The first International Animal Health rider of the month for 2016 is none other than Adelaide winner, Mr Shane Rose…
Shane was a happy man after the cross country at Adelaide****, clear with the only run under time on Virgil and clear with just 3.2 time on Qualified…
“I was very happy with them both. I think Darcy (CP Qualified) was just a bit spooky at the first few cross country fences, and lost a bit of time. Unfortunately I was three or four seconds down, instead of a couple of seconds up, and I just wasn’t able to catch it up. After fence three he was super, switched on, and started to get into his rhythm, after that it all went to plan…”
Virgil was incredible, I was watching the run, and he does not look like a fast horse…
“It’s intriguing. He’s actually got a great gallop, he just covers the ground. He has that appearance that he is going slow, but he is covering the ground. He is quite economical around the fences too, so I don’t waste a lot of time setting him up. I know that if I kick him at the jump, he is going to jump it where-ever I get him – it gives me a little more leeway than some horses probably would. His jumping ability is super…
What did you think of Mike ES’s track?
“Not surprised with the results. When you first walked it, you think, it’s just a nice track not too tough. I’ve seen a few of his courses, he sort of lulls you into a sense of security. It’s never, what are you going to do there, what are you going to do here, it’s all fairly regulation in distances, but the consistency of the test and where he puts the fences… If you are off your game a fraction, you will get found out.”
What happened in the dressage – I saw you at Taupo and it was great, but here, it was a bit off…
“I just didn’t quite get my prep right for the test. Unfortunately I did my best work in the warm up… not even that, he started great and I probably backed off instead of making sure I had him 100% where I needed him to be, and when I got into the ring, he was just back off a fraction, and as soon as he backs off, I lose that really nice rhythm that he has got. Then his canter work probably wasn’t quite as expressive because he wasn’t in front of my leg so much. The great thing about him is that if I do a bad job like I did in Adelaide he still scores a reasonable mark, and I know that he has got so much more to give, you saw that in New Zealand. I was really disappointed with his test, not with him but with myself, I basically made a meal of both the warm up and the test.”
“I was really happy with Virgil, he’s not as advanced in his training as the grey horse is. I thought he was super rideable, he was really attentive to me. The things we’d been working on – getting the consistency in his contact, getting the consistency in his rhythm – are coming. I thought he did four really nice changes that he wasn’t rewarded for because they thought his back was a little tight, which… yeah I need to take the next step and present a better picture for them.”
The frame looked a little short…
“A little tight, that’s basically what the judges kept saying and that’s one thing I didn’t do, show off that I could open his frame up. That’s something we’d been working on and I just didn’t execute it in the test, but as far as the way he was, I was really happy with him at the stage he is at.”
The run up to the Games?
“I don’t have to go overseas to prove that I can jump cross country fences, I don’t have to go overseas to prove they can improve on the flat and the showjumps are the same heights and we’ve got course designers here that are as good as the ones in Europe. I have no plans to go over there, except hopefully if everything goes well, get a last minute start at Aachen a few weeks before the Games…”
Each Rider of the Month receives a prize supplied by IAHP.
This month, the Rider of the Month receives a 30g tube of Protexin Paste.
Protexin is the most advanced multi – strain Probiotic in the world today. Unlike many other Probiotics that consist primarily of a single strain of bacteria, Protexin consists of seven different naturally occuring bacteria. The effectiveness and synergy of these strains has been proven in years of trials and production application.The uniqueness of Protexin is not just confined to its multi-strain formulation. Research and Development has produced a special “protection” to ensure the highest possible numbers of bacteria survive the journey through the hostile conditions of the crop or stomach, into the gut where they rapidly begin to work for the benefit of the animal. Protexin’s introduction to Australia makes it the first and to date, the only nationally registered Probiotic approved for administration to animals and birds.
