26/10/2025
WIMMERA EQUESTRIAN CLUB
DIMBOOLA RECAP
Quite the adventure!
This week started off with a lot of anxiety about a little Cheval De Luxe mare who was ready to foal. Milk and wide as a house. She tried her hardest to foal before we left (Thursday morning) however sadly her perfect little palomino filly by Bexter was born sleeping. Full term, nothing appeared wrong. Not sure what happened. Disappointing and sad all around for us.
Though, now we were able to attend this comp with undivided attention. An uneventful drive down on Friday with the classic Patchwork Convoy: 2 floats and the caravan. The whole team rode pleasantly and obediently, and I was able to get my hands on the most barren, grass free yard on the grounds, so that was already a promising thought for me!
Saturday, Aspen (Total Deja Vu) showed just how important it is to not eat food that she is allergic to. DOUBLE VICTORY in the Prelims, 68.7% in the 1.1, with the majority of her scores 7.0 or 7.5, and 67.32% in the 1.2, several 8.0, including for the walks, halt and even for rider (blush). I did get one little overly enthusiastic canter transition again, those are still a bit of a work in progress... but great score regardless. I did a quick calculation and I would have definitely been over 70% as a final score if she hadn't done that, agh!
Mum brought her new one, Loki (Tanlee Sargeant Loki) who has only been on the team for 4 or so weeks. Mum managed to give herself a concussion (not horse related, she headbutted an air conditioner, long story!) a couple of those weeks ago, so I have been riding him a lot for her while she recovered. We were amused to note that at the point of heading up the centreline to compete this new pony of hers, I actually had ridden him more than Mum and she was largely dancing with a stranger...
And you know what, he sat right behind me on Aspen in both of the Prelim tests. He delivered a sound performance both times, error free, a little green but tried really hard. 2nd place in both, 65.2% in the 1.1 and 67.23% in the 1.2. They look to be a great partnership in the making!
And Molly... well, dunno what happened. She woke up after some wicked dreams the night before and was definitely in a mood. Plenty of solid scores, 7.0 and even 8.0, (for the decent movements) but also a few "errrr" scores, for the ones that included interpretive dances. But I think that's the territory of a really talented horse. Sometimes they work against you a little. But anyway, all was ok!
A few of my students had a go too.
Young Anna Leahy had visited me the week of this competition to sharpen up some skills for this competition. She ended up 3rd to us in the Prelims both times, 65.1% was a really good score for her on Benny, her cute pony.
Then Connie Toet dragon wrestled and negotiated with a terrorist: her really talented young Nemo mare, Seaham Grange Primrose. We worked together on the Friday, (when it was quiet and low energy) to nurse this mare along and instill confidence in a new venue. Then both Prep tests on Saturday, she won!! One of her scores was 68.4%, pwor! We joked that the only expectation was to not fall off, and she shot it out of the park and really pulled out a good score! Well done Connie for keeping your jodhpurs white instead of brown!
Anne Henry also managed her dream objective: a debut at Advanced Level on Ferric Oxide, who is a pretty dang powerful horse to ride but also satanic in temperament on the ground. I still reminisce the time that I felt a wooshing sensation of air moving past my ear, to turn around and realise, there was an enraged red dragon with flat ears attempting to remove the back of my neck with her teeth. Whilst that was a few years ago now, I still wouldn't trust her!!!
And we had Vanessa Van Der Meer and Helen Mills, both part of my Horsham Clinic crew, giving it a go in the Prelims, great job ladies!
And Kerry Jackson in the EA Prelims on Patchwork Beneath the Realms, third in both, same crop as Aspen, developing really nicely! Kerry bought Cooper off us as a 2yo, By Benicio and out of a Royal Hit / Kilof McOhl mare, and now as a 5 year old, he's really showing himself!
And, well, all of this was supposed to happen again yesterday on Sunday but as you all saw from my post, the event got cancelled. Dimboola weather did us DIRTY and threw in a good 20mm of rain, thunder, lightning and everything else. Initially it looked like things might have gone ahead still, but.... Fortunately the event coordinators made my decision easy by nuking the entire day (Yes I was going to be stupid enough that I would have tried to ride in that...)
Between lightning bolts and heavy downpours, we scurried around, packed up, and swam home to Snake Valley (2.5hrs).
(It shouldn't be called Dimboola - how about DimPOOLa?) *Dad joke*
Anyway we have a few days of respite now before we head off again to Lara this weekend for the WVDC comp that's coming up. Excited!
Thanks to our devoted crew who supported us during this weekend:
Elodie Rees at home, keeping the ship afloat in our absence
Jane and Reg Armstrong for driving up to see us and helping out
Dad, as always, my #1 supporter who is wherever he needs to be.
We are sponsored by Rosehip Vital EQ
