News

Oct 26th 2008

Australian Championships

We set off on Monday to the Nationals with Pzazz, Whisper and our mare White Girl in the truck. They traveled well and we arrived at SIEC after 10 hours on the road. Charlotte Stibbard, my coach came on Wednesday, so we had a little time to prepare. After having 12 weeks off riding after my hip replacement in May I felt rather under prepared. I went with clear goals in my mind, to get to know Whisper better in competition circumstances, and to improve on my CDI performance with Pzazz.

The Inter 11 on Thursday saw Pzazz draw first start of the show, representing Victoria in the FEI team. Unfortunately I did make some expensive mistakes including completely mucking up the two times changes, and the piaffe was well below what we get at home. Maybe he was short of some match practice, as he hadn't been out since the CDI as I had elected to concentrate on the training instead. I have only competed Whisper once in PSG before EI and once in Grand Prix a few weeks ago, so it was a big step into the main arena at SIEC. He was awesome, relaxed, sensitive and willing. It was such an awesome experience that I just couldn't stop smiling. It is so much fun to ride him at a comp like that. The judges gave him a spread of marks, one had him First, two had him second, and one had him 11th . I am rather used to this sort of judging, and was thrilled that 3 of five had him in the top 2, and was satisfied with 5th overall. I was really pleased with the feeling he gave me, but disappointed when I saw the video that I had allowed him to go so forward in the piaffe. In inter11 you are allowed to go a metre forward, but I unwittingly allowed much more.

In the Grand Prix the next Day Whisper was first out. It was pretty warm and again he was lovely to ride and I was really pleased with him. My smile was so big that all the judge smiled back! But I did make a lot of mistakes, spread throughout the test but especially at canter. The half pass zig zag was badly placed with a counting errorI completely mucked up the 2x changes. I omitted a single change on the centerline, earning 2 out of 50 possible marks. This error alone put me well down the placings.

Pzazz was in the ring an hour later, so I hardly had time to breathe out. It was very hot by then and I noticed in the warm up he suddenly started to sweat, so I let him walk to cool down and then went in the ring. In the first extended trot he just wouldn't go and I started to worry that something was wrong. The rest of the test was pretty awful by his standards, but he kept going with no obvious lameness or resistance, just flat unenthusiastic work. By the time we got to the stables he couldn't walk. I was unsure at first if he had tied up or if he had reinjured his cartilage. So we urgently got the vet who treated him for tying up with Dexamethasone and arsenide. I withdrew him from the comp and he quickly returned to his chirpy self. The next day he was fine, and it was sad to have to sit out the Kur, but I was so relieved it was just Tying up. He had tied up once 5 years ago, and I had only given him oats for the last couple of weeks. I think it was a combination of oats, not enough hand walking in the morning, and the hot weather and consequent dehydration in the warm-up that caused it. The medical name for tying up is Rhabdomyolysis, which means dissolving muscles. It is a painful condition which in its most serious form (azoturia) can lead to kidney failure. It is relatively common in horses on high grain diets, especially racehorses and eventers. Vitamin E and selenium can help prevent it, and careful attention to diet to avoid soluble starch. Oats are the main problem; Pzazz will not be getting oats again.

Sunday was the Grand Prix Special. This test was very under prepared. I had been too busy getting the simpler work right to practice the hard bits of this test (like pirouettes on the centre line, joined by 9 one time changes!). I rode it a couple of times on Saturday under Charlotte 's guidance and we decided to have a go. I was especially keen to ride Whisper in the indoor arena; I was afraid he would be a bit strong, and wanted to find out. In fact he felt a bit timid when we went into the big indoor and stayed soft and lovely to ride. He tried his hardest to work out what I wanted but I managed to confuse him quite a bit by over riding. We had lots of mistakes among what was basically good work and finished up 5th . I learned a lot by riding him in these circumstances, and will really be focusing on staying softer and more relaxed especially in my seat and hips. I was so pleased with how willing and soft he was.

Brya rode White girl in the novice. She finished creditably midfield in a strong class. White Girl handled the conditions really well in what was her 7th show! I can't wait to ride her Pzazz babies. I am totally confident that with the rideability of both parents they will really be fun.

We decided to travel home overnight to avoid the heat, especially for Pzazz. White Girl was coming into season, but they traveled without a hitch and we got home at 3:30am!

We have really got clear goals for the next round of training, with Whisper and Pzazz for me to be better at preparing the movements in the tests. You have little time to set things up at this level. I also need to have more stability in my position to be able to keep the frame more stable. At the moment I allow them to dive down intermittently when I wobble about. I do think it will take me longer than the next show to get it right, but I am looking forward to the CDI in 6 months. Back to work meanwhile.

Have fun, Kerry