Saturday, May 18, 2024

Fran Cleland, The Regional

110 POSTS

Mother and daughter step up to the challenge with brumbies

Mother and daughter Carly Loughnan and Asha, 12, took part in the Australian Brumby Challenge at Wesburn Park in Gippsland on the weekend ... Asha finished second in a strong field of 19 Brumbies just 120 days out of the wild ... These Brumbies have been caught from the wild by passive trapping, from either Bogong High Plains in Victoria or Kosciuszko National Park or Bago State Forest in NSW.

Fourth time lucky as Tasmanian HOTY gets a run

Tania Hay. Equestrian Tasmania’s Horse of the Year show for 2022 has finally been held. The event is usually in January but due to Covid and flood waters it was postponed four times before it was staged at the magnificent Coal Valley Equestrian Centre at Cambridge.

Arenas come alive as Equitana returns after a four-year break

The competition arenas at this year's return of Equitana to Melbourne after four years were filled with some of Australia’s finest horses.

Son of Olympian takes jumping championship for third time

At just 29 years of age, Tom McDermott won his third senior Australian Showjumping title at Boneo Park last weekend ... Showjumping has been Tom’s life. He won his first junior showjumping title at age 12 and looks sure to follow the path of his father, Greg, who represented Australia at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1990.

World reaches out to support Ukrainian horse community

Imagine being a talented, horse-loving teen stuck in the middle of a war. Instead of dreaming about representing your country at the Olympic Games, you are helping your family set your horses free in the hope they will survive the bombing. The one thing about horse lovers worldwide is they stick together ...

Tasmanian horse community thrown lifeline after ferry bans livestock

The Tasmanian horse community has been given a one-month reprieve after being cut off from the mainland following a decision by the operators of the only sea link to the island state, the Spirit of Tasmania, to ban livestock transport ... The decision by TT-Line to ban livestock on the Spirit of Tasmania threw the horse community into chaos and led to some horses missing racing in Melbourne on Cup Day.

Technology allows breeders to take on the world

When Karen Parrish decided to run an online youngstock show, judged on photos by the noted British judge Gill Wright, the show got entries not only from each Australian state, but from Germany, the US, France, UK and New Zealand. Almost every Mountain and Moorland breed was represented in pure and part-breds, up to three years of age.

Stock horses didn’t miss a beat as sunshine gave way to rain

Australia's own breed was out in force at the Moss Vale Australian Stock Horse Branch show at the Sugarloaf Equestrian Centre at Cobbitty, NSW. Organiser Jackie Long said the venue cannot be matched. “It is the best place to hold a show,” she said.

Pony clubbers mount up for games championships

Mounted games riders have the late Prince Phillip to thank for the origins of their sport. When Sir Mike Ansell was director of the Horse of the Year Show, the Queen’s husband asked if he could devise a competition for children who could not afford an expensive pony.

There are two types of people and disasters bring out both

Over my life I have come to the conclusion there are two type of people: the “could have, should have, would haves”, and the helpers. The “could have, should have, would haves” are the majority. They would have handled things differently, ie, “you should have done things differently and then you could have not been in the trouble you are in”. They were out in force this week when television stations showed the frantic efforts to save broodmares in the Goulburn Valley floods.