APRIL UPDATE..

I have been busy with show and lessons.
Poet's Sydney Royal finished wth a win a third and a 5th.
We were 8th in the World Cup,and Poet finished up being the runner up horse in Section One to Drossel Dan.
Mr Poet was great throughout the show.
Peter the horse's owner is in Sydney to ride him at the next couple of shows.
Liz and Caesar were in 6th a couple of times during the Junior classes but didn't quite crack the places.
Natalie McNeil from Dorrigo was here riding at the Royal in Juniors.Her chestnut quarter horse Peppymint were 3rd and 5th twice and she had a win in the pony club area jumping.
A few days off and we went toCopabella Show at St Ives showground.
The past year or two the ground has been a bit dry and hard, this year too wet.
The ground held up but some horses didn't like the shifty ground which caused some slips and penalties.
Caesar was lame from the mud fever around his pastern, we had been treating it but just tender enough to be a nuisance. The skin was very inflamed.So Liz didn't get a start.
The symptoms of mud fever are cracked skin around the back of the pastern with scabs and the horses can be very lame. Sometimes the whole leg can be swollen and you think something is wrong with their tendons.
This time of the year horses with pink noses too are scabby,some zinc cream works well.
Natalie was sick with a flu bug and she didn't get to start either.
Peter and Poet went well the first day but didn't have such a good time in the Grand Prix.
Back to work this week to prepare for Hawkesbury our local show.
Three days of jumping.
Unfortunately the big two World Cups eventing and showjumping is on at SIEC too, pity to have two competitions within an hour of each other.
For us with a bunch of young ones it is Hawkesbury for us.
Harry was our head groom at the royal, and he came home a bit sick(normal show bug).
He is now looking forward to riding at Hawkesbury.
A friend of Harry's from North Qld Danial, came and stayed during the royal so we had plenty of helpers.
Danial is an accomplished horseman and we had him showing us some games to play with our horses. Danial is a keen jump rider as well.
The weather has turned cold now and it feels like winter. We have had a long time with warm moist conditions so it is a bit of a shock.
My face and hands will suffer for a few days.
Not much time left in April and May is when I start on my teaching rounds around the country.
Qld and WA for starters some weekends a home here and there.
Normally this is the time when the young horses get their start in showjumping. Off outside to start now, I hope to get something up on the web soon.
I am waiting on some pics from the Royal.
colleen

Sydney Royal,
Poet's Corner is starting in Section 1 and Liz in the Junior.
Liz was 6th on the first day,she went well and finished only a 100th off a place,good one liz.
Poet was great day 1 to be third and today Easter Sunday he won the A2.
He has been jumping very well ,Saturday he had one down in the first round.
The courses designed by John Valance are testing enough, they make you think but at the same time good forward riding is needed to get under the time.
If you add in three lines you are on a time fault.
The footing at the Royal is very good as are many other facets of competing there.
Liz has two more classes and so do I.
EI, equine influenza has done us a favour at the Royal.
The hacks are on next week starting when we are finished.
The ring isn't really big enough with hack classes harness classes led classes and us so with only three events on at the same time we have more room to play with.
It had been a good decision from the Royal Ag Society.
More news and a pic coming tomorrow.
Colleen
Of course there is more room inthe lockers and riding areas

News Alert,
My website has been vaporised, someone in the USA has hacked into the website and the website is no more????
I will be reinventing my site in the next week or two so hang in there.
We are still working on the video uploading techniques.So far we have saved the file on the computer and we are in the next phase.
Sydney Royal is rapidly approaching and the big wet is continuing.
Our jumping paddock is perfect still so all the horses are being ridden.
The quote for the week is 'Life is a party,sometimes not what you expect but while we are here we will dance anyway'
cheers,
Colleen

