The weekend's weather consisted of periods of very hot bright sunlight interspersed with cool cloudy patches with a very sneaky cold breeze.... just ideal strapping conditions.... NOT! In fact, the strapping was quite difficult at times, with care needed to make sure the horses coming in off a hot track did not cramp in the time it took to get to the Vet Gate. Fog greeted the early departures in the 120km event at 4am, and was still evident as the 45km training riders got underway at 7am. The 82km events started at 6am, so no headlights were necessary for these riders.
This ride, which included FEI** 120km, FEI* 82km, AERA 82km and AERA 45km events, was based at the Fernvale Rodeo Grounds, which has adequate facilities for all. This ride is run by the Fernvale Endurance Riders Club, headed up by Paul and Caroline Fitzgerald, a relatively new but very active club in SE Qld, having already run quite a few rides since its inception.
The Splendacrest camp included 10 horses, of which we incurred 1 withdrawal due to an injury, and 9 good completions! Additionally, 5 of the Splendacrest riders were "head-hunted" to ride for other people, and 4 of them completed well! So I'm a very happy trainer today!
In the FEI** 120km ride, Rod Strahan decided to withdraw Shardell Azrark after the first loop due to a significant, although small, cut on the horses' stifle, probably caused by an overhanging branch or something similar. This was quite a shame, as Azrark was looking great otherwise, and vetted through in 3 minutes after the first loop of 37km with his usual incredibly low heartrates.
John Dugan rode his lovely chestnut mare, Performance Park Lady Kharisma, to a good completion, while Kristan Kershaw completed her second FEI** 120km ride in only 8 days (having gone to the Collie, WA ride last weekend) on Bullarto Fiorelli. NZ import Kimberley Ryan rode Splendacrest Fiesta to 4th Youth placing in 9:47.... thanks Kristan and Kim for taking care of these two great mares.
Splendacrest riders Tarni Kittel, Clio Rauch and Angela Head were also all successful in the FEI** 120km event, with Tarni gaining 5th Youth placing on Cherox Bluebeard (owned by John Davidson), Clio completing well on Willowvale Sirahh (owned by Yvonne Knight), and Angela gaining 10th Youth placing on Rachem Mustava Heart (owned by Dallas and Andrew Blakely).
In the FEI* 82km event, Renae Kuhn rode Bourhani Albaraq and Gerard Bou rode Splendacrest Sayirah to cross the line together, placing 6th and 7th in the Open division in 5:48. Johan De Bruto rode Bacchante Silver Lace (owned by Shane Hopkins) to place 17th in 7:05. Marcia Burger rode a wonderful horse owned by Dallas and Andrew Blakely, to complete her first open ride and her first FEI ride in fine form! Congratulations Marcia!
Young Steph Tulk rode her second 80km ride in the AERA event, completing in 6th Junior place on the evergreen "Pete", aka Mt Eerwah Silver Mariner. We love this wonderful horse here at Splendacrest, and once again he showed his reliability in bringing a young rider home safely and well! Thank you Steph and a big thank you to Pete, too! Diane Wilson rode her lovely gelding Agecroft Fada, and completed their first (of many, we hope) 80km rides together!
Alissa Tulk completed her second training ride by riding Splendacrest Ulysses in the 45km event, to another great completion! Well done Alissa!
Over the weekend I got to see the Vetting team over and over again, as I popped in and out of the Vet Ring constantly! By the end of the day I'm sure they were all sick of the sight of me!! But of course an event like this could not be possible without the hard work and dedication of a great Veterinary team, and we sure had that! Head Vet Dr Brian Sheahan was ably assisted by Amanda Parry, Jon Fernley, Sandra Harbison, Richard Toft, Celia Dodd, and Carl.... (forget his last name - sorry!).
The massive band of volunteers that the Fernvale Club organised were happy and helpful, even though there were some timing errors.... but they were soon sorted out. Thanks to everyone who gave up their weekend so that we could have a great ride!
The FEI Officials, led by Barb Timms, included Trish Annetts, Toby Crockett, Robyn Parnell, Glenda Armitage and others working together to ensure that the FEI rides were smoothly run. Although there were several hiccups along the way, mostly it was a straightforward experience for the riders.
I just hope that I have as much energy and committment to the sport as Barb Timms does when I grow up.
I'd like to thank those 'other' endurance riders who trusted my crew members to take care of their horses too! Yvonne Knight, Dallas and Andrew Blakely, Davo and Jane Davidson and Clare Fleming were all very generous with their horses, and allowed my riders to ride them.
A ride of this magnitude would not be possible for the Splendacrest Team without the most valuable 'players' on the field.... our strappers! Sam Dobson, Britt Geddes, Robert Kuhn, Jenny Hall, Beck Forgan, and of course Shane Hopkins (without whom the team would suffer greatly), all made the workload a lot less and the atmosphere a lot more! Thank you all!
Another good ride, another great result for Splendacrest!!
