Words by Rebecca Ashton, and photos by Rebecca Ashton and Julie Wilson
There’s a well known quote by Vivian Greene. “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.” The combinations on the Thursday of the Saddleworld Australian Dressage Championships were literally getting plenty of dance practice in atrocious conditions. Starters experienced the heavens violently open up and the arenas instantly turn into lakes. Grade 2 para rider Victoria Davies riding Andaluka Elegido was one competitor who copped the brunt of the tempest. “When I was riding there was 21mm of rain between 12:00 and 13:00 o’clock. We’re used to the rain because I live on a flood prone property, so he’s used to puddles. He loved it! He wanted to go faster. He’s white, but he wasn’t white afterwards and my joddies went see through! We won by almost 3% though, so it was all worth it in the end.”
Victoria Davie and her now white again, Andaluka Elegido. ABOVE: Victoria Welch on Glogau during the Grand Prix freestyle
Luckily the rest of the weekend was close to perfect in terms of the weather which therefore cannot be blamed for the poor crowd attendance for the Saturday night Kür competition. It was a shame really, as there were some lovely tests. Was it because of live streaming and people are not bothering to leave their lounge rooms? I think it’s a great alternative if there’s no other option, and it works to help promote the sport, but if you really want to cheer on the riders and give them a good atmosphere, get thee to the stands!
The one thing I have to make comment on in the Grand Prix freestyles were the choices of music. Great leaping leprechauns! It would seem the Irish jig is the new ‘tubular bells’ or Beatles. With so much music on offer in the world, perhaps we could have something other than celtic chords. Almost every freestyle had it in there somewhere. …..and was that Valegro’s music I heard at one stage?
One rider who opted for something different was Brett Parbery on DP Weltmieser who came second on 74.7% to the oh-so-professional combination of Mary Hanna and Umbro on 75.5%. Brett had a very successful competition accumulating seven rugs from the eight FEI competitions with three horses.
“I’ve had a great show,” enthused Brett.
Another win for Brett and Weltmeiser
Why did you ‘only’ come second in the GP freestyle? Haha
“I have to say, when I heard Mary’s score go up, I thought, wow. I know her freestyle and when she gets it right, it’s very good. I was out the back and I thought, ‘You know what, my freestyle’s too boring’ so I started changing it. I knew I could tweak it a bit. When I came in I went for absolute maximum. I couldn’t get any more out of the horse. The freestyle was a PB for us. Also this weekend was only his third Special. He’s won all three Specials he’s done. I was also just told that he is my third Grand Prix Australian Champion, the other two being Whisper and Victory Salute. You forget these things as you go.”
“Zeppelin won the Inter A but then got colic and I had to withdraw him. He’s ok though.”
Do you think your new high performance plan has been helping?
“I do. I can’t exactly put my finger on one thing but I believe the culmination of the new plan and all the little things we’ve been doing has evolved into better results. But the work doesn’t stop here. Now I’ve got to go away and work harder because we’re still so far off European pace that we’ve just got to keep working hard.”
“I’m going to bring out a new freestyle in the final World Cup qualifier. It’s coming out of Canada from Karen Robinson. I’d like to do well, as it would make the trip over to Europe a little bit easier if we decided to go.”
“And in the end, you can’t do it without good horses and good owners. I’ve also got great people who help me behind the scene; all the experts and staff.”
Advanced champions, Elliot Patterson and Boronia HG
HIGHER LEVELS
Brett was only one of a number of men who are now beating out the girls for the ribbons in the female dominated sport. Also having successful weekends were Heath Ryan, Jeremy Janjic, David McKinnon, David Shoobridge, Rodney Martin, Deon Stokes and Elliot Patterson.
The blokes shine! David Shoobridge, Dave McKinnon and Brett Parbery
I spoke to Elliot about his lovely chestnut Hanoverian mare Boronia HG who came 1st and 2nd in the two Böckmann Floats Advanced tests and rounded off a successful weekend with a third in the Prydes EasiFeed Advanced freestyle.
“The horse is a nine-year-old by Breitling W. Robert and Ela Weight imported her three years ago. She’s a state premium mare and has already had a foal. She was bred by Christian Heinrich who also bred Blind Date. Christian and Wolfram Wittig (who owns Breitling) have a close relationship with the horses. Christian also bred Barolo, Charlotte Dujardin’s latest Grand Prix horse, who is another Breitling.”
