March to May 2007: While in Belgium I met Dominey Alexander, an international showjumping and dressage rider from South Africa. He invited Carly and I to stay with him and his family and train. So after a brief detour back home for Christmas, we jumped back on a plane to Jo’Burg. We had been to South Africa before and a few other African countries previously so the culture shock was not so severe this time. Those who have been to Africa will know what I’m talking about.
We spent 3 months with these guys and had the most fantastic time. We basically lived with them and their two boys and they went out of their way to make us feel welcome and we felt like part of their family.
Dominey is a brilliant coach and we gained immeasurable knowledge from training with him both in showjumping and dressage. He is one of those coaches who has an amazing feel as a rider and can actually convey that feeling to you when he coaches. We were both given a couple of horses each to do with what we please and take to shows. I started with a grey mare called Valentine who was jumping 50 to 60cm and a little difficult and stubborn. She did however have the most amazing brain and a confidence in herself that is rare. We ended up winning a D Grade Championship and then jumped a 1.30m class at our last show, all in 3 months. I was very tempted to buy her and try and bring her back to Australia but it’s very difficult to do from South Africa. A great example of the type of people the Alexanders are, Dominey organized a 1.40m horse for me to ride at big national show. Unfortunately it fell through, so Dominey offered me his number 1 World Cup horse Fedora (by For Pleasure). I competed her in the 1.50m class and had a couple a rails down, but I was ecstatic at being able to ride in a main class.
Carly worked and competed on a great little warmblood horse called Flashman. She took him to his first show and jumped clear round after clear round.
So after 3 months we decided we needed to move on (although we could’ve stayed for much longer). After a few tears we headed off in our hire car to meet some friends from the UK in Mozambique for a couple of weeks camping on the beach, another great adventure.
