Despite it being the off season, this past month has been as busy as ever, filled with young horses and coaching! Most of the horses I have in work are Irish Sport Horses sent to me from the ESB (Equine Sports Breeding) stud in Euroa for training and campaigning, and they range from green broken to FEI horses, so it is rewarding and interesting work with some super and talented horses. I have been to a few freshmans show jumping days so they can get out and about and I can get to know them in a relaxed atmosphere before the start of the season and they are all jumping very well which is exciting.
My own horse, Zone had a month off after MI3DE before being brought back into work, making it a total of nine horses in work! Luckily I have a fantastic groom (Thanks Ruby!) who makes it possible! After being named as one of the Top 10 Young Eventing Riders of the Year, Zone and I headed off to Werribee for the training and selection day which was a great experience. I enjoyed getting to know riders from other disciplines and benefited from Nina Clarke’s expert instruction. Having only just come back into work Zone was a good boy! Then it was off to my dressage coach Manolo Mendez’s place ‘La Mancha’ in Sunbury for a week with Zone. As always this was such an amazing and helpful opportunity. Not only did it really help Zone and I get started better than where we left off, but I also got to ride some of Manolo’s horses too which was pretty incredible.
With the school term being well underway by this point, so were all my Saturday riding programs and weekly cross country lessons, and of course lots of private lessons too, so it was a bit of a relief to be able to squeeze in a weekend away at the beginning of August with my family at Mt Buller skiing. Turns out my Dublin Harrowed boots are perfect snow boots too!
As soon as I arrived home to Tooradin Estate it was back to business, with the first competition of the season looming. Seeing how much I enjoy straight show jumping as well as eventing, I have decided to try and do more of it throughout the second half of the year. The first competition of the season was the Geelong Show Jumping Championships, and we started off in fine form with Zone jumping a lovely round in the 1.20m young rider class in deep/soft going with one unfortunate rail down, and then proceeding to win the 1.10m class with a very competitive double clear. What a great way to start the season!
It’s going to be busy from here on out with Friends of Werribee Horse Trials, Sale Show, Eventing Victoria State Championships, and the Australian Show Jumping Championships all coming up!