I still don’t know why I bought Sparky: He was 9 years old (older than I wanted), 15.1h (smaller than I wanted) and had only really done some hacking (I was looking for an eventer). But there was just something about the horse – and I was a blonde 15 year-old – so the next thing I knew, Mum and I were loading him onto the float and driving him from Noosa to my (then) home in Gumdale, Qld.
As with any new horse, it wasn’t all plain sailing right from the start – Sparky had a canter with a genuine 4 beats, so achieving collection without his nose poking out in protest was challenging. And he was a careful jumper, so if I had a “miss” at a fence, he would gently decline to jump it. But Sparky was honest and generous, my misses became less frequent, and we soon formed a partnership.
Although a thoroughbred (he apparently won a race at Doomben in the early days!), Sparky was essentially quiet – he rarely got hot, he understood the concept of “immobility” in the halt, and he could be relied upon to do a neat, accurate dressage test. In the showjumping, once our confidence was intact, he was a magician – I honestly think I could count on one hand the number of rails Sparky had in his entire career. At the time, I didn’t really think anything of it, but I’ve ridden countless horses since and there aren’t many who turn themselves inside out to leave the rails up like Sparky did. Cross country probably took the longest to sort out – as a horse with a huge amount of self-preservation, Sparky was suspicious of the cross country fences, and it took a bit of time before he was truly confident in this phase.
Sparky and I posted some good results, and apart from the odd ‘glitch’, were having a lot of fun. One such glitch was, strangely enough, winning the junior pre-novice at Goondiwindi in about 1999. It was a win I’d rather forget. I was leading after the dressage and determined to win the event, but still had painful memories of being eliminated at about fence 4 on the cross country the previous year. So I took off out of the start box like a woman possessed and hurtled around the course at a speed that must’ve made the spectators’ stomachs churn. I think I was more than a minute under the time (this was in the days before time penalties were given for going more than 20 seconds under), and I worked out later that I’d averaged steeplechase speed around the course. If I was sitting on a less clever, less sharp horse, I’m pretty sure my time would’ve been up that day on the cross country. Needless to say (and particularly after some stern words from my coach), I didn’t make that mistake again.
A significant turning point for Sparky and I was at the Toowoomba ODE late in 1999, where we were competing in the one-star. The drawcard of that event was Heath Ryan, who was judging a special Junior event. The prize? A lesson with Heath at the conclusion of the event. Sparky and I won the one-star class, and (perhaps because he felt obliged), were named the winners of Heath’s competition.
I had the lesson, and after an animated discussion with Heath (well, Heath was animated; I couldn’t get a word in) about gold medals, Australian teams, gold medals, Olympics and gold medals, I found myself making arrangements to put my planned vet science studies on hold and take Sparky to Lochinvar to base with Heath as a working pupil. As far as Heath is concerned, every horse in the country is a potential Olympian, so the fact that Sparky was barely over 15hh did not much matter, and I too began to dream of riding in the green and gold.
It seemed like no time before Sparky and I were competing in Intermediate and Advanced classes, as they were then called. Sparky took it all in his (short) stride, and whilst it seemed like for a while there I spent more time hitting the dirt than in the saddle, we had some good results, winning the Open Intermediate at Scone and then the Kooralbyn CCI** in 2002.
A memorable moment in Sparky’s career was at Equitana in 2001. Heath had been invited to compete in the “World Short Course Eventing Championships”, but his horse Flame was a bit too green at the time. So it was agreed that Heath would ride Sparky, and we’d go halves in the $9,900 up for grabs if Heath won. Now, I’ve admittedly had a grumble about tricky owners in the past, but I’m pretty sure I was the owner from hell that weekend, giving Heath pointers as I sipped wine and swanned around the VIP marques.
But because of ( in spite of?) my bantering, Heath and Sparky finished the event at the top of the board, and the old “winners are grinners” adage has never been more fitting. Heath signed autographs, I signed autographs, and Sparky even had a request for a hoofprint. I found myself in the gleeful, albeit rare, position of having made a profit out of an equestrian sport, and purchased a broodmare (who went on to make me a decent amount of money with the wonderful foals she produced), with the proceeds.
