State Dressage Champs

REBECCA HOLMES, nursing an injury that kept her from riding, tells us about the NSW State Dressage Championships which she attended as a strapper and supporter for her sister and her friends.

The NSW State Dressage Championships 2012 were held in Orange, NSW, roughly a six and a half hour drive with the float from Albury. From Zone 20, we had four superstar riders competing, two very professional grooms, four hardworking slaves/parents and six enthusiastic supporters.
At 3pm on Friday, January 20, riders began to tack up and head out onto the main oval of Orange’s Showgrounds for the parade and fitness check that was the official start of the PCANSW State Dressage championships 2012.
Once everyone had been gear checked, their horses fitness checked and the parade had finished, the  four excited and nervous Zone 20 riders went to settle their horses into their yards for the night. After the horses were fed and watered the Zone 20 crew slowly dispersed and went their own ways to find dinner, some settling for Domino’s pizza while others found their way to the pub to watch the tennis.
When everyone’s bellies were full, it was back to the showgrounds to give the horses their hay and rug them up for the night. With the horses sorted it was off to get a good night’s sleep, some camping in tents and floats and others roughing it in the motel.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, after a night of heavy storms and strong wind, it was off to feed the horses before they managed to climb out of the yards with starvation.
All the riders did incredibly well on the first day despite their fears: Ella Holmes from Wirlinga Pony Club, riding in the under 13s on Will-O-Dale Bubbaloo rode her preliminary 1D test, Miranda
Lynch – also from Wirlinga – on Turners Stud Basalt rode her novice 2A test in the 13s and under 15s, Jessica Roe from Tumbarumba Pony Club rode her novice 2C test in the 15s and under 17s on Clarkes Stud Spider and last but not least, Paige Hopkins on Clinpara Olliver from Wirlinga in the 17s and under 25s rode her elementary 3B test.
The second day of the championships proved to be a bit easier after the riders had drunk their “stress-less” tea and reflected that the previous day had not, in fact, been that bad – no one had fallen off and the horses had eventually calmed down and gotten used to all the chaos.
Ella rode her novice 2A test, Miranda rode her novice 2C test, Jessica rode her elementary 3B test and Paige rode her elementary 3C test.
With all the cars and floats packed up ready to roll as soon as the presentations were over, the placings were anounced. Ella came 12th overall out of 68 (10th in the 2A), Miranda placed 16th in the 2A out of 55, Jessica came 7th overall out of 22 (5th in the 2C and 10th in the 3B) and Paige Hopkins came 11th overall out of 39 (10th in the 3B).
The minute that the ribbons had been handed out and the parade was over, it was a mad dash to the cars and floats, with everyone hoping to get home as soon as possible. Another long drive home saw most riders (and the supporters….) hitting their beds around midnight on the Sunday!
The Zone 20 team of 2012 (that includes grooms, supporters and slaves) would like to really thank our team manager Matthew Lynch for helping us all find our feet upon arrival and over the weekend and helping us to make sure we were all in the right spot at the right time! It would have been very difficult without you Matt and we can’t wait until next year!!!