Equitana - four days full of all things horsey; clinics, competitions, demonstrations, games and shopping. It is a time where equine enthusiasts from across the board come together in pursuit of one shared passion. Special guest Mary King stepped into the Demonstration Areas on two days with some very capable riders helping to present some of her training theories and in the Sunday Training for Eventers session she ‘walked the walk’ as well as talking the talk.
The horse she rode in the Masterclass was ex-eventer GV Top of the Line, who was also her mount for the fun Jump and Drive competition, won by Megan Jones. Riding Kirby Park Allofasudden Megan competed in the Jump and Drive as well as the Exhibition Eventing final.
The riders in the Final were all well known eventers who had either won qualifying rounds or had been awarded ‘wild cards’ so that the crowd could have the fun of watching some top class riders such as Olympic medallists Megan Jones, Stuart Tinney and Shane Rose along with top Victorian eventers Will Enzinger, Katja Weimann, Seumas Marwood, Amanda Ross and Rob Palm, Australians Paul Tapner and Sam Griffiths visiting from their UK base and NSW based riders Rachael Lee and John Twomey. Some rode their own horses, some rode ‘ catch rides’ and some rode horses they are taking to Australia’s biggest event – the 4* Australian International 3 Day Event, so the field was varied and interesting.
However it was Exhibition Eventing star Shane Rose who won the Final, as he did last year. Riding Virgil, Shane rode a clear round including the 1.45m Joker Fence to finish just ahead of Seumas Marwood and Wild Oats
Heath Ryan won the Grand Final Dressage and Alison Rowland the Grand Final Showjumping
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The eventers then went from Melbourne city centre to Adelaide city centre. This unique venue for the Australian International 3 Day Event in the Adelaide parklands is bang in the centre of South Australia’s capital city. Ironically, after such a wet year in the UK and Europe, the only problem in Adelaide was the forecast high temperature for cross country day. The course was shortened very slightly and the day, although hot, was not as bad as forecast but it was still a tough course for both the large CCI 2* class and the smaller CCI 4* competitors.
Craig Barrett riding Sandhills Brillaire (above) was the popular winner of the 4* class; he took home not only the HSBC 4* title but also the HSBC Training Bursary as the top placed first timer. Will Enzinger has had a great 2012 on several of his horses and he topped the year off by winning the CCI 2* on Flowervale Maserati (below)
As well as the main competitions, we had William Fox-Pitt on hand as the visiting HSBC Ambassador. We watched William’s Masterclass and caught up with many of the UK based Australian riders who were visiting their home 4*; Sam Griffiths, Paul Tapner, Chris Burton and Clayton Fredericks were all there and having a good time. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Megan Jones retired Kirby Park Irish Jester, but of course showed he was still in great form by doing a few last jumps on him in the main arena.
We also chatted to Catrin Norinder, Head of Eventing for the FEI and many of the riders competing while Libby Law captured all the action on camera.
Berrima Horse Trials played host to the last event of 2012 in NSW and in typical Berrima fashion the weather ranged from a roasting 35 degrees on Saturday to a almost chilly 18 degrees on Sunday. But the changeable weather certainly did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the 300 or so riders who made their way to the Southern Highlands of NSW for the weekend. The event ran classes from EvA60 up to CNC* with Heath Ryan taking home the winners rug in the top class riding Aspire R (above)
CLICK HERE for our November coverage of Berrima
To relive photo memories from all events in 2012 CLICK HERE
Coming up in December; the very popular Lakes & Craters is the final event of the year in Victoria while New Zealand has its last event at Puhinui and the Christmas glam and glitter is always great at the London International Horse Show at Olympia