“Boronia’s come up the levels quite quickly. She’s a joy to ride, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of horse. I started riding her two years ago. She’s very laid back, more like a gelding than a mare but when it comes time to compete, she can get pretty fiery and likes to show off and then is a bit difficult to ride. We’re getting to a point now though that I’m able to work with her a bit more in the ring which helps. I’m starting to feel happier and more confident that I’ll come out of a test and still have a horse at the end of it not come out wondering what was that?!”
Alexis and Elliot – Lexy definitely has the prettier head…
“You don’t have to coax her to move. You’re more or less just asking her to settle. She’s probably the most enjoyable horse I’ve ever had and I have a real connection with her in terms of our personality as Alexis (Hellyer) would know. She comes in between our relationship sometimes!”
Alexis confirmed, “Yes, I come second to Boronia. But Boronia is furry and doesn’t have the prettiest head, so I think I’m ok.”
LOWER LEVELS
Emma Flavelle was all over the lower levels, having to step up to the podium quite a few times for each test. She could possibly even hold the record for the most tests ridden over the weekend with 18 in total! Amongst her haul of ribbons were a win in the Prydes EasiFeed Advanced Freestyle with Cabaret C and two reserve champions with the imported Hanoverian stallion Fiderfürst in Elementary and Medium. Added to that, the Queensland rider was presented with three gold performance medals from the Australian Dressage Committee.
The imported stallion, Fiderfürst and Emma Flavelle, looking good in the Elementary and Medium classes
Shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon?
“I should be! My poor suffering husband! We got married two weeks ago. Hopefully we’ll go somewhere over Christmas.”
“It’s funny, we got married and Will, my husband went for four days on The Great Ocean Road on a honeymoon with his mate without me, so I’ve actually only seen him for about three days! Now I’ve gone away on a honeymoon with my horses. He’s very tolerant. He’s not really horsey but he’s a great groom. I’m training him up and he’s getting his eye in so he’s becoming quite useful on the ground! We’ve been together for ten years so he knew what he was getting into.”
Was that a condition of getting married? That you’d be coming to the Nationals?
“Yes! haha. I brought four horses and they’ve all done very well. It will be a happy trip home. Even the Hedburg’s other stallion Premonition, who spends one weekend with Brett Cantle and does an eventing competition and then comes to me to be a dressage horse. It can be a little bit tricky because, like in this competition he was almost a bit too fit. I actually had to retire him from a test today. I think he was looking for the jumps! He’s eight so maybe we need to make a decision on his career but he’s super trainable and I think I can get him up the levels pretty quickly.”
“I’ve got a really great team of horses and owners. It’s just all building. I’m really lucky.”
“Cabaret C is still a bit green at Prix St Georges but I think she’s a really exciting horse for the future. She reminds me a lot of my old Grand Prix horse Northern Meara.”
ORGANISERS
This year, although there was still a VIP dinner option on the terrace of the SIEC indoor, new organisers Cathie Drury-Klein and Deb MacNicol arranged an open area full of couches and coffee tables with good access to a bar and food store instead of a tented VIP area. It would seem that the arrangement was one of the most popular additions to the competition where riders could mingle and a nightly happy hour was held when the day’s presentations were made. It was fun, social and inclusive. Bravo!
I spoke to Cathie and Deb about their decision…
Cathie: “This is the first Nationals that two individuals have organised rather than an organising committee. We did it on behalf of Equestrian NSW because they wanted a break from it this year. It was quite hard because we only had two and a half months to do it but we’re really happy with the result of the event.”
“Deb and I have known each other for a long, long time but we’ve never put on an event together. It’s had its geographic challenges because I come from Orange and Deb comes from Victoria. Logistically we’ve had quite some challenges and only had three face-to-face meetings. There were a lot of phone calls involved! We’ve had a great response to the big area.”
Deb: “I ran my first Nationals in Queensland in 1982. I felt we needed to go back a little bit to the way it was in the early days where everyone is treated the same and to try to bring everyone together. The necessary components to any competition are the riders, the horses, the judges, the officials, the sponsors, the volunteers and the venue. Without any one of them, you won’t have the event. So you have to make sure that you treat all of them the same. I think we’ve created a little bit of a culture that we have to really look after the international officials so that they will come. Then they would come because they could have a nice international holiday and we would pay for it.”
