Photos: Cindy Voß
This month’s International Animal Health Rider of the Month is Jamie Kermond. Jamie has been delighting Aussie showjumping fans with his performances on the European circuit with Quite Cassini, and has now unveiled yet another star in his string, Yandoo Oaks Constellation, winner of the Six Bar at the prestigious Longines Global Champions in Paris…
That must have been special – a win in front of the Eiffel Tower?
“It sure was. I’m not a rider who has started in many Six Bars in my career so far. There have always been other classes to start the horses in, but then I was at Rotterdam, Yves Houtager’s show – he got me a spot at the show. He wanted another horse for the Six Bar, and put a bit of pressure on me to start Constellation. I thought, oh well, I’ll give it a go one time. He won there – jumped two metres.”
“Then I couldn’t get into any of the shows, I rang Edwina, we normally don’t like to ring Edwina too much because she is so busy with her own program. But I thought I’ll give her a ring and see if she has any suggestions of shows I can get into. Jessica Springstein was in at Paris, and she couldn’t go, so Edwina organized for me to have her spot there, which was pretty amazing. We were pinching ourselves that we were able to go. We found out on the Tuesday that we had the spot and have to leave on the Wednesday. When I got there, and there was really good money on the Six Bar, I thought I’ll start him in it one more time. Then he jumped two metres in Paris in front of a big crowd and the Eiffel Tower, it was pretty amazing.”
Is that his last Six Bar?
“For a while… I really think later in the outdoor season, and next year, he’s going to be a really good Grand Prix horse. He’s really careful and scopey, he’s got all the jump there. I just need to keep working on his rideability, which we’ve been doing, and it is getting better. Quite Cassini is doing a really good job this year but he lacks support. Last year, he had Caracas, I could use both horses and save them a bit more. This year, he has had to do a lot of the work himself, I need ‘Napper’ to really step up to the next level.”
Have you had Constellation, alias Napper, from the start?
“Before I was at Yandoo, Jamie Winning and Brooke Campbell went to a Sale that Alice Cameron had at Oaks. It wasn’t like an auction, but you could go and watch the horses freejump, and they all had prices on them. Jamie’s dad said if there is anything you like, buy it, he likes to support people who are breeding horses in Australia. Jamie and Brooke ended up running really late to the open day, and when they got there, there were only two horses left to see. One was Constellation – that one looks okay – so they bought it. I think it was a two-year-old. He was called ‘Napper’ because all he did was sleep. By the time he was three, he was seventeen hands, he wasn’t really a horse that would suit Jamie or Brooke. Then I came along, he must have been four then, and I started riding him.”
Is it hard with a horse as tall as that, to get him balanced?
“That’s one of the major problems at the moment. When there are steady lines, he is a little bit strained behind, he is a bit weak, and if you get a steady five stride line, that’s where he struggles – everything else is totally fine. That’s why I was a bit worried about six barring him because he’s got the big stride, and I haven’t done many Six Bars. I wasn’t sure how to do it, but he is so careful that he just started looking at the top rail and backing up, and getting in the air. He felt like he did it easy, he could have jumped a bit bigger, but I’m glad he didn’t have to.”
Quite Cassini is ticking over nicely for you?
“We’ve been really happy with him this year. He’s jumped fantastic, I just haven’t had a whole lot of luck in the classes. He’s had some really good results and in a couple of five-star Grand Prix – Rotterdam and Paris – I think the horse could have jumped clean both times. I don’t get the opportunity to jump in those classes very often, and I think the nerves just got to me. I think I rode 10% off what I needed to, and it caused a rail. Then in Paris, after I had an early rails, there are always so many clears that to make the second round, you’ve got to be a pretty fast four faulter, so I tried to chase time and got a bad miss at the treble and had one more down, but if I could ride that class again, I’d be fairly confident I could get him around clean. That’s the way show jumping is – the course builders have sort of beaten me at the five-star level so far, I’m itching to get more chances to ride those courses.”
Plans?
“The main goal is that we have to get qualified for the Olympics. Hopefully we can get that done. Then a five-star at Treffeld, and then a month after that, the Nations Cup final in Barcelona. Hopefully we’ll all have our horses right this year, because it would be great to make the final day there. We weren’t too far away last year, then we had a great result in the Challenge Cup, just getting beaten by America. It would be good if we could go one step better and make the Final.”
Is it very different, that you have been in Europe on a number of occasions, and know your way around the scene?
“It does feel different. Even when you get in the car and have to drive somewhere, get feed, or go to the farrier’s shop, and you don’t have to put the navigation on to go ten minutes down the road. At the shows, you know a lot of people, it makes it a lot easier. You get a bit lonely over here sometimes but it gets better the longer you are here…”
This month, the Rider of the Month receives 1 x Mec Worma & Tape All Wormer valued @ $20.70.
FARNAM MecWorma and Tape AllWormer is a highly effective broad spectrum anthelmintic achieving up to 100% worm kill (including benzimidazole resistant strains). MECWORMA and TAPE ALLWORMER utilises a combination of two horse wormers from different classes, abamectin (macrocyclic lactone) and morantel tartrate (tetrahydropyrimidine). Abamectin and morantel tartrate are both broad spectrum anthelmintics that allow for combined treatment and control of both large and small strongyles, tapeworm, cutaneous onchocerciasis and nematodes including Habronema and Draschia spp.
