Albury Wodonga, a great start for 2017. Thanks Horsewerks Bowral
Screaming down the Hume freeway from the south and the north, coming together for the first broadcast for 2017.
Saturday dressage for the star classes, all 3 in the main arena meant the warm up on the sand area before going into the ring was like a dance floor at the local disco. And there was plenty of interesting maneuvers on the postage stamp sized area.
Nat “Blunny” Blundell (darts champion)hung onto the top spot in the 1 star from early in the huge class on her perfect barbie doll mare Riverside Princess. A few of the usual suspects came along after lunch, Sophie Adams and Mercator Du Ry, Desert Storm with Sappho, doing tempi changes around the slimline warm up area and the eventual winner Doubled Vision with Andrew (I ride many horses) Cooper amongst the top 5.
The 2 star, a field of 32, quietly ticked over most of the day. Rascal was easy on the eye, winning a pair of Harcour sox whilst doing the winning test. Trevalgar 11 was smooth and BP Flamboyant was as his name suggests.
3 star was a field of 25, Koko Story was early in the draw, gave an error free performance, stayed in the top 5 till the end of the day. Clifford was the tipping competition favourite and posted a handy score to be 4th but it was CP Issey Miyake that took the lead close to the end of the draw. Belmont Backstage, aka Tooter is fairly renown for being artistic in the sand dancing but this time his rider Jess (pumpkin tits) Grosmann did an interesting maneuver from a cramp. Which our friendly Kiwi judge gave her the toot for… why is your leg sticking out?? Is there a penalty for that?
Saturday night show jumping saw all the local horsey folk out with their picnic blankies. Heath Ryan took the microphone and I reckon they wondered if he really needed it, Heath kept the masses entertained and when the sprinkler came on in the warm up area things could’ve got a whole lot crazier, thankfully crisis averted and the show went on. A scattering of poles down here and there saw the top 5 do some shuffling around, both hot favs Clifford and Issey Miyake dropping down the placings. Fluffy white-tailed Cushavon Crackerjack pinged into the lead.
Sunday morning was a lovely sunny day, and so glad were we to awake in daylight instead of the dark hours of daylight saving. Kicking off the day with 95cm, both Jo Brady and myself during the action, situated near the big shed beyond the water jump. The shed was the committee, ground jury and ambo centre of the universe. It didn’t take us long to realise the ambo had no intention of giving up their seats at the luncheon table so anyone that parted company with their mounts were expected to trek to the big green shed, now named the place for driver reviver. Seemed to work out well though because most falls encountered were gentle departures, if there is such a thing, but it’s worth noting no major falls were encountered in the star classes. Although Nat Blundell did try very hard to stay aboard the barbie doll mare right in front of our position in the 1 star, or maybe Nat just wanted to give the mare a loving hug. Off to the diver reviver they went.
The 2 and 3 star topped off a super day cross country, the sun shone, the horses jumped well, we all went away warm and fuzzy.
Albury Wodonga broadcast was proudly sponsored by Horsewerks Bowral, the shop where all the latest things stylish for riders and horses can be found.
Albury was also where the first of our Tipping Competitions kicked off, this time Harcour released a new range of gorgeous riding wear, thanks to Mustad Saddleworld Geelong. 3 fabulous jackets to be won by selecting the top 8 placings in the star classes.
And the winners are…
1 star winner … Amanda Young
2 star winner …Sam Farrar
3 star winner … Vicki Burgess
Feature image is Jo Brady also awarded Harcour sox to deserving recipients on Saturday during the dressage.
Our next broadcast will be Equestriad, 22nd and 23rd April. I hope we can snaffle some good prizes for the tipping competition again!
Hope you’re listening.
