Sheridan and Murphy
On a very windy day at the Avenel Horse Trials in their new location at Greenvale Equestrian Park just outside of Melbourne, Victorian based rider Sheridan Wilson had her first ever win at 1* level with her young horse Artane Murphy.
Considering the weather conditions it is fitting that Artane Murphy is known at home as ‘Hurricane Murphy’ due to his propensity to break things. Only six years old, Murphy is currently 17½ hh and he is a gentle giant but a bit of a clumsy one!
“We arrived here and he broke his temporary yard” said Sheridan’s mum, Sharon “He didn’t mean to, he just leans on something and even with a steel yard rail, the welding gives way”. Sharon, who was helping her daughter at the event, was relieved to note that the wash bay at Greenvale where she was to hose Murphy down looked very strong
Sheridan, who is on the Victorian Young Rider Eventing squad and was recently in the top 10 for the Victorian Young Rider of the Year, fell in love with the slightly gawky Murphy when she first saw him as a three year old at the Isle of Wight auction. Some people thought that the young horse by the Holsteiner sire Isle of Aspen out of a thoroughbred mare, Artane Lucky, may not be suited to eventing due his size but Sheridan definitely had an eventing career in her sights for him.
“I’ve done everything myself with him” she says “He hated ditches and water when he first came across them but we’ve got over that and now he’s fine. He’s placed at lots of different competitions on the way up to 1* but this is our first win and I’m so pleased with him, especially considering the conditions”
Sheridan and Murphy led from the start, being equal first with the very experienced Seumas Marwood and his 4* eventing mare Wild Oats who has just returned from an overseas campaign.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw we were equal first with Seumas and Wild Oats! It was a personal best score for us and Murphy still has some way to go in his dressage – he has a very good canter and good suspension in his trot but we just can’t get much in the extensions yet, he’s still a bit unbalanced but hopefully that will come”
That Holsteiner canter is important for the jumping phases however and, although they didn’t get to show jump on Sunday (the jumps wouldn’t stay up in the wind so the officials abandoned this phase), Sheridan was reasonably confident that Murphy would have jumped well.
“The show jumping is his best phase at the moment, which is good because it’s my weakest! On the cross country he was fantastic – it was blowing a gale and he jumped everything well but in between the fences he had a few spooks as things were blowing around” (watch our cross country video of their ride here)
The pair came in clear with only 3.2 time penalties, keeping them ahead of some well known riders such as Rob Palm, Katja Weimann, Sarah Ray and Yona Lloyd for their first win
“It’s a special win too because I recently lost my other, much more experienced 1* horse Simotty due to colic” says Sheridan. Simotty had developed colic and had to be put down as surgery was not an option due to a heart murmur
“I’m sure he’s up there looking down and saying ‘Well done Murphy’”
Sheridan and Simotty competing at Wandin earlier this year
