Teaching Down Under and Analysis of the year that was.

Teaching country Queensland style Down Under.

After a long, successful year of competing and teaching I headed back to Australia for Christmas with my family and a bit of R and R. Of course that means I still teach, who doesn't on their holidays! As you can see it's a little different than the East Coast of America!

This is the time of the year also that I analyse each horses performance from the year and plan the coming one. I'll run thru a few of them, please bear in mind that the goals for myself and these horses are very personal and by sharing them my intention is to give you an insight into the emotional and physical commitment I make to each horse.

McCuan Mario

Mario had an excellent start to the year with a 3rd in the Aiken Mini Prix, one of only two eventers in the class and the only one to jump clear. This was on top of his other numerous placings. In the eventing he has made leaps and bounds, literally! Last year he his dressage and cross country were very fragile but this year he was able to consistently score in the 20's in the dressage and has the cross country figured out. Unfortunately he suffered an injury at Plantation Field in April which had him out for the rest of the year. He's back and in full work and as fit as a fiddle! His 2011 plans will see him starting with showjumping in Aiken in January then eventing with a goal of a 1 star mid year followed by a 2 star toward the end of the year. His show jumping career will also continue.

Collection Pass

Cole has been the surprise star of the year! He's an unassuming little horse that you would trust with your grandkids! He's quickly moved up from training level in March to now competing successfully at the intermediate level. His weaknesses are the dressage and showjumping, both of which we've worked extremely hard on. The show jumping was all about getting him a bit bolder and not so backed off. I did this by taking him to a couple of big jumper shows to where I could use the arena to school this area. Now he's got that figured out and is confidently jumping around 1.25m classes.The challenge with the dressage was to get and keep his head down! As simple as that! This has taken the most time and with the introduction of a double bridle are well on our way. Next year he will start with show jumping then straight into the eventing. He'll do a 2 star at Bromont then a 3 star late in the year.

Lola and Ti

Unfortunately my photo collection here doesn't contain any of either of these horses..... These two young horses are seriously exciting horses for the future. Similar in their build, they have different ways of going. Lola works on trust and her own intuition whereas Ti (I think) sees the whole thing as a video game! He gallops around thinking he's a character in Avatar taking on the evil human race by using his awesome athletic talents to be able to jump anything! He had a late start to the year with me and will start next year show jumping then head for a 1 star at Bromont. Lola sadly had about 6 months off competing with a pesky abscess and an annoying splint. She had several good places in eventing and a win in some show jumping. She will come out at training level and move up from there.

Thanks again for all the positive feedback through out the year. And congratulations to my students on their many and varied successes! MOST OF ALL, THANK YOU TO MY OWNERS AND SUPPORTERS FOR ENABLING TO CONTINUE MY QUEST TO ACHIEVE MY GOALS, MY SUCCESSES ARE AS MUCH YOURS AS MY OWN!

New Zealand

The final resting place of Champion of Champions, Sir Tristram, Cambridge Stud, Hamilton, NZ.


After making the long flight (25 hours all up) home to Brisbane, Australia, I took the time to have a quick shower, peek at the new arrival (who's tentatively called Sophie until we finalise her name) then it was straight back to Brisbane International airport for the 3 and a half hour flight to Australia's closest neighbour, and little brother, New Zealand. The trip was not a holiday, way more exciting, a shopping trip to find the next superstar to take on the US horses! And what a group we saw, all beautifully presented, talented and well performed at varying levels. It also served as a reminder of just how tough these Down Under horses are, they have a whole other set of lungs and reinforced tendons! I can tell you it would be very difficult to turn down some of these guys, all potential superstars. In particular a little black fellow by the name of Blackie that will turn up on an Australian, American or British team in the future. Without giving away too much, hopefully we'll have a Kiwi speaking horse on our team soon enough!

