We take a look back at some of the highs and lows, best interviews, event highlights and top training tips of 2014 from the world of international eventing, month by month, in our series of articles. Click on any highlighted text to take you to any of the articles mentioned to read in full
In February the weather gods were being unkind to eventers in Australia with hot, blustery conditions forcing the cancellation or postponement of several of the first events of the season. Geelong Horse Trials finally kicked off the season in Victoria despite a bush fire close by while Wallaby Hill One Day Event in NSW laid on extra ice cream. Although the temperatures at Wallaby Hill one day event made it up into the thirties, it felt as if everyone was trying hard not to complain too much, given the fact that temperatures elsewhere in the country were soaring into the forties.
Later in the month the very popular Sydney @ SIEC midweek and weekend events took place at Sydney @ SIEC. While a few of the lower level classes completed all their phases in one day, the majority of riders are looking forward to another action packed days on both Saturday and Sunday and Shane Rose took out the Randwick Equine Centre CNC3* while Cassie Webb's horse, Dutch Determination, came back from injury in great style, winning the Mitavite CNC2*.
As the events swung into action, so did our video crew and you can watch all cross country videos from Sydney@SIEC here
In New Zealand it was hats off (or on) to all the winners and up and coming stars that competed at the 2014 Springbush Horse Trials including Matthew Grayling and NRM Lowenberg, winners of the CNC105 while Bing Allen’s cross-country course proved a serious challenge for the eventers contesting the Dunstan NZ Young Rider (Under 21 years) Championship. Madison Crowe and Brogan took the title setting them up for a good year
While it was too cold to be eventing in the UK, Emily Penney reported from the International Eventing Forum at Hartpury College where we learned exactly what goes on in the mind of an international dressage judge. 5 star international judges Isabel Wessels and Andrew Gardner took centre stage to present a session entitled ‘The Judge's View’ which began with the two judges discussing what they look for when judging. We were then treated to three separate dressage tests, moving up the grades from 1*. Andrew and Isabel gave their thoughts on each test, indicating what marks they would have given each movement before working through some exercises to improve where the riders went wrong.
In another session Eric Smiley took top riders back to the basics. Eric, FEI International Judge, competitor at two Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games and regular member of the Irish Team throughout the 80’s and 90’s presented a session entitled ‘The Beginning’ which focused on the young horse and the importance of correct training in the early years.
We’ll be reporting from the 2015 International Eventing Forum which will feature guest presenter Andrew Nicholson so look out for that feature coming up soon!
One of the riders that featured in February was the UK based Australian rider Warren Lamperd. While many riders recently have re-located to the UK, Warren made that tough decision over 15 years ago. Warren runs a successful coaching business in the UK and we also focussed on another coaching business this month – the Megan Jones Riding School which provides options for all levels and ages and run of course by top eventing rider and Olympic silver medallist Megan Jones
Training Tips
There were plenty of clinics and fun training days around Australia and when we asked top Italian eventer Vittoria Panizzon what she had planned for the morning session of her one day clinic near Melbourne, she smiled and said “The riders are going to have some fun with grids” and indeed they did
You can see the grid exercises that Vittoria set plus how and how not to do gymnastics (including a back somersault, on horseback) in these videos which also includes our favourite blooper of the month
Amanda Ross and Matilda Alexander show us how it’s done at a George Morris clinic where the old master shows he has not lost his touch or the ability to make some wonderfully direct comments. We highlighted six points that we took away from the clinic while Amanda Ross explained why she enjoyed her first clinic with George and why pure show jumping training is important for eventers
“There are only five types of cross country fences” says Sonja Johnson “They are spreads, uprights, water, ditches and banks”. In this article we take a look at how Sonja encourages her pupils to approach jumping up and down banks and if you have ever wondered how does a young rider go about applying for work with a top eventer, the clinic organiser Tennille Porter tells us how she did it and what it was like to work for the Olympic medallist
Other features included a guide to event horse syndication. Owning an event horse can be a rewarding and exciting involvement in the sport but it can also be costly and sometimes fraught with difficulties so we took a look at one way of sharing the costs, and the joy, of being an eventing horse owner
Of course, elite eventing riders need to be constantly on the lookout for quality horses that can keep them at the top of the game and those horses can sometimes be hard to find. Stuart and Karen Tinney told us how and why they purchased three horses from Germany while those of you who having been following Murray Lamperd's blogs will know about his travels with Under the Clocks. In this video interview he tells us more about the international competition experience plus we met a future Badminton eventer - India Lamperd
We won! We won! We won!
The big news of the month that had us leaping around with glee came from the Equestrian Social Media Awards advising that we had won not only the award for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania but also the World Award as judged by the FEI Director of Corporate Communications Richard Johnson. We also picked up second in the new Equestrian Digital Awards for the category of Web Site and second in the Rich Media category for our cross country videos
We won’t the only ones celebrating - two of Australia’s top young eventing riders who are getting married this month were celebrating their engagement in February. We found out more about the young lovers Rob Palm and Cassie Lowe who are not planning on having a horse drawn carriage
The eventing world said goodbye to Tina Cook’s Olympic mount Miner’s Frolic who was retired after it was discovered that he had a heart fibrillation (abnormal rhythm of the heart beat) and it was commiserations to Vittoria Panizzon who has lost the horse who took her to her first Olympics and was a real character – Rock Model
On the other hand Chris Burton acquired a new horse. The Australian International 3 Day Event winning 4* horse TS Jamaimo was heading to the UK to be campaigned by Chris Burton and later in the month Equestrian Australia announced that Chris and Jamaimo had been named on the Normandy 2014 squad for eventing. Debbie Higgs caught up with Jamaimo’s previous owners Will Enzinger and Emily Anker to chat about what is happening in the life of the Wilky Park Eventing Team and Jamaimo’s farewell party
And for those who enjoy being bought fancy underwear for Valentine’s Day, can you guess who wears what (or not) when it comes to eventers’ underwear?
Top viewed cross country video in February
Shane Rose and CP Qualified - winners Sydney @ SIEC CNC3*
That one is probably not surprising but congraulations to Rachel Running and Royal Ransom - winners of the EvA60 who gave Shane a close run for the top viewed video!
Top 3 (most read) blogs in February
Clarke Johnstone’s ‘more or less annual blog for AEL’ “(yep, that’s about right Clarke!) “Clarke’s back”
Nat Blundell “We’re off to Badminton!”
Alice Hirst’s “It’s not all about eventing”
Top 3 (most viewed) photo galleries