“This venue is very difficult because it’s so big. In the past, riders would come up here to the indoor, get their ribbon then all go back to the trucks where they’d have 15 different private parties. We wanted them to feel included. Also, the sponsors want to talk to the riders and the general public. That’s how they sell their products. Just sitting in a little area with the judges is not helping them do that. So we did this open area here with that mindset. It wasn’t easy and we took a lot of risks.”
COACH
In similar fashion to last year, a clinic for squad riders with National Dressage Advisor Ton de Ridder was run before the Championships. There were mixed feelings, some riders loved it and some thought it all too much for the horses so close to such a major event. But what did the coach think?
“It was very interesting. I have to make a big compliment to Julia (Battams) and her team. They made a great job in organising this. Still, I want to be honest, it is a little bit a shame that some riders, not only with me, but also with Lone (Jorgensen) and Bjarne (Elefsen), the riders don’t always turn up at the right spot. I have other things to do than have 45 minutes off, or to wait. I think it’s not so polite, not to just me but also the Federation and the people who organised it. On the other hand other riders rode with me almost everyday and took up spare spots.”
What were your thoughts?
“Everything develops very nicely. Still we have to look after the better riders and not stay at the same standard.We have to look forward. I think that everybody has seen what happened at Caen. We had the highest averages ever and still we missed one score of 72 or 73 and then you have to be honest, are we really good enough?”
How do you see the lead up to Rio going?
“I have seen I think some interesting horses and also some horses at Prix St Georges that are really good. Still I don’t really agree with the discussion yesterday evening (there was discussion about having Olympic and WEG qualifying events in Australia). It is a shame, but it is what it is, and the better sport is in Europe. It is not just the point of qualifying. We recognise together with the EA, with Julia, with me, with other people that we competed last year, not enough overseas. The riders did a great job, but the judges recognise that our riders are really not so bad, just one second too late. Still I say it again, we have to look to the better ones.”
Mary Hanna and Umbro – victory in the Freestyle!
“This is another thing and we had the same problem last year; the event here is great, the arenas, good judges the organisers all good, but the atmosphere like we will have at the World Cup qualifier next week in Lyon, is totally different. Everyone should take a look on Eurosport, when you have the World Cup qualifier in Europe, it is very tricky.”
“We hope like in Caen that the Kür and the Special is sold out, and we cannot forbid and we should not forbid the people to enjoy the event and clap or make them be quiet. They should show their emotions. If the horses are not used to it, that can make it really difficult.”
“Yesterday we discussed it, and it is my opinion also, to do the qualifier for Tokyo a little bit different. The riders need to compete against the best ones that they can, then when they are good, the judges can recognise the riders and know they are not so bad.”
Dave McKinnon and Daytona Joy – Novice Champions
“Today was for me really a surprising day. There was one person who turned up today to ride her test at the totally wrong place. This is the management of the rider. It needs to be 100%. You are travelling so far and doing so many things, you are nervous, and the rider goes to totally the wrong arena. I cannot believe in Formula 1, all the cars drive to the right and one car drives to the left. There is no difference! Haha. It was a very nice wake up call for the rider.”
“When you take the results list, you can really see who did a proper job, who is interesting to develop, who has a nice team behind them. Dressage training is hard work: you have to do the proper training everyday, and even if you go out for a hack you can work, do really extended walks, make a halt, do some rein backs, this has to be done properly everyday. Correct flexion, bending, every single thing correct all the time. You need that discipline.”
AMATEUR OWNERS
Not everyone at the Nationals is heading to the Olympics and it’s nice to catch up with those who have put in the hard yards to be at the event as well as living “normal lives”. Yes! It can be done!
Liz Owens and Revelwood Starlight
Liz came all the way from Queensland to ride Elementary/ Medium with her mare. To add to the pressure, she was called up at the last minute to judge at the Championships.
You must have done something quite impressive today. I saw you with a ribbon!
“I plaited my horse up really well and they gave me a prize! No, not true. My dear six-year-old mare scored well in her first Elementary and came sixth in that, and tenth in the next one but we were the highest placed Amateur Owner in both of them which was really nice because it was actually a category that Mary Seefried and I set up through the ADC some years ago, so I actually created my own award! Haha. I’m going next time for the over 55 amateur owner animal nutritionist from Queensland with a husband called Peter prize! Nothing specific!”
“We really wanted to promote the fact that people can work full time and still be competitive at this sort of level and they can hold their own against professional riders on fully imported horses. If you’re consistent with your training and with a bit of luck, you can do well. There are people competing here who are not wealthy or professional riders and the rank-and file-riders out there can do it, can come out here get a ribbon.”
