Can you believe that it is one year ago that we launched the book An Eventful Life - Life Stories of Eventing Champions at Melbourne International 3DE 2010!
A lot has happened since then - from the World Equestrian Games to starting the run up to London 2012 and through out all of this the book has been selling well! Now we have a great offer for you at Melbourne International 3DE if you haven't bought your copy yet - you can meet the riders at the Equestrian Life stand in the Winter Trade Village, get your copy signed and pay only $25 (usual price $34.95)
Five of the six riders featured in the book will be competing at the event. Those of you who have been following Wendy Schaeffer's updates on this site and her blog on Equestrian Life will know that she is currently based overseas competing her eventing horses and show jumping mare Leah in the campaign for London 2012 - and doing very well at both! We will miss her not being at M3DE but we'll have the other guys around to keep you entertained!
Last year's winner and another rider featured in the book, Sonja Johnson will be unable to defend her title as she is currently recovering from a fractured pelvis. However, she will be on the Equestrian Life stand to sign books and have a chat - she can't go very far so come and keep her busy! Having being bedridden for a while, she is itching to get out there and catch up with what has been going on! Stuart Tinney has opted not to bring his four star horses to M3DE this year as he has his eye on the big purse at the Australian International Three Day Event at Adelaide in November which is now part of the HSBC FEI Classics Series. However he will be bringing two up and coming stars of the Tinney stable - GV Anzac owned by Olivia Bunn will be competing in the 2* and Orchard Hill in the 3*.
Shane Rose and Niki Chapman have been having a great year with their rising stars and young horses in addition to running the extremely successful Eventing Equestriad in Camden recently. This event goes from strength to strength each year and is thanks to a great bunch of people running it who really make the event enjoyable for participants and spectators. No doubt Shane will be as competitive as ever at M3DE - not only with his riding but I'm dying to see if he participates in the Parcours Jumping by the Horseman Team from Paris. These guys do show jumping without the horse and Shane has some experience in this area - as you would know if you have read An Eventful Life!
Everyone looks forward to catching up with the very popular Megan Jones whenever she is on the stand. Megan will also be doing a course walk for us on Saturday leaving from the Equestrian Life stand in the Trade Village. We'll provide more details of the time mid-next week. Rumour has it that she may be joined by an ex-rodeo rider who quite likes a bit of dressage nowadays. Maybe Brett Parbery is now thinking of taking up cross country riding! This will be one course walk you won't want to miss!
Emma Scott will also be with us - now located at Centennial Park in Sydney, Emma and her horses have been acclimatising to city life and they are learning how to use pedestrian crossings - I'm sure that will come in useful somewhere out on the cross country course!
An Eventful Life will be available on the Equestrian Life stand where you'll also be able to buy the first issue of the new look Equestrian Life magazine at a very special M3DE price of $5. There will also be laptops on the stand so you can check out the Equestrian Life website and register to receive the first issue of the eZine absolutely FREE.
This is going to be a GREAT Melbourne 3DE - stay tuned for lots more news next week and to follow all of the action if you can't be there