Busy weekend.
Our troops attended two different shows during the weekend.
Friday was Camden ag show.
Camden has changed their timetable from two days to one day with two rings, because of last year's aftermath of EI.
The result means more room to warm up and ride ,no harness horses, sorry they are a real hazard for us and we had a really good day.
Camden Show has reinvented itself in the last few years.
They have changed and enlarged their parking and the water taps are close as is the toilet block,all considerations when we have very early starts and late finishes.
John Valance and Jane Frankum are the chief organizers. Jane is the main steward/marshall and she is wonderful. John was the CD in the number one ring, his tracks always take some jumpingbecause of their technical nature and the light rails. The jumping equipment is very attractive, the footing was great and the numbers were good. There were 40 entries on the mini Prix for instance but only 8 horses fronted up for the GP. There were some notable ommissions because of the big event in NZ last week.
Brad Longhurst from Canberra was the CD in the 2nd ring and he is coming along very well. He is keen to learn and is putting in the miles and hours to be as good as he can.
Australia certainly needs more keen CD's.
Our troops had a day called experience, a rail here and there enough to put us out of the money.
Peter Carcary rode his horse Poet's Corner for a clear in the mini prix and he had a go in the GP for one down in the first round.
Peter did marvellously as he hasn't ridden in a class since riding Poet in the World Cup at Toowoomba in August 08.
We went to the local jump club on Sunday for the Hawkesbury Riding Club's annual jumping day.
Hawkesbury runs their days at our jump club and we have a crossover of members.
Harry was the main rider yesterday, he rode two young TB chestnuts, and he had a go with Dale again.
The two TB's haven't been out and they coped very well, both jumped around the 60cm and the 75 without penalty.
Harry was placed 2nd and 5th so he was very pleased.
I was 4th and 5th with Tango in the 1.05 and 1.10m.
Harry had a very busy day and he rode well. It was the sort of day riders to have to enlarge their experience.
When we can get an uninterrupted run at the computer we will put some pics up.
cheers,
colleen

Castle Hill Show another big success for the Brook Team.
The ground was as good as you could ask for,beautiful turf at this time of the year.
Mark Atkins the CD was given the thumbs up from the riders. The courses were flowing and a stile(short rail with light poles) kept the clear rounds in the right numbers.
Friday I have reported, Saturday was my day in the ring. We were 5th in the grand Prix,unfortunately Poet and I knocked one down rail in the first round.He jumped very well so that is the main thing for the upcoming bigger shows.
Liz and Harry had a fun time on the Junior/ Young Rider day on Sunday.
Liz rode her new horse,Greenbah(chestnut Tb B grader) in the 1m A2 for third .Silver Hollywood Charge won the class with a smart round.
Liz and Caesar were third in the 1.10m Junior and 1st in the 1.20m Junior.
Liz rode very well . To have two or three horses at a show makes a big difference for a rider.
They are able to keep going around and the experience is necessary for their riding education.
Harry was third with Dale,his first ride in the ring with him in the 1m.
Same for Harry, miles in the ring gives yoyu much needed experience.
Jessica Conran was 2nd to Liz in the 1.20m with her grey Orion Star.
This result is fantastice for Jessica, she has worked hard with Orion and he hasn't always been easy.
Next Friday is Camden show, with two rings on one day only. We will be busy and it is a long walk from the trucks to the arena!

Castle Hill Ag Show.
Our first day was very good.
Dale and I were double clear in the 1.10m and missed a place by 100th of a second,thats pretty close.
Harry made it to the jump off and he had one down which was a very good effort and Liz with Caesar knocked one down in the first round.
1.20m liz went around on Casear for 3 down, a couple of riding errors for Liz although she rode well most of the time.
Poet and I were clear in the 1.30m and I withdrew from the jump off ready for the next class the 1.40m.
Poet jumped very well in the 1.40m to win.
Amanda madigan was clear on Gifted and she with drew from the jumpoff ready for tomorrow.
mark Atkins from Sydney jump club designed the courses and did a lovely job.
The ground at Castle Hill is beautiful.

The weekend of March 7-8 -09.
I travelled to Royal Bathurst Show (for a look) just 2 hours from Sydney over the mountains due west of Sydney.
There were approximately 10 showjumpers attending.
There were 4 horses in the 1.20m, why is this happening to our ag shows?
Bathurst have had good C Designers for the past few years and revamped their program, but no -one is going.
The entries closed 6 weeks prior to the show,that might be one factor.
It is different for the big Royals as the classes are restricted, but Bathurst has 80cm classes.
Possibly stabling should be booked but entries 6 weeks out for a 1m class don't think so.
With a bit of tweaking these shows would be be better off,but who is going to help, we know volunteers are hard to find.
Some show societies are not easy to help either.
CD's and Judges work hard and pay for their accreditation and should be paid for their efforts.They spend some very long days in the field without much attention to their needs sometimes.
The showjumping fraternity needs to address the basic needs for both sides in the sport and we can grow again.