Having just returned from a very successful Melbourne International Three Day Event which quickly followed my return from the USA for the Kentucky CCI**** campaign, I felt it was time to update you with the second Sunburst Equestrian Newsletter for 2007.

“Koyuna Sun Magic” performed creditably in the USA for an overall 6^th placing at the prestigious Kentucky International CCI**** which has seen him reinstated to the National Elite Squad and has him qualified for the Beijing Olympics. I had an awesome time in Lexington, USA staying with a lovely couple, Eloise & Oscar Penn while ‘Fox’ was boarded at Maggie Wright’s lovely property, “Champagne Run.” The Kentucky event organiser, Jane Atkinson, really looked after us Australians well (Heath Ryan also travelled with me & made for an entertaining 3 weeks!) by asking her fellow committee member, Eloise if she would mind putting up some Australians…it certainly snowballed from there as we pretty much took over one floor of their house with my groom, Mary Fitzgerald, my parents and Australian Team Physiotherapist, Narelle Stubbs all arriving in stages and staying at various times too! We did have a lot of fun meeting their friends over many dinner parties and very much enjoyed visiting various thoroughbred studs and taking in the beautiful Lexington countryside which makes it the horse capital of the world. I am looking forward to returning their wonderful hospitality when they visit ‘Down Under’ for the Adelaide International Horse Trials in November.

While I did have a great trip, I also made some stupid mistakes which caused a little more stress than was ideal…presenting a ‘handy hints for travellers’ booklet instead of my passport at Melbourne airport wasn’t an effective way of ensuring I travelled with my horse – I was forced to book a domestic flight to LA 12 hrs later, having had my passport couriered over first thing the next morning. Poor Dad had to get it out of my desk drawer & down to Adelaide airport by 5am that morning! Unfortunately, when I arrived in LA I was told that Fox had some travel sickness and was undergoing Veterinary treatment. Although this was not good news, I was lucky that he was looked after so diligently by the quarantine Vet, Jill Bailey and he was able to leave quarantine on schedule some 36 hrs after they arrived in the USA. Having moved into the competition venue, the vastly impressive Kentucky Horse Park, on the Saturday before the competition week I then made my next major mistake which caused possibly even more stress. On the Monday morning, I decided to delay riding Fox by 30 mins so I could drive up to the event office to ask which practice areas we could use. As the horses had been turned out in some grass corrals the previous afternoon with no problems, I asked Mary to turn out Fox for a little while before I rode him. However, he was obviously upset that he could not see his new paddock mate, “Flame” and proceeded to overreach badly on his left fore. Needless to say this was not part of the plan two days before trot up!

 Having made Fox more comfortable with much icing & a change of shoe, he did pass the first Veterinary inspection and was a starter! Huge thanks go to our Australian Team contingent who had flown in for the event; National Eventing Coach, Wayne Roycroft Team Vet, Dennis Goulding and Team Physio, Narelle Stubbs for getting Fox to the start line. The American Vets and farriers were also wonderful and genuinely wanted to see me start. However, our Dressage wasn’t quite up to standard having lost those last few precious days of ‘arena time’ at the venue. A score of 57.6 was disappointing as I didn’t feel it reflected the progress Fox has made on the flat recently but I was lucky to be competing at all so just had to make the most of it. Cross Country day was fine, providing perfect weather conditions for the demanding course of 34 fences over nearly 6.5km of undulating ground. Fox was just a little ‘green’ in places over the first part of the course but had improved markedly by halfway to finish strongly, some 10 seconds within the time. He was the first of 8 horses (out of 40 starters) to finish clear within the time and moved up to 8^th place from his 20^th placing after dressage. As his over-reach was improving with time, Fox pulled up the morning after Cross Country better than the morning before it & I found the 3^rd Horse Inspection a little less stressful! In recent years the showjumping phase of the event has proved highly influential and on walking the course, I understood why! I felt confident that a clear showjumping round could elevate me further in the final standings and indeed it would have but it was not to be; a rail and 3 time penalties resulting from a rather defensive ride which I felt reflected the fact that I haven’t been exposed enough to such pressure in International competition during the past 10 years. Still, it is something that I will take away to work on.        

 

My two young Advanced horses, “Koyuna Sun Dancer” and “Koyuna Sun Shine” continued their Autumn season where they began; another exciting 1,2 finish at the Reynella CNC*** on May 5& 6. They were then competitive for a 2^nd and a 4^th at the Naracoorte CIC*** which served as a good final preparation for the Melbourne International CCI***. Dancer and Shine excelled at Werribee, finishing 1^st and 3^rd in the CCI***, gaining their Olympic qualification in the process. They began with good dressage tests, scoring a 49.2 and a 51.9 to be 6^th and 11^th respectively, which I felt were as good as their stage of training and physical development currently allows. They both displayed their significant jumping and galloping ability across country to post 2 of the 7 clear rounds within the time to move up to 3^rd and 5^th placings going into the showjumping. Again, the showjumping at Werribee was of significant influence being built beautifully but also of great technical demand in the indoor arena. Shine opened with a great round which just had the one rail towards the end of the course which I put down to a slight error of my line. Dancer, benefiting from my the experience of my previous ride, made no such mistake to post one of only two clear rounds and win the class when the 2 horses ahead him had jumping penalties. Shine moved up two places to third, capping off a great weekend for my youngsters. At 7yo they both have plenty of time and room for improvement making their future very promising.

“Koyuna Sun Storm” also finished her Autumn season well with a 4th place at Reynella, despite a glance-off at a difficult apex to narrow fence combination, and a strong win at the Naracoorte CIC*. I believe she is ready to upgrade to 2* now and plan to compete her at the Kooralbyn CIC** in QLD mid-July in order to qualify her for a CCI** start at Sydney in September or if needed at the test event in Hong Kong in August. “Lord of the Sun” has made rapid improvement for a 5^th place and a 2^nd place at his two first Pre-Novice starts at Reynella and Naracoorte. He has learnt to trust me when I ask him to jump into those scary water jumps!  

Yours Sincerely,

Wendy Schaeffer OAM