Unlike his Tory namesake David Cameron did not go to Eton, is not married to a baronet’s daughter nor did he study Philosophy at Oxford. He was born in Forbes, went to Charles Sturt University, taught PDHPE at Parkes High School and shares his life with eventer Tallara Barwick from Willow Tree.
And at 31 he has just become Australia’s senior showjumping champion.
In an exciting final round David and the Martin family’s mare, RR Dyranta, beat Tim Clarke and Caltango. It was a very close finish.
“She’s scopey, careful and really tough,” said Dave, as he drove home from Victoria. “She jumped well the first day and was coming fifth, the next day she jumped clear which put me second overall going into the final day. Tim, who was leading, had one down in the first round of the Grand Prix whilst Dy and I jumped clear moving us into first position. I was nervous going into the final round but she felt she was jumping well and I was confident she wanted to jump a clean round.” And so she did.
The Werribee track was designed by Luc Musette and David had been excited at the idea of jumping courses created by the Belgian who was in Australia for the first time.
“He’s built for various Global Champion Tours in Europe this year. For this event I thought he built tough, technical but careful tracks, which seem to be the trend, and we had to ride to a plan as he had a few distance options.”
At Melbourne Royal a week later they had a couple of rails down “but Dy still performed well and I was happy with her”.
By Kashmir van het Schuttershot out of Mavanta, the mare was imported as a four-year-old by the Martins (Bryan, Linda and daughter Bonnie) who run River Ridge Equestrian Park in Wilberforce. Bonnie remembers when she first saw her in Europe.
“She had a foal at foot and was unbroken, so they took her out of the stable and free jumped her for us. Right away we knew she had to come home to Australia. We already had Bellerose, her full sister competing, who was proving to be very talented so we were pleased to see it seemed to run in the family. We would have loved to have purchased her foal, too, but it had already been sold. The deal was that Dy was to be broken prior to being sent to quarantine. She and another horse of ours, Top Lady, then spent six months in quarantine outside of London as they’d left Holland and arrived there the day Australia went into EI lockdown.”
Bonnie and the mare’s first win was in the D-grade at the Gunnedah Ag Show.
“It was obvious even then how great she was.”
The Martins began their relationship with David and Tallara when they moved from the NSW Central Coast.
“I needed another set of hands and legs as well as guidance by someone close to home,” explained Bonnie. “We’d previously had Bellerose, Rubiarn, Ulone, Dy and Top Lady split between Krissy Harris and Rod Brown. Having a coach, mentor and rider so close to our new home has been excellent. Dysie lives with us full time and we coordinate her riding, fitness and management with Dave.”
And when opportunities have arisen Bonnie has taken the mares to George Morris’ clinics.
“He changed my whole riding philosophy a couple of years ago when I attended on Bellerose. He said ‘if I had that horse I’d even get into my competition gear again!’ That really got me motivated and he instilled a number of key principles in me. At the most recent clinic he rode Dy. He then understood she’s a slightly tricky mare but very talented. He basically reinforced what we already knew – that flatwork flatwork flatwork was going to make this horse better.”
David and Tallara derive great satisfaction from their association with Bonnie and her parents.
“As well as Dy I’ve ridden Bellerose and RR Triple X,” said David, “the relationship works well. It’s nice to be involved with people who are so supportive of the sport. River Ridge runs an exciting breeding programme and this season they’re expecting a foal out of Dy carried by a surrogate mare, and we’re hoping to get another embryo out of her this year.”
The Martins’ 33 acres on the Hawkesbury River is close to Dave and Tallara’s Wilberforce headquarters belonging to Copabella’s Lesley Hargreaves who has known them since they were teenagers.
“I was delighted when they moved onto Redleaf when Julia went overseas because they’re good people and I knew I could trust them to look after the property and the horses. Julia even entrusted her precious Visage gelding, Vegas, to Dave’s training programme until she was ready for the horse in Europe. And we’re still in partnership with Tallara who campaigns Verdi, another Visage star.”
Before the Victorian shows David and Tallara had spent a few weeks away in Europe.
“We visited our good friends Jamie Winning and Jamie Kermond and watched them compete at a 3* show in Belgium. Then we went to the Global Champions Tour in London. It was a great eye opener to see this level of competition first-hand and made us re-evaluate some of the aspects of our business.
“You always hear people say that in Europe they’ve better horses but the biggest thing which stood out to me was the quality of the riders. To become better we need to improve our training and coaching.”
It’s a large part of the couple’s business, and earlier this year David received a coaching award.
“I really enjoy having a chance to mould riders and their horses into elite athletes – it’s exciting.”
Those who have helped him in the past are Grant Hughes, George Sanna, David Dobson and Tony Norman – “all have been big influences on me”.
The next few months are jam packed with Australian events including the Showcase of Showjumping, State Titles, World Cups, Equitana and the Summer Classic.
And in 2015 New Zealand’s Horse of the Year Show is beckoning.
“If it works in with our schedule we’ll go, and in the meantime we’ll continue to work on Dy’s rideability. I think she’ll be a serious Grand Prix horse with another twelve months’ experience.
“Our long term plan would be to try and take a couple of horses to Europe in the next two years. Jamie and Jamie have set up a good base and have a great network around them which makes the whole idea a lot less daunting.”
Dave would like to acknowledge his sponsors for their ongoing support: Coprice, Ceva, Antares Australia, Horseland Dural, BSM Sport and Freejump