Kate Wallis and Nina Clark thought 'How hard could it be to get an event going again?' and now they know!
“It was like a ghost town when we first came to view it” says Kate Wallace, President of the 2015 Tonimbuk Horse Trials committee as I walk around the Gippsland property with her and fellow committee member Nina Clark.
For many years Tonimbuk Equestrian Centre, owned by the Mouser family, was a hub of equestrian activity with World Cup show jumping, the Tonimbuk Horse Trials, clinics and many other competitions held at the 160 acre venue. In December 2013 the property was sold and since then the two large indoor arenas, outdoor arenas, 97 stables and cross country course have stood quietly waiting ...... and growing weeds.
It has taken much negotiation, support from the new owner Hanson Quarries and a lot of working bees to get the venue ready for this weekend’s event. But looking around today at the outdoor arenas which have been resurfaced thanks to Hanson and local arena builder Rob Trigg, some new cross country fences that have been added to the course, now designed by Ewan Kellett, and the indoor arenas which look almost back to their former state, it seems that the new committee have pulled off the enormous task of getting Tonimbuk Horse Trials back on the calendar, hopefully for more than just one year.
Nina is not only busy getting the venue ready but also getting ready to compete as one of the competitors in the CIC3* riding LP Boudin. Although this class is small in terms of competitor numbers, the rest of the classes filled up quickly with big names such as Megan Jones, Will Enzinger, Rob Palm and Katja Weimann riding in the CIC2* and a packed CIC1* class. There are two divisions of EvA105, three divisions each of the EvA95 and EvA80.
Penny Johnson and Nina Clark busy setting up the dressage arenas on the newly resurfaced outdoor arenas
There are a few minor changes to the programme with the CIC2* and CIC3* show jumping on Saturday evening in the indoor arena and the food stalls will have their own area but the trade stands will be located in the indoor and near the entrance to the arenas as usual. There are plenty of traders coming this year, thanks to Penny Johnson and Nina who have been working on getting the trade stands and past sponsors back on board with good success. Local company Pakenham Produce and Saddlery are the naming rights sponsor once again and the local branch of the Bendigo Bank is back along with many others
The weather forecast is good for the weekend but the recent rain around the area has helped settle the new surface of the outdoor arenas as well as make the venue pleasantly green. While Ewan Kellett’s crew are busy putting the final touches to the cross country, Paul Williams is the man charged with running all of the show jumping side of things. A man with lots of experience in this area and an international show jumping rider as a son (‘I used to be Paul Williams, now I’m ‘Matt’s dad’” he smiles), Paul has been working hard on the indoor arenas in the past few weeks. He’s not 100% happy just yet and will be keeping a close eye on the show jumping surface during the weekend but says that it has come a long way since the ‘concrete’ surface they found when they first came back to the venue
Paul Williams
“It’s a work in progress” says Paul “It’s been watered, power harrowed, rolled and it’s nearly there but not quite settled yet. We’ll have equipment and people on hand when the show jumping is in progress so we can keep raking and looking after it”
It’s only a day away from when the trucks start rolling in to fill the big car park again for this weekend’s event and Tonimbuk will definitely be back on the eventing map
Follow our 4* member coverage of the event during this weekend or buy your cross country video from Tonimbuk here
