The gentle giant Barusch with Tanya and her husband
It’s strange how things turn out …
Barusch is a Belgium warmblood, (born in Belgium), who came to Scotland and was bought by a South African rider (living in Scotland at the time). Both horse and rider have now taken up residence in Terry Hills, Sydney.
Tanya Bonner, who is a clinical psychologist, and also a keen rider was living in Lanark, near Glasgow a few years ago when she decided it was time to buy a horse.
“I didn’t actually go to look at Barusch,” Tanya admitted “I went to look at another horses but he didn’t pass the vet and while I was looking at this other horse Barusch caught my eye. He looked so sweet even though he was pretty under weight at the time and he had that look of ‘please buy me’ so I did.”
About six months later Tanya and her husband had the opportunity to move to Australia and there was never a thought that Barusch, who Tanya, was slowly ‘falling in love with’ wouldn’t go with them.
“It took a while to sort out the process of moving a horse from Scotland to Australia but it gradually all fell into place and Barusch arrived here, having clocked up quite a few frequent flyer points.
“He has such a kind nature and is very affectionate and honest and I can’t imagine not having him around. Standing at 17.1hh and now an eight year old he’s quite a big boy, but he never uses his size in a bad way.”
Having had his ears forward for most of the SIEC weekend Barusch plays 'shy' for the camera
Although Tanya had done some dressage and show jumping in South Africa it wasn’t until she came to Australia that she tried her hand at eventing.
“I’m very new to eventing and am still trying to get my head around all the rules and regulations but I’m really enjoying it. We did one event in SA before we made the move to NSW and the event at SIEC was our second. It was a horrendous weekend weather wise (lots of rain) but I was pleased we were able to get through all our three phases because the cross country for the Sunday riders was cancelled. I was pretty pleased with his dressage test and really pleased with his cross country where he just popped over everything and we can home clear and under time.”
Although Tanya had hoped to finish on her dressage score Barusch took one rail down on show jumping day however the pair still finished in ninth place in the EvA80 class, a great effort for their second event.
Having now been in Australia for two and a half years Tanya is hoping that they will be staying put for some time.
“Although we are still renting at the moment once we get our permanent residence we will look at buying and settling down here for some time. We really love Australia and the weather is so much better than Scotland! As for my next event I’m not sure where that will be because I’m still finding my feet, checking out all the possibilities on the event calendar and working out how long it takes to get to some of the events. But which ever events I manage to get to I’m really looking forward to getting out there and having lots of fun on my well travelled horse - who hopefully wont have to do anymore overseas trips!”
