Equestrian

The Edenhope equestrian community is going from strength to strength ... The Edenhope Equine Facility features modern amenities ... The fully off grid system will mean that operating costs for these community groups are greatly reduced ... West Wimmera Shire Council Mayor Tim Meyer said Council was proud to have played a crucial role in bringing the Edenhope Equine Facility to life.

God was so unfair to pigs when he made them so tasty... they are as intelligent as any dog, make great companions, and if only roast crackling wasn’t so delicious, they might have a far happier life. Nigel did ... Nigel was a little black piglet that arrived in a little box, a gift from my father supposedly to be fattened up and dispatched for Christmas dinner.

The dressage world is bubbling with excitement with the Olympic Games just weeks away and the final CPEDI qualifier in Australia begins this weekend at the Hawkesbury Dressage Festival at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre. Once this is done, the selectors and EA high performance people will get their heads together to choose the teams.

Serena Kirby. This year’s senior citizen of the year, Louise Swan, has put her love of horses to good use since retiring and moving to Denmark nearly a decade ago. Louise said horses had been her passion since she was five years old and when she discovered there was a local HorsePower centre, she wasted no time in volunteering to help.

Narrandera Adult Riding Club (NARC) recently hosted the BetaVet and Bendigo Bank HRCAV Top Teams Trophy (TTT) Horse Trials - the equivalent of the adult riding club State Championships ... One hundred riders travelled from all over Victoria and southern NSW to compete individually and also made up 23 teams of four riders. The riders competed in three phases over the two days - dressage, show jumping and cross country.

Marrar recently ran their annual Marrar CASE IH JBS Campdraft on a brand new improved arena surface and viewing area which was supported by a grant from the Stronger Communities Fund. The events kicked off at daylight on Friday with the excitement of 900 first round runs to push through.

The Casino Showground and Racecourse has had a massive makeover and was officially opened on April 20 ... The  new facility  includes a large undercover arena, an outdoor sand arena, turfed areas and covered stables, a new racehorse stable complex to accommodate up to 80 horses, and new car, truck and float parking areas.

Riders and spectators from around Australia will converge on the Region this weekend for the 22nd annual Paradise Lagoons Campdraft. The Paradise Lagoons Campdraft Association received $10,000 towards the event during round two of Council’s 2023/24 Community Assistance Program (CAP).  

Over the weekend, the 120 best pony club riders and their horses from Victoria and southern New South Wales participated in the 2024 Pony Club Victoria State Horse Trials Championships held at the Finley Pony Club ... Amber King-Gee, a local rider, competed with her horse New Indian Rupee in the Grade Three Division B.

The husband and wife team of Blake and Ellen Jones completed a recent Coolamon Cup three peat after Keto (Sweet Lou) led all the way to snare the harness racing silverware. Local reinsman Peter McRae was handed the reins on the Ellen Jones trained $3.60 second elect while her husband was in charge of the stablemate American Legacy.

Twenty-three horses and riders tackled the WA Endurance Riders Association Denmark ride on Saturday, May 4. The ride base was on private property on Mt Lindesay Road and riders tackled distances ranging from 12-80km on local roads and forest tracks.

The 2024 Adelaide Equestrian Festival has again lived up to the hype, with record-breaking crowds and some of the finest displays of horsemanship in the country on show ... David Middleton had an event to remember, winning the International CCI5* on his homebred WEC In The Money after winning the event at Gawler 24 years ago.

A united passion to ensure the welfare of thoroughbred horses by educating and training a skilled workforce is at the heart of a new Thoroughbred Breeders Association (TBA) online learning platform. TBA Learning ... was initiated in response to a desire to improve horse welfare, but the end result offers so much more.

While the big, elite events like Dressage and Jumping with the Stars and the Sydney Royal Easter Show were in full swing, the youngsters who could possibly feature in those events in the future were planning an assault on the Victorian State Mounted Games Championships.

Fourteen million dollars later, Casino has a world class equestrian centre with an undercover arena and shaded seating for 2500 people to watch events at the Casino Showground. At the official opening ... the speeches took place on the arena floor as horses and riders wound their way around the huge space.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show’s breed classes have again provided a highlight for spectators as the best of the best go under the judges’ eyes.

Nicki Barnet. Three of South Australia’s up and coming riders and their ponies have set off on the journey of a lifetime to the National Pony Racing Series Finals, which takes place at Royal Randwick in Sydney on All Aged Stakes Day on April 20. Supported by Racing SA, Cheyenne Crane and her pony Phoenix will represent SA in the large pony category...

The 2024 Man From Snowy River Bush Festival attracted record crowds on Friday and Saturday night in a celebration of Australian bush heritage ... The live concert on Friday night drew an estimated crowd of 8000 while the Wrangler Xtreme Broncs Australia rodeo on Saturday night was attended by a record 10,000 people.

The 2023/24 National Pony Racing Series reaches its peak with a thrilling final at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse ... Young riders, aged 9 to 15 years, representing Pony Clubs nationwide, will vie for victory ...

If ever a pony club could lay a claim to having produced famous riders, it’s Emu Creek. Four former members of the Victorian Western District club — Wayne, Barry and Clarke Roycroft and Phillipa Glennen — have become Olympians ... Pony club parents don’t seem to mind travelling, and the event drew competitors from across the state.

Peter Hibberd. The Charlton Harness Racing Club in conjunction with the Djaara people ran its annual race day at Charlton on Wednesday. Being the traditional owners of Country across central Victoria, the land on which the harness racing training centre is based was granted to the Charlton Club in 2012. Every year since, the Club has a special day to celebrate this important event.

Preparations are in full swing for this year’s Man From Snowy River Bush Festival (April 11th-14th) which is expected to be one of the best attended and most successful in its 29-year history. "We are genuinely excited with what we have in front of us in delivering the 2024 festival," said festival chairman, Cameron Jackson.