It’s May, winter has hit early and the rains have come, so what better way to spend Mother’s Day than to travel with your 12 year old to their first EA80 event at the “Friends of Ballarat International Horse Trials” in Victoria. I must admit I was wondering ‘Why International?’ and my conclusion was that, as Ballarat is so cold it feels like you are in another country!
We arrived on Friday morning and were greeted at the gate by a very helpful parking attendant and the start of the drizzle and freezing wind. He had his work cut out for him to fit the large number of floats/trucks and 423 competitors in such a small space but they managed. We were excited to be there and found the venue well organised, very friendly and beautifully presented.
Classes for the weekend ranged from EA80 through to 3*, including some Interschool sections, the EA80 Interschool class alone had a whooping 37 competitors, so running it over the three days was the only way they could get through everybody. Things were humming along nicely though with some EA80 and EA95 dressage and EA80 showjumping on the Friday.
The showjumping course looked fantastic with lots of color and fill, much to my horror, as our trusty steed is not so trusty when it comes to spooky stuff but the course seemed to ride beautifully, and was open and flowing.
Saturday dawned and the place was buzzing and we were pleasantly surprised to have got through the night without freezing to death, Ballarat had put on a warmer than usual night! Today brought the remainder of the dressage for the higher classes, more showjumping and the EA80 cross country.
What a fantastic cross country course, the jumps were well built, the going was great and there were enough questions without being unkind to the inexperienced EA80 riders. I didn’t get to walk all the different levels but what I did see was impressive however a certain brush fence looked extremely daunting until thankfully the brush was cut down to size.
Again things ticked over beautifully as riders left the start box and the well placed mound in the centre of the course allowed a perfect vantage point for spectators, commentators and nervous parents. The only frantic moment for us was when I received a phone call back at the start asking me to warn the kids that the fountain was on in the water jump, interesting addition, but it didn’t seem to cause too many problems.
I just love the relaxed atmosphere around Equestrian Victoria competitions. So relaxed in fact that a friend had a visitor during her dressage test on Saturday, a dog that thought a Pas de Deux would make things more interesting. Luckily for the dog’s owners it picked a person that has a great sense of humour, the dog was called back and the rider just continued on her merry way.
So two days down, one to go, and with 15 layers of clothing we braved the second night…..
Sunday morning, what can I say other than we may have got a little wet as it was bucketing! The showjumping arena was under water, the cross country course was under water, the cross country warm up was just a mud puddle but eventers are tough or maybe slightly crazy as onwards they soldiered, no one complained, just put a coat on and braved it out. As we were finished we were luckily able to pack up and head out for civilization by mid morning but the weather did clear later on for the higher classes and another great weekend came to a muddy conclusion.
Congratulations to all competitors who braved the conditions and well done to the committee for a super event, can’t wait to come back next year!
Article by Deb McLeod
And in the higher level classes, Andrew Cooper had another good event this season with a win and third place in the CIC3* (Black Crest and Evergem Perfection) plus a win in the CIC1* on Fairbanks Cappucino. View the Full results here
