Chief Steward Andrea Webb saw the funny side of the weather this morning by dressing the snowman appropriately
When Christine Bates posted a photo of her horses in the snow on Twitter this morning while I was still toasty warm in my bed in Goulburn, I thought she was joking. Geordy Kennedy, organiser of the Baxter Boots NSW State Eventing Championships at Lynton, Goulburn also had a bit of a shock when she got up at 4:30am.
“It was dead still outside, unusually quiet, and I let the dog out – he came back in covered in big fluffy snowflakes and I thought – oh, oh....”
The snow was still on the ground late morning when we ventured out to the event. A few of the first horse trucks to arrive had already churned up the ground but Neil Kennedy, who first built the cross country course here in 1978, swung into action. By mid-afternoon a new access road into the horse parking area had been built but of course these unforeseen circumstances don’t help the budget of an event like this.
Several riders were out bravely warming their horses up on the slightly white ground but by the time the afternoon dressage was in full swing the sun was out and, despite some strange looking clouds in the distance and a very chilly breeze, it was positively balmy (well, not quite bikini weather but these little chaps seemed happy to play in the snow in shorts....)
A few horses seemed to find the nippy weather a bit of an excuse to not perform to their full and a couple of the grass arenas became slippery and boggy but, considering the morning weather, it was a good effort all round. Tomorrow several of the arenas are to be re-located before the second day of dressage starts
The dressage classes which took place today were the CCI 3* (sadly only five riders), the first section of the CIC 2*, the CCI 1* (seven riders) and the first section of the CIC 1*.
Rob Palm and Koko Black
Andrew Cooper and Guest of Honour
In the Baxter Boots CCI 3* Rob Palm’s journey from Victoria has paid off as he leads riding Koko Black on a score of 56, just 0.3 ahead of Andrew Cooper and Guest of Honour. Rob is also riding Visual Laughter in the CIC 2* and is currently lying eighth.
Charlotte Price, seen here riding Kinnordy Gambia in the CCI 3* is leading the CCI 1* on Dustman
In the Equitak Excel CCI 1*Charlotte Price is in the lead riding Dustman on a score of 48.3. Charlotte had a busy first day here with two rides in the CCI 3* as well.
The dressage continues tomorrow for the Baxter Boots CIC 2* but so far Shane Rose and CP Qualified (above) lead the field. Shane and the stallion are a recent combination but have been showing great form at their past few starts – he certainly has quite a lead currently on a score of 40.90 with Christine Bates and Delago in second place (46) and Rachel Lee riding Baillieu (50.40)
Tim Boland and Umunga
Similarly the Imax Gold CIC 1* dressage continues tomorrow but of the nine competitors who went today Tim Boland, recently returned home from his overseas sojourn with Billy Elliot, had one of his up and coming horses here today and is leading this class on Umunga (51.20)
Many competitors arrived later today and just had a quiet stretch of the horses' legs in preparation for competing tomorrow
Tomorrow also sees the dressage and showjumping for the EvA105 (Junior Pre-Novice and PreNovice),CIC 1* and CIC 2*. The EvA95 (Preliminary) classes have dressage and cross country while the CIC 3*, CCI 3* and CCI 1* go cross country and the EVA95 have dressage and cross country.
Hopefully the snow man will not be standing guard tomorrow when we drive in through the gates
