Post Equine Influenza – First official Competition

By Jon F

On Sunday morning we were all quite excited and a little suprised to be yet again loading up the horses to go to a competition after the last 6 months of Equine Influenza causing all competitions to be cancelled or postponed throughout Australia.

We put 5 horses on the truck and headed down the freeway from the Adelaide Hills to the northern suburbs of Adelaide to the the Northern Districts Equestrian Centre. The show was basically a training show, with classes ranging from 50cm to 1.00m, with an official “D” Grade class (1.15m) and a 1.20m class at the end of the day.

Carly and Lenny in a small training class

The all weather sand arena provided good footing but almost every horse that entered the ring was very spooky, a combination of not having any show experience over the last 6 months, and the atmoshpere of the venue. We started all out horses in the lower heights to give them an easy introduction to the venue. All jumped quite well with clear rounds.

Carly and I both started in the D Grade class. Carly rode Lenny and unfortunately he was a bit too spooky and not his usual cool character, so after a refusal she decided to retire and look to next weeks show. I started two horses, the big scopey warmblood APH Lukas, and the little spotty Appaloosa GlenWood Scout. Both jumped great clear first rounds with Lukas in particular expressing his power that hopefully will carry him up the grades to the top level. At the moment he is still a little weak and needs some time to build his strength.

 Jono on APH Lukas ina small warmup class

In the jumpoff there were only 7 combinations, of which I had two, a good position to be in. I rode Scout first and he scooted around fast and clear. I was last out on Lukas, and since I had already won the class on Scout, I just cruised around. He had a fence down but I was very happy with his ridability and how he is progressing.

So for our first official competition back in Australia (albeit a relatively small show), we had a very good start with a win. We hope it continues. Next week we head to Metropolitan Showjumping Club for a three day official show.