Wally and Chris Burton
I am so excited to join the team of bloggers at An Eventful Life and look forward to sharing my adventures with you all throughout the year.
2014 ended on a high for us. A good season based on the east coast at Bates Equestrian culminated in a win at Adelaide. We then made the trip back across the Nullarbor to WA and the horses had a couple of weeks R’n’R. On the 14th of December we had possibly my favourite event in Western Australia - Eventing in the Park.
I had entered Trumby (Legal Star) for the event and on the Friday night beforehand Wally (Two Chances) was thrown in as catch ride for Chris Burton when the horse he was meant to be riding fell through. Trumby pulled off a nice clear round to finish in 5th, however the star of the show was Wally who also pulled off a clear round but finished closest to the optimum time and won the Holden Captiva! Not sure that Trumby has yet forgiven Wally but I couldn’t have been happier with how he went, especially after Wally and Chris had just one ride together before the event!
Wally, Chris Burton, super groom Alice Davies and sponsor of the award for the Highest Placed OTTTB Sharon Joyce (above) and Trumby at Eventing in the Park (below)
After the excitement of Eventing in the Park, the horses then had a couple more easy weeks, lots of hacking and lots of trips to the beach. At the end of December I made the trip over to the UK to spend a few weeks working with Gareth Hughes. I got to ride some absolutely amazing dressage horses and all in all gained a huge amount from the time I spent at his yard. As much as I loved the time at Gareth’s I couldn’t help but sneak in a few days with some of our UK based Aussie eventers- I was lucky enough to spend some time with Bill Levett, Sam and Lucy Griffiths and Chris Burton and Bek Thompson.
Bek training up Burto's next 4* horse?
Following my UK adventures I flew to Germany to visit my brother in Hamburg and spent a few days being a tourist before flying back to Australia. I think I am alone on this one but I was really grateful for some hot weather by the time I got back to Perth! Steph Spencer had kept Trumby and Wally in some light work for me while I had been away so when I got home they were ready to get straight back into it. Unfortunately while I was away I missed the Equestrian WA awards night where Trumby and I won both WA domestic athlete and domestic horse of the year for 2014!
Australia day long weekend we headed down to the amazing Yalambi Farm Stud for the George Morris clinic. I think everyone who either rode or spectated would agree that the clinic was a huge success and it was good to see so many people make the trip down to spectate. It was also great to see Yalambi showcasing some of their beautiful stallions, mares and foals.
The last few weeks it has been good to be home for a while. I have a few babies that I have been breeding over the last few years which I have been able to spend some time with. The two that I have been riding over the summer are a 2011 gelding by Yalambi’s Carpino Z as well as a 2012 filly by Higgins who I have just started under saddle.
Legal Surprise (Holly) by Higgins
The last few weeks have started to get busy again, lots of showjumping and dressage days and the first WA event of the season not far away. A couple of weeks ago we had a National squad clinic in WA and Trumby had some great lessons with Gareth and Prue.
We then jumped on a plane and went over to Sydney for the National Camp which was also really good, it would have been nice to have our horses there but I think all the West Australians that went over got a lot out of watching lessons and critiques from all the other riders. I can’t believe it is nearly March already! For the moment I am enjoying spending some time back in WA but am looking forward to coming back over to NSW in the next couple of months once the horses have had a couple of runs. While I have been home it has also been really good to catch with some of my ever supportive sponsors and I can’t thank them enough; Back on Track, Brookleigh Equestrian Estate, Cadbury Fundraising-WA, Equestricare Equine Sports Therapy, Mitavite, Prestige Farrier Services, Saddles Plus, Valley Equine Vet Centre
Trumby getting massaged by Ros Maindock from Equestricare after returning home from Adelaide
Looking forward to what the next few weeks bring as the eventing season gets back underway with Capel CNC!
Jess
