Although it is perhaps not a part of the usual content on An Eventful Life, the Victorian eventing squad had the pleasure (or should I say "Western Pleasure") of sharing the facilities at Werribee with the Australian Halter Showcase. It was certainly both intriguing and eye-opening for some of the eventers to get just a glimpse of how the "other half" ride, train and present their horses
Will Enzinger was given some free advice on how to train changes from one of these visitors when he was working a horse... not sure if we might see Will incorporate some of those ideas into his next dressage test?!?
The new judges' boxes at Werribee provided some fun (take note interstate eventers)
For a busy weekend the facility at Werribee coped well, particularly as the first meeting for 2014 of the squad was a popular one, with 71 riders listed in the program. These riders kept the instructors busy and both days were full for all coaches. Barry Roycroft gave the 2* and above riders a test ride on the Saturday, whilst Viv Axton did the same for some of the 1* riders on the Sunday. In other dressage lessons the riders were guided by Charlotte Perderson, Will Enzinger and Catherine Davies. The new judges’ boxes were quite exciting for some horses to have to take in during their dressage sessions!
Three rings of showjumping were kept full with activity all day on Saturday and Sunday, with Jamie Coman and Adam Wootten teaching both days and Paul Williams, Amanda Ross and Kate Pither also helping out over the weekend. Cross country kept Emily Anker busy all weekend, with hubby Will helping out there as well by taking some groups through their paces. All in all the training was of the usual high calibre that squad members have become accustomed to.
On Saturday evening the event riders were to be found in a cluster of camp chairs on the Bruno lawn enjoying a presentation from Katie at Equissage. The great news is that Equissage, as well as sponsoring the Young Rider squad, have kindly donated an Equissage to the Victorian squad. This is being raffled, with all proceeds going back to the Young Rider squad ( so watch out if you run into any members, they will no doubt try to hit you up for a ticket or two! Alternatively I am sure they would love to hear from you if you would like to purchase a ticket to be in the running to win this lovely and very useful prize). The raffle will be drawn at Melbourne International Horse Trials on Monday 9th June. Teegan Ashby, the current Young Ambassador for eventing, also had a talk with the riders and encouraged all young riders to put in an application for the Young Rider of the Year training weekend.
As a final treat for the evening, Cathy Oates gave an excellent presentation on preparing your horse for competition. She covered topics such as stretching and suppleness before, during and after the event, the cool down process on cross country day and that all-important trot up. This year Cathy will be attending major 3 Day Events in a support and advisory role on horse well-being for the young rider squad members.
The squad finished on Sunday with some very warm conditions. State selector Neil Clinton spent Sunday watching all the groups (we think he might have been doing his homework for the upcoming selection for Naracoorte Young Rider Team and the Melbourne International Three Day Event Junior Teams, and I believe he was impressed with what he saw!) This year Naracoorte Horse Trials have initiated a National Young Rider Teams Competition, to which Victoria will send a team of five 1* riders.
Of course the next few months will be full of ups and downs as happens with horses, but with loads of action available on the event calendar (and many Victorian combinations aiming for Melbourne International Horse Trials in June) the weekend of squad training should prove to be very valuable.
Article and photos by Wendy Jeffree