Whilst there I also had to great fortune of running into not one, not two but three legends of the horse world. One being Mark Todd, greatest eventer/horseman of all time. I tried out 5 horses on the same arena he was teaching. Having the great Toddy in such proximity was a massive motivation to keep my heels down and not miss into anything! Then I was fortunate enough to be a guest at the world famous Cambridge stud with my host who has a mare at the farm. There I saw the mighty Zabeel, sire of multiple group one winners incl Melbourne Cup). I also visited the grave (the farms centre piece) of the mighty Sir Tristram, sire of many, many group one winners, sires and champion producing fillies. As much as he meant to the racing community he also means to us jumpers. His bloodlines can be found in the many of the most successful jumping horses to come out of Australia and NZ. So obviously this was a huge privilege and honour for me!

I'm now back in Australia as of this morning visiting my family for Christmas and enjoying some warmer weather!!!! Whereever you are, try to keep either warm or cool, depending on the hemisphere!!

NEW ADDITION!!!

Now that competition season has finished I am analysing the year past and planning for the next as well as trying to keep warm. Whilst all this is going on approx 15 242 k's away (as the crow flies), 2015 5 Year Old Young Event Horse champions of America are being born! This filly was foaled about 48 hours ago on my mum's farm in Australia. The foal is out of Jerry's (readers would remember he came over from Australia a couple of months ago) mother and carries the world famous Sandro, Pik Bube and Ramiro Z bloodlines on his father's side. She'll spend the next couple of years growing up in Australia before coming over here to be broken in and campaigned.

My mum takes care of the mares and raises the foals making sure they grow up into the performance horses they are bred to be!!

The filly is currently unnamed. We'll take your suggestions and will use the best name as her show name!!! She's Australia born to an Australian mother with all German bloodlines. And as you'll all agree (Australian or American) she's about as pretty as you could get!!

Raleigh Show Jumping

Cole and I early (very early) one morning making a plan for how his last two shows of the year would be his best!!!

Mario, Cole, Ti and I escaped the chilly MD weather for a few days by competing at the RMI Benefit Show Jumping competition in Raleigh, NC. I compete in several jumper shows each year up to the level of Mini Prix and every time I relish the experience as I learn SO much. This is a lot due to the fact that I'm generally jumping at heights that are much bigger than eventing and it really tests my comfort zone. And at this show I was extremely lucky to have my jump trainer, Marilyn Meredith-Little, there to walk each course, warm us up and analyse every round. Firstly Ti learnt a huge amount by going into a big ring (it's all indoors) and jumping a big course. His results absolutely did not reflect his effort and the benefit he gained. I can't wait to be competing with him next year. He's come a long way in 2011.

As everyone knows I'm extremely excited to have Mario back in the competition arena and he definitely proved why I love him so much! Last year, at this same show, I competed Mario in the same classes and must admit that I was about out of my depth in the biggest class. This year (and with Mario off most of it and only back in work for 4 weeks) I was completely comfortable and was actually hoping they would have been 2 or 3 holes higher! Mario and my partnership continues to build with each outing like this and I'm very proud of what we've been able to achieve in what was a very short year for him.

Cole. He surprised us a little last weekend at the dressage by posting some great scores. This week he was the surprise again in the show jumping! He is one of my favourite horses to ever work with due entirely to his massive heart and desire to please his rider. Being athletic and having a decent jump doesn't hurt either... But in a big ring with big fences he's often intimidated and gets really backed off. He doesn't do this at home so it's hard to practice correcting him. There was none of this in the ring this time in all 3 of his rounds and he jumped a lot bigger than he has to eventing. I was VERY proud of him and the work we've done to overcome his problems. We've been working with Marilyn specifically on his weaknesses and what we've been doing is working very well. I was so happy that she was able to give my horses and me as much time and help as she did.

That was my last competition for the year, which is sad as I love competing, but is also very exciting as it gives me a chance to plan for next year, work very closely with my students (who are very patient with my absences) and take a short break in the warmth of Australia. My favourite part of this time of the year, aside from getting Christmas presents, is all the wonderful food. Especially this American turkey they go crazy for at the end of November. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mario returns to the competition arena!!

Sunny showing some of the our winnings for the day....

You can tell I'm happy to have my competition partner back by the fact I'm hugging him!

