The past month has seen us compete at the Northside Spectacular Polo in the McCarrols 6 Bar where Stuart came a creditable third on Queen Mary and Gemma fourth on Panamera. It was a great day and well done to the Northside Riding Club for a well run event.
Gemma was privileged to compete for NSW at the Interschool's Nationals in the top showjumping class, where the NSW team won by almost 100 points!
Unfortunately Gemma did not get selected for the eventing, which was disappointing however having a place on the NSW team for showjumping was on reflection better due to the HSC exams which Gemma is right in the middle of. Best of luck to all those stressed parents (I am one of those!!) plus the teenagers sitting HSC- GOOD LUCK :)
The Nationals Interschool Championships for Gemma was not too busy with just one show jumping round per day ! So there was plenty of time to study inbetween for Gemma ( but not sure how much was actually done!) and Carlchen was part of the winning NSW team at 1.20m. The rest of the team were all fabulous riders, a standout team - thanks Cade Hunter, Maddie Sinderberry and Jess Rice-Ward, for making the week of Nationals fun :)
Spring has certainly arrived, slightly hotter than normal and possibly drier, which does not help the horses that are being prepared for Adelaide. It means lots of careful planning for us, taking alot of care where we gallop them and compete them (until the rain comes!!). It’s hard to believe that almost another has year gone by and that the Olympics are looming so we are now head down (and bottoms up!) The plan is to have our top three horses - Pluto, Anna and Raffles (War Hawk) – qualified and our German horses, Queen Mary and Carlchen, will go to Melbourne International 3DE to provide the possibility of back up horses.
Canberra Horse Trials was certainly a hot weekend and testing on the horses so Stuart took it easy on his rides. Stuart took Carl, Q and Anna for a nice run round the CIC3* with Queen Mary running third and Anna fifth. Carl, who is greener, had a glance off the arrow head out of the water, so Stuart tipped his hat and walked home - Carl has a very bright future so certainly did not need to run round the rest of the course.
After the Nationals, Gemma took Panamera and a new addition, Skyline, to the Camden Youth Show Jumping Festival, where she placed in every class while Stuart went to Canberra with Carl, Q, Anna. The festival was a great three days, however very hot for all days. We also loaned Prado and My Thai to the NZ/ NSW challenge where both horses performed exceptionally well, taking the NSW team to win by one point!
Both horses jumping double clear to clinch the win! BOTH Prado and My Thai are on the market due to Gemma doing HSC then her schoolies trip with her dad and we would like to sell both horses before the summer months. Both horses are well performed, have had a very good education and ridden by Gemma to 1 Star (Prado)and 2 Star (Thai) so please contact us for more information.
Gemma's biggest class was the 1.35m accumulator where she took out first with the only clear round
Goulburn was our last run before the Australian International 3 Day Event ( 20-22nd November) and we’re hoping to get all three horses to Adelaide; the Pittards’ Pluto and Anna were well behaved, placing 5th and 6th in the CIC*** with Corinna and Darren Huskinson 's War Hawk in 8th. All horses pulled up well but with time penalties across country as the ground was suffering from no rain. Kathy Ward and Pete O'Connell's Queen Mary did an outstanding job, coming 3rd in the CCI**.
Calendar:
8th NOV- Hawkesbury dressage: Pluto/Anna/War Hawk plus Karen on French Evening.
ADELAIDE: 20-22nd NOV: Pluto/Anna/War Hawk
