Sonja and Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison (Ben pony) Photo: Toni-anne Collins
The thing about being mostly recovered from the broken pelvis is that I am now doing heaps of stuff to tell people about. The problem is I have no time to actually sit down and write about it so here is one heck of an overdue blog. Obviously the most significant thing of late on the horse side of my life is being Australian eventing’s perpetual bridesmaid at the Deloitte Australian International 3 Day Event at Adelaide. Simon and Rebecca Bell’s horse Belfast Mojito ran 2nd in the 2 Star class while Nikki Brooks’ wonderful Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison (Ben pony) finished 2nd in the 4 Star class. Two second placings may be a little disappointing but when you consider I have only been back competing for 8 weeks, it’s not too bad! Basically Adelaide was fun. We were lucky with the weather and the course was super. It was so nice not to have to hack miles to the competition area (particularly for my grooms) and both horses felt super - especially Ben pony who made it feel pretty straight forward and has no idea why people weren’t making time. The other thing that really helped was my wonderful team. Rebecca Blyth and her husband Jeff farm about 15km down the road from us at home in Western Australia (WA). Bec is a laugh and was just fabulous, while one of the ponies’ favourite people, Renee Wolfe, also came. Renee massages the boys (boy ponies, that is). My only complaint is - where were my daily massages?
Sonja and Wayne hug after XC
Wayne Roycroft also came along to help with all three phases. He may no longer be the Australian National Coach but, after a pretty stormy time when I first broke into the Australian team, I now find him great to have at a competition as I can really trust him. He knows not to overload me with info. Wayne also helped many of the other WA riders including Makayla Wood who won the Young Rider 2 Star Class. The horses pulled up well and are now with Ben boy down at Camperdown where Barry and Lynne Roycroft are kindly putting them up. Ben ponywon’t start at Camperdown but Mojito will run in a 3 Star class. Meanwhile Ben boy will go CIC*** and Jess Manson will do the CCI*** class. While they have taken the horses down there I have ducked home for a week to finish shearing the sheep on our farm. I will head east again next week.
Dressed up and ready to meet the Queen
Prior to all of this, life had been pretty busy too. Without doubt one highlight was attending the reception at Government House for the queen when she was in WA. What an amazing presence she and Prince Phillip have. Just to add to my challenges I also attended Equitana Sydney with Europa Saddlery which meant poor Ben boy and Bec Blyth had to drive the truck over while I just flew in to join them at Adelaide. It was great to catch up with the Mitavite and Equivibe crew. All three companies do so much for me and my horses. I also had competed in two One Day Events; a CIC*** at Brookleigh Estate which Ben pony won and a CNC*** at the same venue which Mojito won. Then a CNC** at Brigadoon which Mojito won as Ben pony had to go very slowly as he was getting a bit cocky. I well know with him that, before an event where you want to go really fast, you do a run that is really slow just to install some discipline. Other than that I had a couple of great clinics at Brookleigh with Peter Shaw, a trainer that Brookleigh brings over to WA about every six weeks. Being an ex-school principal he is a trained educator and is so focussed on having the horses soft and happy but very greedy in the stride. He is also well able to cope with my bizare bits of wrecked body. Being an A level judge Peter is also trained to know what it has to look like in the ring. Sometimes I’m not sure coaches have that picture. So, must away as so much to do it's crazy. 2,000 sheep still to shear, the hay to cart, fences to fix and that is just this week! Cheers Sonja
