The trip east was worth it for Emma and Martin
Western Australian riders often come up with the goods when they tackle some of Australia’s big competitions and at the Melbourne International 3 Day Event this year one of the surprise packages came in the form of Emma King.
28 year old Emma had never competed at MI3DE before but she and her partner Martin Hellier decided to make the long trek east in June and try their luck. They brought with them two horses entered in the CCI1*, the 12 year old chestnut gelding Em and M Russell and the eight year old grey DvZ Chevalier. Emma and her two horses didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend to finish second and third on their dressage scores of 49.00 and 49.40, putting the winner Rob Palm under pressure with two beautiful clear rounds in the show jumping, in a class where only nine competitors of 65 jumped clear.
The two horses have been a work in progress for Emma who came back to Western Australia in 2009 after five months of working with Megan Jones at Kirby Park Stud in South Australia. Her stay there was cut short when she fell from Megan’s 4* eventer Kirby Park Allofasudden (guess why he’s called that?), snapping all four knee ligaments and resulting in a knee reconstruction.
“It took 12 months to recuperate and there was no riding during that time so, when I got back into it, I only had baby horses that needed bringing through the ranks. There was a bit of a lull for a while in my competition career”
Emma and DvZ Chevalier on the cross country at MI3DE
One of the ‘babies’ was the laid back DvZ Chevalier, a warmblood/thoroughbred cross, that had been bought as a foal at eight months old, broken in and then put back out in the paddock to finish growing. When Emma brought him in to work as a three year old, he needed hardly any groundwork and he has shown a lovely attitude to his work ever since
“He’s just so easy” says Emma of the grey horse sired by Chico's Boy, also the sire of Gemma Tattersall's Chico Bella P, this year’s winner of the Burgham International CIC3* in the UK. It was only DvZ Chevalier’s fourth start at 1* level at MI3DE so Emma will keep him ticking along at at this level for the rest of the year
“He’ll hopefully have his first 2* start early next year but he lost some time this season due to an ulcer on his eye – actually I don’t think he’s ever had a full season of eventing yet. The ulcer required a graft to the eye but luckily at the same time they finally found the tiny piece of hay stuck under his third eyelid that was causing the problem” says Emma
Em and M Russell heads into the show jumping at MI3DE for a clear round
While DvZ Chevalier has traditional German jumping lines, Em and M Russell, a thoroughbred by Langfur, came to eventing after a racing career. Originally trained by Peter Moody in Victoria, he raced under the name of Intercode until he was eight years then went through several trainers until he found his way to WA with trainer Helen Harding.
“My partner Martin knows Helen really well so that’s how we ended up with him when he finished racing. We’ve had him for three years and he’s just really taken to eventing – he loves it”
Em and M Russell has his first CNC2* start coming up at a local competition soon and Emma is hoping that both horses will compete in Adelaide next year
The names Emma and Martin provide the reasoning behind the name business name Em and M Equestrian and the Em and M prefix, providing a good tongue twister for many commentators. Together Emma and Martin produce horses for dressage, show jumping and eventing; Emma originally started as a dressage rider then turned to eventing while Martin’s background is in show jumping and eventing, having competed in the days of the famous Gawler and jumped at World Cup level.
The couple work from Emma’s parents’ property 45 minutes out of the Perth CBD where Emma also runs the breeding programme for the family’s King’s Sport Horses. A mare she bought from Megan Jones in 2006, Kirby Park Irish Mist has had one foal by Tiebreaker and is now in foal to another son of Chico’s Boy, Cevin Costner. It was a long journey back home to Perth after the high of such a successful campaign at MI3DE but now it’s back to the daily routine
It’s all back to normal now - I’m back to all the young horses that didn’t get worked while I was away” laughs Emma “But it was definitely a bit confidence boost for me. I’d never really competed at FEI level outside of Western Australia so it was great to know that the horses I’ve produced are up there with a very good standard of other horses at this level of competition.”
