Tim Boland works up a sweat as he rides some great tests
How lovely it was to see lots of people at Wallaby Hill one day event that you haven’t seen for a few months - everyone back eventing for 2013. However with the sun beating down and temperatures reaching 30 plus it wasn’t always easy to recognise people under their hats and sunglasses. Thankfully a cool change came in late on Saturday afternoon and with temperatures predicted to be around 23 today it should make for a lovely cross country day.
Above - Jake Parbery (far right) walks the show jumping course with some friends so he can give dad Brett (below) some tips
Wallaby Hill was the chosen venue for two of Australia’s top riders, Brett Parbery and David Shoobridge, (better known for their performances in the dressage arena), to take a plunge into the eventing world. With dressage and show jumping now complete both Brett and David lead their sections with pretty impressive dressage scores – and so they should!
Brett riding Stuart and Karen Tinney’s My Thai is leading the EvA 95 A on a score of 33.1 (21.1 after dressage) while David Shoobridge rode a dressage test on his own dressage stallion Smash Hit which earned him 25.2 and, with one show jump down, he goes into cross country just over four marks ahead of Andrew Barnett (partner to Tarsha Hammond) riding Bradgate Park Dutchman.
Brett finishes his show jumping round with just one down
Moving up to the higher classes it was lovely to see Emma Scott out and about with Mustang who was looking really well and the pair led the Combined Training 3* after dressage.
The grooms of today not only have to have great horse management they also have to be able to use an ipad!
Today will see the higher level classes showjump while everyone is sounding keen to get out on the beautiful and challenging Wallaby Hill cross country course.
After a big hot first day this horse gets a pick of grass while his owner enjoys a drink
