Let’s get the year rolling for our Australian riders with the first big date of the year being the Sydney International Horse Trials – 25-27 April 2014.
The top event of the weekend will be the CCI3*, where we will see plenty of WEG 2014 hopefuls putting their best hoof forward. There will also be a CCI2*, CIC2*, CCI*, CIC* along with the popular Young Event Horse classes for four, five and six year old horses.
The Ground Jury for the CCI3* will consist of Alain James (FRA) who will be on the Ground Jury for this years WEG, Normandy and Alain will be joined by Anne Tylee (NZL) and PollyAnn Huntington (AUS).
The extremely talented Mike Etherington-Smith (seen above on one of his popular course walks) from UK is once again designing the cross country course, while our own Stuart Tinney has been working on the other courses – no doubt picking up lots of good tips from Mike ES.
As in previous years it won’t be just the eventers who make their way to the Sydney International Equestrian Centre in April because the show jumpers will also be coming for the Greater Sydney World Cup Jumping Qualifier. There will also be other show jumping classes including the Australian Amateur Jumping Championships and Young Horse classes.
The Sydney committee has this year come up with a few other new concepts to make the event even more enjoyable including providing a public bar at the water pond, where spectators will be able to enjoy music and entertainment whilst watching the horses gallop past. For the children there will be a dedicated Kids Zone where they can bounce away on a jumping castle till their heart is content or they can have their faces painted and turn into a colourful butterfly or monster! If that’s all too much they can simply spend some time in the petting zoo.
Watching horses all day can get a little bit too much for the little people -
but being turned into a zombie is always fun!
Transport packages are being organized for the weekend to run from Centennial Park in Sydney to SIEC, so you can leave the car behind – what more could you ask for!
We have also heard that there are plans for a celebrity challenge on the Sunday of the event – watch this space for more information as it comes to hand.
But before all this happens the Sydney Committee are looking forward to running their popular Cross Country clinic on 18/19 January. The Clinic will see riders enjoying a two hour cross country lesson from a professional coach and they will then have the opportunity to ride round the course, putting into practice what they have learned.
If you would like to take part in this clinic you have until the 10th January to get your entries in via Nominate. Remember all funds raised go towards the cross country course and the running of the 3DE – so you get to enjoy yourself and help the event all at the same time!
