Soigne pops out of the water with her 'hot headed red horse' Gold
As I watched Soigne Jackson and Gold boldly jump a fence on the Berrima CIC3* and gallop onto the next one I was reminded of what eventing is all about – the thrill of the chase … so to speak. The thrill of both horse and rider working out what is needed to clear each fence and the joy of galloping in between fences.
“I just love it,” admitted Soigne after she had collected all her prizes for winning the Saddleworld Mittagong CIC3*. “Gold is an amazing horse to ride and it’s made all the better by knowing that since I got him off the track at age seven I am basically the only person who has ridden him and that makes it pretty special.”
To hear Soigne had to say at the prize giving click on the video below and to here what else Soigne had to say about her Berrima weekend CLICK HERE.
Sadly only three riders took part in the 3* class, Jade Findlay rode two horses, Frontier Psychiatrist and Bloomers Twinkletoes in to second and third places respectively while Emma Mason and Poker Face retired on the cross country course. “He just didn’t want to play today,” said a disappointed Emma who will no doubt work out the reason for Poker Face’s lack of keenness and be back in amongst the ribbons soon.
With two horses to ride Jade Findlay literally jumped off one onto the other and although they were both over the optimum time on cross country they both looked to jump well. To watch Jade through the 3* water on Frontier Psychiatrist check out the short video below.
Shane and CP Qualified
It was a good weekend for Team Bimbadeen with Shane picking up a win in the Animal Company CIC2* riding CP Qualified and a second in the Foxhill Farm EvA on the appropriately names Fantastic Mr Fox. Meanwhile Niki (Rose) took home the winners rug in the Equessentials EvA95 riding Riverside Krissy. “I had a great draw this weekend,” Niki told us. “Shane had ridden five horses this morning before I had even had to jump on my one so I was pretty happy about that.” Shane was managing to ride despite having a somewhat swollen foot after being trodden on a couple of weeks ago. “I don’t think it’s broken,” said Shane smiling “because we got the vet to have a look at it when he was round the other day – we tend to ‘do vets’ rather than doctors!”
Little Olivia Rose enjoys some 'daddy time'
Judith Clarke and Diablito blitzed the rest of the field in the Centennial Vineyards CIC* leading from start to finish on her dressage score of 38.5. Hamish Cargill, riding Starburst, remained second behind Judith throughout the weekend while his girlfriend Annabel Armstrong won the Foxhill Farm EvA105 on board Windouran Buddy. At the 1* prize giving Shane Rose tried to persuade sponsor Mark Dowling from Centennial Wines that Annabel was far to young to be given a bottle of wine and that he would be happy to take it off her hands! Luckily Annabel reassured Mark she was quite capable of accepting his wine!
Annabel (Bols) Amrstrong holds on to her prizes
This is the first time that Mark has come on board the Berrima event as a sponsor although he has been coming to Berrima for several years as a dressage judge. “I’m delighted to be able to support such a lovely event where everyone is so friendly. I spent the day judging dressage yesterday, which is always fun and today I’ve been here watching the cross country (not sure I’d ever be brave enough to jump those fences) and then handing out prizes. So all in all a great weekend.”
Andrew Barnett won the Highland Drilling EvA105 class riding Bravitude and also took out a win with Bradgate Park Dante in the Horsewerks EvA80. Watch out for an interview we did with Andrew later that we will put up later in the week where we find out why he has made the transition from show jumper to eventer.
There were several happy riders in the Prydes Feed EvA95 class where the placegetters all walked home with a bag of great feed. Leah Smith won the class leading from start to finish and adding nothing to his dressage score of 40.8. This result was replicated by second place Frances Barnard who remained on her second placed dressage score of 43.2 for the whole weekend. Lauren French and Royal Emporer enjoyed a good victory in the Equiscape EvA95 class finishing on 45.4 some five marks ahead of Georgia Cottle riding Theresa Park Sophia.
The prizes on offer at Berrima
The report from the EvA80 classses can be viewed HERE
All in all Berrima was a great event. Thanks to plenty of rain in the preceding couple of months the going was probably the best it has been for several years and the large crowd of spectators who watched the action from the club-house could enjoy looking over green fields, rather than dusty paddocks.
We’ll put up some Berrima photos and related article later this week so keep checking back.
