Sunburst Equestrian Newsletter - December 2008

September to December has been a whirlwind of competitions as I alternate between Showjumping in the World Cup Qualifiers, the SJ Nationals in Canberra and our most prestigious Australian International 4 star Three Day Event in Adelaide.

This is followed up by another 4 weeks "on the road" Show Jumping at Equitana & Sale, then eventing at the rider friendly Lakes & Craters 3DE, and another long drive to Sydney & SIEC for the final SJ World Cup & prestigious ISS Show. After all this I have 2 days at home and fly off to UK / Europe for 6 weeks - half holiday/ half riding, hopefully to test the European scene and improve my showjumping but perhaps more importantly, my dressage riding !

Following the disappointment of non selection for the Olympics I had taken a "break" from Eventing and focused on taking up the challenge of the World Cup qualifier showjumping events with sucesses at Adelaide Royal Show and an exciting win at Melbourne Royal in September with my (retired eventer to) specialist showjumping mare, Koyuna Sun Set.

Continuing the showjumping focus, I was really looking forward to the National Showjumping Championships in Canberra, October 9 - 12. The grounds and equipment were supurb with 3 rings running full time over the 4 days and Leeson Sirett building the Championship courses. I rode my top World Cup Show Jump mare, Koyuna Sun Set and my Olympic reserve Event horse/World Cup Show Jumper, Koyuna Sun Magic in the Senior Championship series. My younger World Cup Show Jump/3* Event mare, Koyuna Sun Storm and my younger Olympic reserve Event horse, Koyuna Sun Dancer contested the non-Championship A&B Grade classes and Mini Prix, while my 3* Event mare, Koyuna Sun Shine started the C Grade classes and the Futurity and my promising young Show Jumper, Lord of the Sun, the Futurity class. Highlights included a 3rd and a 7th in the main class of the weekend, the Australian Championship Grand Prix, on Sun Set & Sun Magic ; a 2nd in the Mini Prix on Sun Storm ; a 2nd in the Futurity class on Lord of the Sun and wins in both A&B Grade classes on Sun Storm and Sun Dancer (also a 5th). Koyuna Sun Shine also jumped consistently well for a 3rd & 5th placings in the C Grade classes, which all proved to be a good preparation for both Shine & Dancer for the Adelaide CCI**** a month later.

From the National Show Jumping Championships my focus then shifted back to Eventing and the Adelaide Event, rebadged this year as the Australian International Three Day Event Championships. The Reynella Horse Trials at the end of October served as a good lead up event, where Dancer & Shine finish 2nd & 3rd in the CNC 3*, behind Megan Jones and her promising young Advanced horse, Kirby Park Allofasudden. I also enjoyed success in the CNC* class on Kristi Ebner's Tenacious D and ran 5th in the Pre Novice on my youngster, Kirsyl Sun. Interestingly for South Australians, the 3 star class of 5 horses, won by Megan Jones (fresh from her Olympic Silver Medal) from my 2 horses and Amanda Howell, saw 3 Olympic riders competing on 5 horses all showjumping clear to maintain their placings.

The Southern Vales Dressage Championships and the Kapunda Agricultural Show which hosted the SA Country Show Jumping Championships began November in a positive fashion with Kirsyl Sun winning the Preliminary Championship at the former and Koyuna Sun Storm becoming the SA Senior Country SJ Champion. The next weekend, prior to Adelaide, was a case of not being able to be in two places at once... I was fortunate that Megan Jones, with whom I have recently begun dressage training, was prepared to ride both Dancer & Shine for me at a local dressage day to practice the 4* test while I took my team of Show Jumpers to the Shepparton World Cup Show Nov 7-9. I really enjoyed my first time at Shepparton despite the torrential rain on the first day of the Show and posted consistent results. Koyuna Sun Set won Friday's 1.40m class and ran 7th in a large competitive World Cup class ; Lord of the Sun was 2nd in the C Grade Championships and 3rd in the Future Stars class while Koyuna Sun Storm ran 4th in the Mini Prix.