You also had your other hat on as judge this weekend as well?
“Yes I was asked to step in at the last minute and judge the Inter 1 which was a bit nerve wracking, but great. I was very grateful to have Ricky MacMillan on the centreline so I knew we had a professional in charge! It was a beautiful class, super horses and the riders did a great job. Having said that, I think there were four who managed to achieve the canter/ trot transition at C which was a bit sad. My penciller had to ask me is the head in the hands a good look for a judge? They throw points away. If you’re an amateur on a nice horse, how are you going to hold your own? You’re going to hit every marker, you’re going to make every transition a winner, you’re going to ride into every corner and you’re just going to polish and polish and polish until you get it right. And I think that’s a little bit lacking. The winners Brett Parbery and Lisa Martin are consummate professionals when it comes to arena craft. They don’t give a point away and that’s what makes them winners. I think it would be a mistake for people to say, oh they win because they’re sitting on imported horses, or they’re professional riders but there are a lot of people out there in that situation and they just give away points. They’re seriously competitive and they make it all look easy.”
Deborah Carr and Whispering Wizard
Deb bred, raised, trains, competes and owns her Advanced level gelding while holding down a job and raising two children.
“My life entails a full time job as Director of Development at Western Sydney University heading up a team of fund raisers. I also have two teenage children, one currently sitting his HSC and one in Year 9 and then in my spare time I mange to keep two horses in work, mainly focusing on this one Whispering Wizard. That generally means getting up at 05:30am, riding then jumping in the shower and making coffee and toast to go.”
“I actually got caught out by Vicki Newham and Judy Dierks doing my eyeliner at the lights at Dural on Wednesday morning as they were coming out here and I was going to work! I came out here on Friday morning just before my test.”
“I have my own lovely, little breeding line that started with a Thoroughbred mare that had been bred by Gai Waterhouse. She was along the Star Kingdom line so bred to be a stayer. I think they’d had trouble with her in the barriers so she was retired out at a property just behind my parents at Luddenham. We used to go trail riding on the property. A friend of mine bought her but she started to tie up so he gave her to me.”
“A couple of stock brokers I was working with at the time went in with me to breed a racehorse. That ended in disaster, so I thought the next time I’m going to breed a Warmblood for myself. My first one was Venus who I trained up to Grand Prix but she wasn’t quite sound so I retired her and she’s now in foal to 00 Seven. The next foal from the Thoroughbred mare was an Aachimedes filly. I then bred two foals from that filly with Helen Lawson who owns Zeppelin. Kerry Mack is a family friend so we put her to Whisper. Helen got the filly and I got the colt, which is Wizard.”
Abbie O’Brien and Rajah’s Rave and Revelwood Fleur
Although not technically an amateur because she has sponsors. Abbie works full time to sustain her hobby of two horses, the small tour mount Rajah’s Rave and Novice/ Elementary youngster Revelwood Fleur.
“I turn 22 on Monday and work full time for Pete and Caroline Wagner. I do that five days a week and then weekends mostly ride and compete. It’s nice because I have bosses who understand the demands of dressage! I just started there in June, and I make the bridles, and am learning to make most of the gear along with the retail side of things. It’s quite fun. They’ve trained me up and put a lot of time into me. I actually made the bridle my horse has on now.”
“I went to last year’s Nationals and did the young rider classes, but I’m too old for that now so have to go out with the big guns. Rajah’s my first FEI horse and I’ve had him since he was four. He’s 10 now. I’ve trained him all myself. I had only ridden to novice when I got him so we’ve learnt it all together. I started off in Tasmania and moved to Victoria when I was 18 and now train with Lone Jörgensen. I was Dux at Marcus Oldham College in 2012 before getting a job with David and Amanda Shoobridge for a few months. My horse got quite sick though so I moved back to Victoria. I had been riding Fleur when I was with them and she was going to be Dave’s next horse, but I kind of stole her off him. He thought she was going to be too small!”
The Saddleworld Australian Dressage Championships was a fairly “steady-as-she-goes” competition. Having said that, the scores are, on the whole, going up and riders are becoming more professional. There was a real feeling of camaraderie at this comp a great example of how the organisers are trying to support this. Now as spectators and lovers of the sport, we need to start filling the stands, creating an atmosphere and supporting our riders.