Sunday, July 18, 2010

What a day!

The Mid -Winter Championships were packed with entries and the competition hot.
Harry and Liz were 1st and 2nd to kick the day off in the 1.05m. Harry was riding in his first competition on Celerity Park Southern Cross a B grader from Qld.Titan is his stable name.
Liz jumped a smart round to be close second on Greenbah.
Harry won the 4 year old class with Dusky Farm Jane and topped his day off with a win in the 1.15m article no 238 2.1 (one rounder)on Titan.
A winning treble,a just reward for all his hard work and dedication.
Greenbah jumped a sharp round in the 1.15m but the last fence came down,uugh.
Milly Clark rode a wonderful round in the 1.20m for one down on her chestnut Connollys Eclipse,definately a horse for the future for her.
Milly was 2nd in the 6 year old class as well with this horse.Milly's other horse jumped clear in the 1.15m at the end of the day in the dark just about.
Milly's mother Jenny won a class in ring 4 and it was the one I sponsored.
Jessica Conran rode very well in the 1.20m on Orion's Star for one down, super job.
Lauren Nicholls also rode well in the 1.20m on her Barney Bedrock for one down.
Great result for these young girls,they work hard and show great promise for the future.Coralie Christie rode on the 80/90cm on her young mare, by Aachimedes,very big scopey type with a lovely temperament.
George Johnson has two horses in the bigger classes had a great day too.He also placed in the 6 year old class with a client's horse.
George won the 1.30m with the super mare Wondaree Sprite,such a trier and George has a wonderful rapport with this feisty mare.
Auzbred(he has a small map of Australia on his shoulder for a brand)jumped superbly to be 5th on the Grand Prix.George should be sleeping well on Sunday night.
Ozzie jumped clear in the 1.30m as well but an incident at the start stopped him jumping in the jump off.
It was a great day and I am delighted for them and their efforts,parents and support too.
The INCIDENT was; the Judge rang the bell for George to start and as George was cantering around towards the start flags when the horse spooked spun around and dropped George on the ground.The horse was caught and returned to the rider and he remounted.The Judge rang the bell for G to be elimated.
I thought that wasn't correct so I told G to stay in the arena and we negotiated with the Judge.The horse did not leave the arena when he was unmounted.
G was reinstated in the class and was allowed to jump.
The reason G was not in the jump off was beause of time penalties. There are rules to cover these types of things.
There is a rule which states if you are over the time limit you will be eliminated. The time limit is the time allowed doubled,so for example 80 seconds time allowed,if you are over 80 you start accumulating time faults, AND WHEN when you go past 160 seconds (double the time allowed) you will be elimated.
So George had 45 seconds to get though the start (the clock starts then) plus 160 before he could be elimated for time.
Bit confusing sure but the rule book in very thick. A dressage analogy is;if a rider falls off or carries a whip as they enter the arenat up the centre line you can remount or drop the whip and continue because the test starts AT/AFTER the first salute,same sort of thing.
ANOTHER INCIDENT;Coralie was riding in the young horse class and came to a jump and the top rail was down. She pulled off and called to the Judge and asked for the fence to be rebuilt.
The Judge rang the bell for Coralie to stop and the jump steward put the rail up the judge rang the bell for Coralie to start and off she went.
These things happen form time to time.
When Coralie came out of the ring I said, 'next time don't pull off just keep going, it is the Judge and Course Designer's responsibility to make sure the course is correct and the same for everyone."
As a result of pullng off Coralies' horse lost its momentum, attention and had a couple of jumps down. This is a usual outcome when the round is interrupted especially with a green horse or rider.
Judges have a long list of responsibilites on a day and their days are very long with short breaks. Errors will occur, so it is up to the competitors to know their rules.
I remember at the Sydney Olympics in the dressage KUR when Ulla Salzgerberger with Rusty were ready to start . She waved her hand to start the music and nothing happened.Time passed, no music, frantic waving, consultation with the judges, finally the music started.
Ulla then rode to perfection to take the Silver or Gold, now that is a very cool head under pressure.
The rules state you must have a back up CD of music and if the music does't work for whatever reason you will be elimated! How would you feel???
It is all good learning,to know the rules is important, many arguments at competitions would be averted if more people were familiar with the rules.To know how to find the relevant rule is a must.
My mother is keen reader of the rule book, 'she says to know the rules means you are fair to everyone'.
The Course Designers Mark Atkins, David Sheppard , Sue Bettington and my Father Bob Brook showed how flowing courses produced good jumping,many thanks.The Sydney Jumping Club ran a massive day on good ground well done.
Big day Monday packing and cleaning etc for the trip North, not to warmer climes probably colder.

1 comment:

Christine said...

Fantastic and informative blog entry -thanks Colleen. I would like to link it to my commentary on yesterdays Sydney Showjumping Club Winter Championships.
Cheers Chrissie