What would normally be an unexciting day competing dressage was made very exciting this weekend by Mario's return to the show ring! Regular readers will remember back in April he injured himself and required some rehab and time away from jumping and the competition circuit. Whilst this is always disappointing with any horse it was even more so with him as he had had a great winter and was on fire to continue. I had big goals for him this year that we weren't able to get to unfortunately. As you may also remember this was pretty upsetting for me as I love all of my horses and invest a lot of personal time and effort into them, it's not just a job for me. Therefore you can imagine my excitement being able to compete him again finally. I was so excited I was even EARLY! I can honestly say, and my students can attest to it, have NEVER been early in my life! Anyhow he won a third and was very happy to be back out as a show horse. Add to this I unexpectedly ran into a friend I haven't seen for a long time (Mary-Beth) and I had a great start to the show.

The best part of the day however was the performance of Cole. He typically finds the dressage very tough and we've been working extremely hard on it. Finally it's paying off with a 3rd at second level and a good score and a 1st in the CIC 2 Star test. For this I must thank EEM event management having the foresight to offer eventing tests of choice. It is SO useful to be able to get the eventers out to dressage to work on that phase alone. On that same page I also think it's important to compete in pure jumping as well which is exactly what I'm doing this week. Cole, Ti, Mario and I are heading to Raleigh SJ in NC. I went to this show last year and found it extremely useful as the courses are BIG and technical. And competing against showjumpers adds a whole new perspective that I love. An added bonus is that my showjump trainer, Marilyn Meredith-Little, will be there and will be able to offer invaluable feedback about my actual competition rounds.

Next week I'll have the round up from that show and hopefully some photos so please keep checking back in.

Finishing the year as we started, in the winners circle!

Myself, Alex and Lisa in front of the novice 'brush of death', where despite her misgivings, Lisa survived. The boots are part of the team uniform.....

Rubicon Farm Horse Trials in VA was the venue for our last event of year and it was a great way to finish the year. My only ride, Queen of Pheoba, scored a winning 24 in the dressage finishing on that. She's a super mare and I hope that next year brings more success and ribbons for her. Alex MacLeod walked away win another win on the Ryan Wood trained, Railroad Man Jim. Actually walked away is an understatement, she ran away with the blue by 9.5 points. After posting a convincing lead after the dressage, 23, she added only xc time faults to her final score.

Lisa Kurr and Amy Gaynor also had successful starts with Lisa finishing a very close third on Cannyonleigh Sirecho and Amy coming from behind to finish 6th on her own Cindy Lou Who. Lisa did a fantastic job with Rocco, piloting him around for two double clears. Amy and Cindy looked like cross country pro's and are well and truly ready for the next level.

So that's eventing finished for the year and I'm already missing it!

All I have left is dressage with Mario and Cole then I'm heading to Raleigh, NC, for some showjumping in what will hopefully be warmer weather!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween is a great time to dress up and be creative, which is what some of the more ambitious competitors at Loch Moy did. For Amanda Cross the fear they generated had more to do with Atlantis' perception of the Bumble Bee eating the grey horse it was sitting on than theoretical Zombies knocking on the door at midnight! That hurdle passed tho, she competed with great style (including the unscheduled gymnastics to begin the showjumping) finishing second. This event did include a first for me, I'd never heard a starter start a horse with 'Hi Ho Silver and AWAY'! I think this should be the norm... Gibby Booth entered the dressage with a great looking Laney completing the trot work in great fashion and even a seamless transition to canter. Unfortunately the transitions were too early and the penalties cost her dearly. Her cross country was great considering it's their first competition in a while. Kirsten Chicca and Cadet did very well winning after the dressage and show jumping, unfortunately Cadet stopped at one fence cross country, so she has something to work on there.

Beth Sokohl headed to the prestigious Area II championships this weekend on Bucky. After a sizzling cross country round and in a tough division they finished 7th overall. A great job and a good indication they may move up soon.

Next weekend is our last event of the year at Rubicon then it's dressage and show jumping for the rest of the year.