Joe and Springvale All Black competing at Sydney International Horse Trials in 2013
On the day he was meant to be arriving in Adelaide to compete in the Australian International 3 Day Event CCI4* with Springvale All Black, Joe Waldron found himself announcing that he had decided to retire his ‘horse of a lifetime’.
On his Facebook page Joe says that “We have decided to retire him after what has been an amazing career spanning seven eventing seasons. Unfortunately after his final fitness session on Wednesday he pulled up slightly sore and after investigating further it revealed that he had aggravated an old injury and although he will be 110% sound after a short rest, we have decided that he has nothing more to prove as a competition horse. His 44 start career as a racehorse has started to catch up with him and I have always said his body will tell us when he wants to retire, unfortunately that has happened a week earlier than we hoped”
Although he has competed at Adelaide in the 2*, this was to be the pair’s first CCI4* start which would have been on familiar territory. Born in Otago, New Zealand Joe moved to Western Australia with his family as a teenager in 2006 and then honed his eventing skills while based with Australian International 3 Day Event Director Gill Rolton near Adelaide for two years after completing his schooling.
The fifteen year old Springvale All Black, who completed all 13 CNC/CIC and CCI 3*** cross country courses he started while only incurring jumping penalties on one occasion, will now spend his days in well deserved retirement
