Photos by Julie Wilson
With a win in the CCI*** at Sydney International Horse trials on Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison, Western Australia’s Sonja Johnson is once again pushing for Australian team selection… this time for Rio.
Sonja, what keeps driving you down the track?
“Many things, but the one I often quote, is that 20 years before I made my first major team, Ann Taylor from Western Australia, made an Australian Team, then I did it, and you know what, I refuse to retire until someone else from Western Australia picks up the mantle. I am not going to let the rest of Australia go, oh yeah, Western Australia has disappeared again. Until Shenae (Lowings) or Jess (Manson) or someone else pulls their finger out and actually gets there, I suppose I had better keep doing it.”
It has been a period of reflection for all of us, the past few weeks, does that ever make you sit back…
“Of course, you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t, and contrary to popular opinion, I probably am. It came to me after I’d gone cross country on Valentino and I went past the place, I knew I was going to have to, so I had taken a deep breath, and as I hacked past, someone had placed a bouquet of flowers there, which was probably really lovely, and I had that choke up moment, then I said, don’t be silly. In Western Australia, whenever there is a fatality on the road, they put a white cross there. I’m really lucky that there is only one white cross on the road where I live. What the crosses do, is make me focus up a bit, make me concentrate on my driving, they encourage me to drive safely and not take risks. I wish they weren’t there but they help to ensure that I drive better. That was what I did with the bouquet of flowers, I turned it into a white cross on the side of the road, I just went, right oh, that is something that reminds me that we live a risky life, just that extra moment of reflection… I think it made me ride a little bit better.” 
I think it was very much the right decision, to run again the next weekend…
“Prue Barrett was interesting – because we are actually based with her, there is young Jess Manson, Shenae Lowings, Sarah Dawson and myself. She has us all up there, and Prue and I had a little consultation after it happened, and she said, I want to get everyone to gallop to a fixed fence this week. I’m not so worried about you – you’re old and tough, you’ll deal with it – but these young guys, I really want them to all gallop over a few fixed fences, so the first time they do go cross country, it’s not on the steeple chase track at Sydney. We didn’t confess to the kids what we were doing, just said, oh well, it’s cross country schooling today, and off they all went with Prue. We very deliberately did that, and I think it was good for the young guys because they went out and rode super at the weekend, so I think they were able to put it behind them.”
Tell me a little about Bennie – aka Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison…
“My monster child is just, in my opinion, getting better and better. Coming over here and having the run and then a critique from Christoph at Camden, then a couple of days coaching, and then we were lucky enough that Prue had organized for Gareth Hughes to come out for a week before Sydney, then we had another critique with him, and then I went back up to Prue’s. Prue sits and watches all the lessons, and so she did a great job in the week after Sydney. She pulled together all the work Gareth had done, and Christoph was very polite about how much the horse had improved in a week.”
“Bennie is just benefitting from the fact that he is basically the sole focus of my life, rather than just, oh my gosh, here’s an hour where I can work Ben – oh heck, I can’t do that, the feed truck has just arrived. Bennie has pulled up very very well after Sydney, he is looking great and he is in good form.”
What is the strategy to force your way into a team on him?
“I would hope that I’ve had a fairly good crack at it recently. I had a pretty good Adelaide. Yes, we know the dressage wasn’t brilliant, but we also know the horse had missed fifteen days work because it had managed to rip the back of its foot off. I think something this period of time is proving, is if you get me into an environment where I am constantly working with access to good coaches, rather than Mum trying to keep an eye on me while she is doing farm work, that I should be doing while I’m riding, and my sheep dog is sitting there supervising, if you put me in that environment, we can really improve pretty quickly. I really believe there is a lot more upside to come in my performance, with the help of good coaching.”
“Bennie’s having a week off this week, then young Shenae Lowings will work him for me the next week, just on the flat, then I’ll be back, and Prue will be back from overseas, so we’ll keep working on the dressage with Prue, keep working on the jumping with Rod (Brown). Then go down to Melbourne, where unless the going is absolutely perfect, I am currently thinking I will go slowly cross country, because how many times do you have to prove that the horse can out gallop most things? I don’t want to give him a really fast run at Melbourne if the going is not brilliant, because I think that is what stopped us to going to the World Championships after we were named on that team two years ago. I’ll just go there with the aim of getting an even better dressage score, getting a better show jumping round, and just proving that the cross country is fine, and they should be able to rely on the fact that both he and I can gallop.”
Each Rider of the Month receives a prize supplied by IAHP.
This month, the Rider of the Month receives a 32.5g tube of Mec Worma & Tape valued at $20
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. which cause skin lesions (summer sores). Also available in boxes of 20 and bulk packs of 50 syringes.