecca Bells Belfast Mojito (Mojo) to the Alcoa Fairbridge CNC. Ben pony was in the 3* and Mojo in the 2*. Ben pony was a good boy doing a 48 dressage to be 9 points in the lead after dressage. It is getting easier for him as my pelvis regain some strength and looseness. We then had a fabulous XC run. We were 5 seconds over time which is unlike us but he is no where near as fit as I would normally have him at this stage of the year so I didn’t push him I only let him gallop at the speed he wanted. Then a clear showjump round. Conditions for SJ were a little torrid the rain seemed to be nearly horizontal and the second jump blew over as I was about 6 strides away from it. The organisers very kindly asked if I wanted to wait till it cleared but as I said if it does that at London they wont give us the opportunity to start again so I used it as a training opportunity. So a nice win by some 15 penalties for Ben pony while Mojo was also a very good boy. I had to ride him before Ben so it was my first XC run since March. A silly stop XC as the jockey waited for the pain as I jumped down the drop into the water. I was pleasantly surprised to discover there wasn’t any but by the time I had finished congratulating my self on that it was a bit late to kick to the next element. Don’t blame the horse - that was real rider error however as I am not sore today either I am now confident I can ride XC again. So all in all I do feel so much better about myself now that I know that it doesn’t hurt, that I can still do it and yes it is still fun. In 2 weeks time we have Harvey CNC where both horses will run 3*. Other than that it was a great event. The Warren family basically drive it and do such a good job, while Alcoa are such great supporters of the event. They actually own the farm land we compete on and it is very scenic. Besides that life has been quite busy.
Mum and dad have gone to Europe for a cousins wedding. They so need the break after dad being unwell and mum having to run all the farms and look after both dad and me. Im certainly missing them but really pleased for them they are gone.
The other thing I have done recently is I went to the NSW dressage champs to help great friend Sharon Jarvis. Sharon is of course Australia's most successful Para rider and is now riding the imported stallion Showdown owned by my great friend and vet Michael Proctor. I must say I did realise travelling with dressage people is different to eventors. Eventers of course have very little spare room but these guys had so much room they even took the coffee machine! To have the room was amazing but to also have the time to use it. Showdown has only been in Australia since May and I was so pleased for them all with the way he went. Sharon won all 3 of his Para tests with over 70% but the thing that really amazed me was Showdown s work ethic. I have never been a warmblood fan as they haven’t seemed to have that work ethic I want in an eventer and so many of them are heavy. Showdown is really elegant and I was amazed at his desire to work and please. Knowing he has Gothard who I am told has bred a few jumpers on his dam line plus some TB I am going to put him over a stock horse mare I have and see what I come up with. Should be interesting. All up it was a fun trip. It always improves things when your rider wins but the four of us Sharon, Michael and Mat who works for Michael had a fair bit of fun as well. So in between all this its on with the farm work. I have managed with the help of friends to get most of the lambs weaned. Start making silage next week then the following week I can start getting the ewes classed up prior to shearing. Our stud advisor Anthony Archer of Norwood stud will be over so Ben boy and I will be very busy working horses and trying to get the sheep all classed. Luckily we had 15 mm of rain at both farms over the weekend. Home was looking good but Swindon our other farm needed a good drink. I would still like to see a couple of inches of rain though as we have had very little run off this year so dams are low. At least the stock all look really well. That always keeps a smile on a farmer's face. Anyway if I am to make it through tomorrow I had better get some sleep so till next time Cheers Sonja