Home again to Adelaide for our one and only 4 star 3 day Event in the Southern Hemisphere, now billed as the Australian International 3DE to denote its place as our truly National Championships for Eventing. In the absence of our Olympic horses (Jester, Lucky & Jag) & reserves (Fox & Vettori) the way was clear for Megan and my 2 younger horses to take on Chris Burton & his reserve horse, Newsprint. Again the dressage proves to be my downfall and I, like Heath Ryan (with his Grand Prix dressage hat on), struggle with accepting the validity of scores that are so widely disparite that it makes the difference between coming first (as Dancer was with the scores of the 2 International judges, averaging a 67.41% for penalty score of 48.9) and 6th when adding in our Australian judge's low 58.15%, (some 26 & 24 points lower than the other 2 judges) for the penalty score of 53.5 that I completed the Event on without adding further jumping or time penalties. Enough said.

This year's Adelaide Event boasted a new Dressage and Show Jumping arena just above Rymill Lake in the middle of the City's East Parklands. The venue was much more intimate for the crowd and gave the horses and riders a far more exciting atmosphere ! Koyuna Sun Dancer and Koyuna Sun Shine fulfilled their potential with excellent performances at their first CCI 4* competition to run 3rd and 4th in a very tight competition, finishing on their dressage scores just 1.5 and 2.6 points behind the winner, Chris Burton and Newsprint. Megan Jones and Kirby Park Allofasudden had an unfortunate incident on cross country where a breastplate became undone, no doubt costing her precious time and relegating them to 2nd after leading the dressage. Otherwise the top four horses finished penalty-free to be exciting horses for future Australian representation.

Just 3 days after Adelaide we leave home again to contest the two World Cup Shows at Equitana and Sale and the Lakes & Craters Three Day Event at Camperdown before heading up to the Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC) for the final of the Australian League of the World Cup Qualifying rounds. Again the weather in Melbourne for the first day of Equitana was wet & wild making it doubtful that the jumping classes could run on the main arena, especially following 100 or so cutting horses who had ridden in heavy rain. With much rolling of the arena surface, the Show did go on with a competitive World Cup class of 30 starters. Koyuna Sun Set was again consistent to be 5th in the warm-up class and 8th in the WC Qualifier, a class where returning Olympian Laurie Lever and reserves, Chris Chugg and Adam Mellors showed top form to fill the podium. The Sale World Cup Show started out hot and humid with the grounds looking in superb condition until, in keeping with the recent Victorian World Cup Shows, the heavens opened up with an incredible amount of rain on Friday and Saturday. Amazingly, Sunday cleared up and by waiting until 2pm to use the main aren, the World Cup class was able to be run. Koyuna Sun Storm jumped very well all weekend for a 3rd and a 4th in the 1.35m and 1.40 classes on Friday & Saturday before jumping confidently over a large track to finish 8th in the W C Qualifier, beating her more experienced team-mate Sun Set for the first time at this level. Lord of the Sun ended the weekend on a good note producing the only double clear to win the Mini Prix.

The Lakes & Craters Three Day Event was a much needed quiet weekend for me when I only competed 3 horses at CCI* and Pre Novice levels. Tenacious D finished 9th in a tight CCI* class, Kirsyl Sun finished on his dressage score in 4th place in a competitive Pre Novice class while Michelle Tapp's Schmiklan added only 3.6 time penalties Cross Country in his first run at Pre Novice level. I was fortunate to have my "apprentice" young rider, Briony Temby riding and looking after my four show jumpers who were agisted nearby for this time, enabling me to stay at the venue and focus on the 3 horses competing. After 3 days of "R & R" at our friends Ken and Joy Germaine's beautiful property at Romsey, we headed up to SIEC Wednesday evening to arrive just after 7am Thursday morning for a Show starting on Friday. My fantastic Jumping Coach, Jamie Coman flew up to help prepare his riders for the big Show - my results certainly showed the benefit of his input ! Koyuna Sun Set was back to her best form for the final Show of the year, jumping clear rounds in all of her classes including the Grand Prix where she was one of only two horses to jump double clear and ran 2nd to Becky Allen and Koyuna Ted. This performance moved me up to a pleasing 4th on the World Cup leaderboard. Koyuna Sun Storm was also in excellent form running 4th in the 1.30m on the first day before winning the 1.40m class on Saturday and running 2nd in the Mini Prix on Sunday. High on adrenalin from the weekend's performances, we drove home Sunday night so I had time to organize myself for a 6 week working holiday in UK/ Europe.

Although a long way to go to get away, I felt I needed some time to clear my head from the disappointment of not being selected for the Olympics and move forward to focus on what I need to do to be selected for the 2010 Kentucky WEG and the 2012 London Olympics. I am privileged to have such a talented group of horses, both Eventers and Show Jumpers; I am determined to do them and myself, as a horse rider and trainer, justice in 2009 !.