Nothing better than a book to ride out the winter break
The last of the foal shows are done for the year, the royal show horses have a few more weeks rest before the earnest work begins and it’s the quietest time of the year for most horse people. It’s an opportunity to catch up on some reading by the fire while the wind blows cold, or while seated on a 12-hour plane flight – do we revisit some old favorites or go and find something new to read?
Fire and feathers: Clydesdale crosses the perfect sport horse
The Clydesdale horse is so often referred to in Australia as the “horse that built a nation” and it’s true. Australians have a great affection for the great horses of Scotland and the breed has graced the paddocks and show rings of Australia for more than 100 years ... They have crossed very well with other breeds and are very much the quiet achievers in the sport world.
Gold, gold and more gold for Australian dressage riders
Australian dressage riders Andrew Driffield, Sarah Sherwood and Sui Watts have won the team gold medal at the Virtus Global Games in Vichy, France. They followed their victory up the next day with two more gold medals and a silver in the individual competitions.
British breeds making a name for themselves in Australia
Mountain and Moorland ponies may be native to the British Isles but there is a healthy population growing in Australia. New promotional group Mountain and Moorland (M&M) Australia has taken on the job of raising awareness of the breeds in this country and recently combined with two other breed societies to run the Victorian Winter Fair at Tatura.
Young guns hot on the heels of Australia’s elite riders
When we look at the Australian teams competing for us at the Olympics and world championships, older riders feature prominently. Fair enough, because with age comes experience, but times are changing and many other country’s Olympic teams are far younger than ours ... in all Olympic disciplines, there is beginning to be a changing of the guard.
Riders head to Naracoorte in record numbers for horse trials
It was a record year for Naracoorte Horse trials with 244 entries that saw riders from Victoria and Tasmania joining the South Australians. It’s the only event in the world that has run consecutively for 49 years on the same property with the same landowners and is a real favourite with young riders and young horses.
It’s that lovely time of year when the foals come out to play
Autumn is the time of year that breeders start bringing in the foals born last season and assessing the development of those from the previous year. Foal shows provide an opportunity to not only give the youngsters some ring experience, but for the humans to meet up and have a natter as well.
Gentle art of the plough lives on through heritage enthusiasts
Tractors with GPS guidance are now used to run straight furrows in paddocks but in the past, great horses were guided by men with kind and gentle hands to create beautiful plots. This farming heritage is remembered and kept alive every year by ploughing events across the country but the most prestigious of them all is the Golden Plough Championship in NSW, which has been fiercely contested every year since it was first held in 1976.
Stirling Classic sets the scene for Quilty in coming weeks
With the world-famous Tom Quilty Ride only weeks away, the Stirling Endurance Classic in Queensland attracted 178 riders across 10 sections. Stirling’s Crossing Equestrian Complex opened its gates in early 2016 as Australia’s only privately owned, purpose-built endurance facility.
New Zealanders dominate at CDI dressage championships
New Zealanders Melissa Galloway, riding her 2022 FEI World Championship horse Windermere J’Obei W, and Wendi Williamson on Don Vito MH dominated the top placings at the Sydney CDI dressage championships. Melissa, a top-class competitor at just 30, won all three elite level tests, finishing with a score of 76.330 per cent in the Freestyle.
