Matthew Constance (above) wasn’t a name we knew when we checked out the entry list of the CCI2* at the recent Sydney International three day event. So after watching his dressage test on Alchemist we caught up with him to find out more …
Where are you based?
Tamborine, Queensland
How long have you been riding?
Forever … or at least for a long time
Tell me something about your eventing background
I used to event throughout NSW in my teens and then when I was 17 I moved to England and worked for Bill Levett for a year or so. After that I spent some time riding dressage horses in Germany. I spent quite a few years spending time over ‘there’ and over here
After doing dressage what got you back to eventing?
I did my coaching exams in UK (I am a BHSII) and after that I got a job with Pippa and William Funnell – so back to the jumping side of things. While I was there I competed and worked their horses which was really good but eventually I got a bit fed up not having my own horses so about four or five years ago I came back home and started the struggle of getting back into Australian eventing.
Matthew trots up Alchemist at Sydney
Tell me a bit about Alchemist – the horse you are riding in the CCI2*
He’s a horse that came from the Oaks Stud in Queensland and never quite made it onto the track in Toowoomba. He’s a bit of mystery because there is no record of him anywhere, not even in the TB stud book so I don’t really know a lot about him. I bought him on one of my trips home when I was going back and fourth to UK, so his work has been a bit all or nothing. We’ve had a few hiccups along the way but I’m hoping to get a 3* start on him this year.
Were you pleased with the dressage test you did today?
I was pretty happy with it. He’s a fairly plain Thoroughbred so that probably doesn’t help things. Some things could have been better but on the whole I’m happy.
How are you expecting the cross country to go?
We haven’t had a cross country penalty this year so hopefully it will go well. We had a fall at Camden a couple of years ago and it’s taken a while to get his confidence back when it comes to water but I think it’s sorted now … here’s hoping anyway.
Do you work with horses full time?
No. I wish I could do horses full time but I don’t have a wealthy benefactor so I have a full time job working in a construction business. I also do some breaking in and coaching on the weekends so I keep pretty busy.
How would you sum up eventing in Australia?
If you want to event you have to work extremely hard to make enough money to be able to do it. It’s certainly an uphill battle. You have to make sacrifices to do this sport but I think, or at least I hope, it’s worth it at the end of the day.
Sadly Matthew had a run-off on cross country day at the skinny fence coming out of the second water but never-the-less completed the event so we will we keep a look out for him in some 3* events later in the year.
