Advanced Freestyle

This is to be my last trip of 2011. Having flown to Sydney and back twice in the once month then Melbourne last weekend, I’m officially over the travelling for this year. (Until January at least when we fly to Perth – but that’s another story)
Representing Cyberhorse, I flew to Melbourne for the Saddleworld Dressage Festival at Werribee and what a great competition it was. It was basically the Victorian State Championships. With a stack of

tradestalls and I mean a stack. Super specials and great things that we don’t see here in QLD. But after spending too much $$ at nationals then Equitana, I was under instructions to window shop only. (Grabbed a heap of business cards though)
The competition was super in all classes. From prelim through to grand prix — what a great show. Rachel Sanna did it again with a near perfect test on the super Jaybee Alabaster. Our own Chantelle Wigan was close behind for third place. Her horse Ferero is such a beautiful moving horse — he just gets a little excited during presentations the poor thing. But a great effort from Chantelle. Such a pleasure to watch one of our own. But I think the highlight of the competition for me was the Para riders. They all did a brilliant job. Alot on borrowed horses from prelim ones

through to ex champions like Don Armani, Worldwide PB just to name a few. It was an Olympic qualifier so the classes were quite big. And the support crews were amazing. Many people gathered to watch these amazing riders overcome their challenges and ride their tests. Riders came from Japan, USA and NZ. Again we had a couple of QLD’ers competing. So it was really great to pull up a chair and watch them. Or in my case, a camera. (Never leave home without that) The only setback being a huge storm which threatened the competition for an hour or so before finally unleashing it’s worse. They say we were in the eye of the storm and I believe that!! I was lucky

enough to get to the indoor before it hit and I say — very scary indeed. The noise of the rain was tremendous as was the thunder and lightning. Glad I wasn’t a rider out in that mess. Some poor Para riders got stuck doing their tests in the storm and got absolutely drenched. Still they carried on before organizers called it too dangerous to continue. The advanced freestyle riders couldn’t even hear their music. How those horses worked through it all in one piece amazes me. But a nice but scary end to a hot three days.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a nice change to see ALL the place getters show up for presentation. I know it can be hard sometimes but when the sponsors have such super prizes for up to 8th place (I think), who wouldn’t want to be there for presentation!! And the male riders. One class saw nearly all place getters being men! A big turnout of the male riders. And good male riders!! Mmmmm, not too sure about that. We women like our dominance here.
But a huge thank you to Bill and Berni Saunders from Cyberhorse for flying me down and accommodating me. You have a beautiful picturesque home. I was really made to feel like at home so thankyou. Until next time…. Sayonaro and happy riding.

Edward Gal riding Mayfield Pzazz

Well I must say.… this Equitana was absolutely AMAZING. Besides the thousands of trade stalls with things I’ve neverseen before, the huge variety of food vans and I mean huge, literally 30 or more with all different kinds of food, the different demonstrations from mounted police, polo, campdrafting, showjumping, cross-country, western, tiny little miniatures to my favorite, the dressage, the memory that will stay with me forever were the two visiting world number one riders, Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud. To me I witnessed an example of perfection in dressage riding.

• Transitions to walk – make him active first
• Always feel like you can go forward after coming back
• If you ask an aid and no reaction, come immediately with the second
• The horse needs to try for you – even if it doesn’t work all the time. That’s ok.
• Bend him until you feel him give the inside rein – don’t give first. Make the horse give first
• Take a long time to prepare the horse for the exercises. Only do it when he is ready
• Very important to get more expression in the movement
• Get active without getting slow or fast
• Always get the horse thinking forward
• Canter pirouette – Very important for the horse to keep thinking forward and not to think turn by themselves.

The other highlight for me was watching Brett Parbery. To me, another example of great riding. Truly motivating. And his secret stash of an 18.2h, yes 18.2h chestnut gelding – wow – a piaffe freak. Brett’s hoping this horse will be his next international super star. Brett, we all have our fingers crossed for you. What an amazing horse. Having just come back from the Aust dressage championships and seeing the grand prix, I was thinking here we go again, the same old, same old.

The big screen

Young rider Carly from Byron Bay has purchased the beautiful  black mare MEC Graceful. And graceful is exactly what she is. I’ve been lucky enough to have Grace stay with me for a few months to help consolidate her training. During this time we’ve taken her to a few competitions as it’s been a while since Grace has been out. The first official comp Grace handled like a pro. Calm and relaxed the whole day through. So we decided to take her to the Sunshine Coast Two Star Championships which was run over 3 days. Again she performed beautifully placing 3rd and 4th for an overall 3rd in the novice. The highlight of the event was having the judge come up to us at the end and comment on how lovely the mare went. Particularly with her lateral work. The judge also said she wished she’d given us a few higher marks.  But we did receive the comment “best leg yield of the day”. Carly was one happy owner as was I to have the ride on such a beautiful horse. So rideable and extremely trainable with one of the best temperaments I’ve ever seen in a horse. I’m sure Carly and Grace will have many happy times ahead.

What a huge comfort it is knowing your horses are in the right hands when it comes to their feet. Something which is often overlooked as being one of the most important aspects of the performance horse. A huge congratulations to Kallum and Emma on an awesome job. And to Kent for training such correct and talented farriers. I can rest easy knowing that my dressage horses will always perform at their best because their feet are done by the best. And also a huge thank you to Kent for always being there when I have a slight melt down attack. My mare is super special to me so when something goes wrong Kent is always a phone call away and always fixes things perfectly. My mare couldn’t do it without him! THANK YOU!

For shoeing enquiries in the Beaudesert/Boonah region please phone Kent Wells on 0414 742 112.

Is coming to QLD for an interactive MASTERCLASS!

Introduction:

Hubertus started his dressage training at the age of 14 with legendary German team rider Hubertus Schmidt, and one year later he won his first S class. At the age of 18 he had trained two horses up to S level and achieved the “Goldenes Reitabzeichen”.

In 2004 he finished his A-levels and started to ride for the stable of Max-Theurer.  (Elisabeth Theurer won the Olympic dressage in Moscow, and Victoria, her daughter rode at Athens 2004.) Then he moved back to Hubertus Schmidt who offered him a job as his “Bereiter” and was the Head Rider at Schmidt’s stable for 5 years. He has been placed on 10 different Grand Prix horses in German National competitions. Hubertus went on to his achieve his “Pferdewirtschafts Meister.” In recent years he has successfully competed in National and International Grand Prix competitions and is now running his own barn with 25 horses. Hubertus will cover the following subjects:

“Establishing the Basics”, “Developing the Carrying Capacity”, “Establishing Thoroughness” and “Training at FEI level” 

Hubertus is a competent professional trainer and horse person who regularly presents at large seminars internationally. He was a key presenter at the New Zealand FEI Dressage Forum in 2008 where he shared his training experiences and strategies to a packed forum.

Who should attend?

Equestrian riders, competitors, coaches, trainers and judges.

Date: Sunday 2nd Oct 2011
Time: 8-30am to 3-00pm
Where: QLD State Equestrian Centre, Caboolture, Queensland
Tickets: $35 Adults and $20 Children (5 to 12 yrs old) – includes morning tea
IMPORTANT NOTICE — Pre-sold Tickets ONLY – Ticket Order Form over the page.
Refreshments: Additional Catering will be available.
General Enquiries: Nicole Tough Phone: 0405 916 212 e-mail: nicolejtough@hotmail.com

Click HERE for link to EQ website and ticket order form