Another highlight (with me back on board again) was placing second in the World Cup class at Melbourne in (I think) 2003 – there was little Sparky, competing against squad-listed horses and holding his own. We also competed in the 3-star at Adelaide and achieved an eighth placing, and went on to attempt the 4-star twice – the first time without much success, the second time completing the event. It was a pretty impressive effort for a small horse with (although I would probably have disagreed at the time) a basically green rider piloting him around.
What ended up being our last event together perhaps didn’t have the fairytale ending that everyone hopes for. It was Melbourne 3DE in about 2005, and we were out on the 3-star cross country course. Everything seemed to be going well, then the next thing I knew, I was in the water, barrelling along under the surface. I remember thinking at the time that it was really similar to being ‘dumped’ by a wave in the ocean. Looking at photos later (Roz from THM got a good one), it seemed that Sparky left one of his front legs on the take-off side of the jump, tipping him almost to a handstand position. It was a miracle that he was able to not fully rotate, and a miracle that he managed to avoid stepping on me. That was the end of the Melbourne event for us, and it turned out that Sparky had also sustained a tendon injury that would require a decent amount of rest time.
It was fairly certain that Sparky, at his age (he was then rising 19), probably wouldn’t return to 3-star competition, and I was faced with a difficult decision: Did I retire him from competition and keep him as a ‘pet’ at home, or did I sell him to a young rider, to give them the opportunity to learn from a true schoolmaster? Sparky was still energetic and loved what he did, so I chose the latter.
Fortunately, I was introduced to the Moxham family – possibly the nicest family in the sport – by Gordon and Emma Bishop. Young Anna Moxham was looking for a horse to move onto, as she’d outgrown “Feather Duster”, her 13.3 hand pony, and it was decided that Sparky would suit perfectly.
Anna and Sparky debuted at introductory level, and became a very competitive combination: The pair nearly always finished on their dressage score, and Anna can’t recall ever having any penalties cross country, time penalties aside. And of course, Sparky’s ability to leave rails safely in their cups helped make them difficult to beat in that phase.
Anna says that Sparky taught her a lot – she learned to do flying changes, and went from competing at pony club C-grade to EA pre-novice. Sparky was always a gentleman to handle, although he would get pretty revved up before the cross country – Anna says she knew it would be a good round if he did his little rear in the start box!
A highlight in Anna and Sparky’s successful partnership was when the pair won the 6-bar at the Coonabarabran Horse Expo in 2009, jumping a massive 1.40m! Another great result was a 5th place finish (on their dressage score) in the A Grade at the State Pony Club Championships in Canberra in 2009.
Anna found herself in a similar predicament to that which I had faced: She was ready to move on to higher levels of competition, but it wouldn’t have been fair on Sparky (now 22). It was decided that Jessica Sylvester, a young rider that Anna knew through the pony club circles, would compete lightly on Sparky, in the lower levels.
I met Jessica at the Quirindi One Day Event last year – she introduced herself, and took me to see Sparky, who was competing in the Junior Introductory. My first reaction was “he’s so small!” He certainly had more grey hairs than when I’d last seen him (his white star had expanded to about double its original size), but he looked healthy and happy, and still had a sparkle in his eye. Jessica was beaming, and there was no mistaking that Sparky was absolutely adored by yet another young rider. It was quite an emotional experience, being reconnected with a horse that had been such a huge part of my life for so many years, and that I’d shared so many ups and downs with.
Later that day, I heard my name called out, and Jess and Sparky trotted past me on their way out to the cross country course. Sparky’s ears were pricked, and he had a spring in his step (well, as much as could be expected from a horse of his years). Of course, he jumped a clear round.
Sparky is set to retire properly at the end of this year. The Sylvesters are concerned that their property at Coonabarabran will be too cold for him during the winter, so the plan is for Sparky to come back to me. I can’t wait to see him out there in the paddock, and to be able to give him a carrot and a hug. It’s easy to forget, in the hectic schedule of training and competition, how much these horses give for us, how special they really are. I cringe when I think back to all the mistakes I made on Sparky, and often wish I’d come across the young Sparky now, with more experience behind me.
Sparky, you are an inspiration, and I salute you.
