Another great event, with excellent results, for the Splendacrest Endurance Team at the Qld State Championships held at Clifton this weekend! Our numbers were swollen somewhat over the weekend with the addition of the young riders from the South Australian and South African junior teams (and their crew) competing in the 100km event. Many friendships were forged, and I hope and expect these friendships to flourish in the future. In the 160km State Championship event we fielded one combination: Emzy Dimech on Dynamite. Unfortunately this game horse copped a bad footfall during the 4th leg of the ride, ending up with a slightly swollen fetlock which was enough to put him out of the event only 15kms from the end. Emma was gracious in defeat however, and then spent the balance of her time proving what an excellent team player she is, continuing to strap for the rest of the team. Thank you Emma for your wonderful attitude, and commiserations on your first ever Vet Out!! In the 120km AERA ride, Ronan Mckay rode Briallyn Habib for Ackmed and Kaylea, and finished in First Junior place. Well done Ronan, and thank you Akky and KK! In the 100km AERA event, South Australian junior Kelsey Bright rode Follydown Gai Emerald to a well-deserved 4th Junior placing, Gemma Dickenson rode Anglesea Finneas to 10th Junior, while Ellie Kreicbergs and Tissi McKay rode their mounts Delta Moon Celtic Boy and Piccolo Burasca in their first endurance events, to equal 14th place. Good on you girls! I am also very proud of our two newest team members who successfully completed the 40km training ride. Adriana Srdné rode Aloha Farina and Geoff Cahill rode Velu Dominion at a steady pace, and their horses finished in great condition! In the FEI events, Samantha Yates and Woomera Thor completed the 2* Open event in First Place, also winning the Best Conditioned Horse award! Congratulations to this winning pair! And congratulations to Lana and Ben Richardson for owning such a wonderful horse and being a part of his on-going endurance career. I was very pleased to be able to offer my very special horse Ausden Prince Mahal (aka Rabbit) to a Young Rider from South Africa, Lize Labuschagne, in order to gain a qualifying ride for her goal to compete at the 2015 Youth World Championships. Lize and Rabbit were a tight team from their first ride (the day before), and completed very well in 3rd Youth placing in a time of 7:08:37. Rabbit has won another fan! Congratulations Lize, and thank you for being such a wonderfully kind and considerate rider. We very much enjoyed your company over the weekend. Unfortunately our other young rider in the 2* event, Jess Fuhlbohm, vetted out lame at the end of the ride. Jess, you rode a great ride, on a great horse, and we both know that you will both be back to face another day in an endurance ride! Thank you for your help over the weekend, especially in the awful chore of cleaning up camp to go home! xxxxxxxx The ride base at the Clifton Recreation Grounds (which incorporates a racetrack, polo fields, football club, polocrosse fields, caravan park, campdraft grounds, and sundry other facilities, was an excellent venue for such a large event, and everyone I spoke to was very impressed with it all. The organising committee for this event was the QERA SMC members, and they all worked hard to make sure it was a success. Thanks also to the FEI personnel who enabled the FEI rides to run smoothly, with the exception of one little incident. A special THANK YOU to Gerard Bou for his ongoing efforts to organise the Southern Cross Challenge where junior teams from all over the country, as well as South Africa, were invited to attend. G organised the loaner horses, the accommodation, the transportation, the food, the sightseeing, and looked after all the teams and their support crews very well. There were many other people involved in providing horses for this endeavour also, including Kate Gadsby, Renae Kuhn, Matt Sample, Brook Sample, Fiona Fenech, Barb Woods, and Graham Ellison. All in all, another great weekend at an endurance ride!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 08:22:17 +0000
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