Australian International 3DE

Sophia HillEquestrian

Tuesday The time to leave for the very much anticipated Australian International 3 Day Event had arrived, and so at 3am on Tuesday morning we were loading Hughie and Geisha on the truck and hitting the road. Luckily for me Andy likes driving so I had a pretty cruisey trip over! We stopped off halfway to give the horses a walk, some water and their breakfast. As usual Hughie gobbled all of his up, and Geisha, overcome by the routine change would not touch hers, so Hughie happily finished it up for her too. (Geisha is such a finicky eater that it has become part of Hughie’s everyday diet to finish her leftovers!!!) We were soon on the road again, arriving at Victoria Park in Adelaide around 1.30pm. We were a little early for the scheduled arrival time, so had a chance to walk and graze the horses before their vet examination at 2pm. On arrival to a 3 day event all horses have a quick vet examination to make sure they are healthy before going into the stable block. The vets take their temperature and heart rate, to check their health, but also as it is good information for them to have as a reference point for the cross country cool down. Hughie and Geisha were thrilled to be let loose in their stables after a long day travelling, and both dropped straight down to their knees for a big roll. (While I watched on somewhat anxiously – the stables were far too small for such exuberant rolling!!!) The … Read More

Quirindi 3DE

Sophia HillEquestrian

Quirindi 3DE was not part of my plan of events for the year, but as happens with horses, sometimes things don’t go to plan and after Hughie having a bit of bad luck at Melbourne 3DE he has missed out on a qualifying run. This is what lead us to road trip 12 hours into the drought affected northern NSW! We took Geisha as well, seeing as we were going so far it made sense to try and make it more worthwhile! Hughie passed trot up no worries; we were off to a flying start! He then put in a great dressage test. Unfortunately I made a few small mistakes in the final movements of the test costing us some precious points, but Hughie had tried super hard and done some of his best test work to date so I was happy. He scored 61% and was sitting 9th. He then began the climb up the leaderboard, jumping clear and under time cross country, backed up with a clear show jumping round. It was a sigh of relief to finish on a qualifying result having driven so far! To top it off his finished in 4th place – unfortunately we couldn’t beat Shane Rose who took out 1st, 2nd and 3rd! We also won the award for best performed Young Rider. Geisha also had a super event, as always lots to work on in the dressage with her, but a qualifying score of 57%, backed up with double clear jumping in the CNC 2** to finish in 5th place, and once again, best … Read More

Melbourne International 3 Day Event

Sophia HillEquestrian

Geisha had a fantastic run at Melbourne 3 Day, starting off with a great, calm dressage test, her best one to date. It was a massive section of 90 competitors, and she was placed just below midfield. She then proceeded to make light work of the technical cross country course, coming home clear and well under time. There was a lot of trouble out on course, and she made a significant climb up the leader-board. She pulled up perfectly after the cross country, and proceeded to jump a clear show jumping round on the final day. This moved her up into the placings (just!) with a 15th place rosette. I couldn’t be happier with how she performed, her best dressage test to date and then finishing on that score! It was a super event for her.On the other hand, Melbourne 3 Day did not go to plan for poor Hughie. I had a great ride on him when we arrived on the Wednesday, but come Thursday morning (trot up day) he was non weight bearing on one of his hind legs, having shifted his shoe overnight. We did everything we could to have him right in time for trot up, but in the end simply ran out of time. He went from non weight bearing in the morning, to about 90% sound for trot up. We decided to give it a go, and in the end it was so close, but not quite enough to pass and sadly we were spun – ending our event before it even began! By the … Read More

Ballarat HT

Sophia HillEquestrian

We headed off to Ballarat Horse Trials, with about a million horse rugs and jackets packed! The weather forecast was shocking, and if anywhere is freezing, its Ballarat. Luckily for us we missed most of the worst weather which was on Friday. We copped a fair bit of it driving there, but that was better than riding in it!Geisha and Hughie were both in the CIC 1*, and I was very pleased with their efforts in the dressage arena on Saturday. They both scored well and did nice calm tests to be sitting about midfield in their respective sections. I have worked out a warm up strategy for each over the course of the season and seemed to be able to get it just right at this event. Geisha: not do much at all, just keep her totally quiet and calm in the mind, and definitely don’t try and fix or tune anything up at the last minute! She could even stand still and rest for a few minutes here and there in her warm up. Hughie: Don’t let him stand around too long, otherwise he sometimes loses his chill factor when you start to work after a rest. Keeping him calm and responsive is the goal and the best way to do this is working him right up until the test and trotting straight to the arena! It’s amazing the difference it makes when you find the right warm up strategy for each individual horse!The other two horses to compete were Chuckle and Sapphire, both having their EvA 95 … Read More

Lakes and Craters 3 Day Event

Sophia HillEquestrian

I was excited to be heading off to Camperdown to Lakes and Craters 3DE, on of my favourite events, at my all time favourite venue. It is hard to beat the natural beauty of the lakes and big hills. It is always a spectacular backdrop for cross country, with a lot of work having been put into aerating the surface. Geisha was entered in the CCI 1* 3 day event (long format), her first 3 day, while Hughie was stepping up to his first 1* event in the CIC 1* (short format). We had a slight issue getting Hughie’s national passport finalised in time, with my vet’s stamp spilling and leaking on the document which made it tricky to get it approved, delaying the process. This meant we were waiting outside the post office in the horse truck at 9am on Thursday morning hoping it would have arrived! Thankfully it did and we were on our way to Camperdown! 5 hours later and we had arrived just in time for the first horse inspection, and we quickly prettied Geisha up and trotted over for it! Needless to say she was accepted. I then spent the rest of the afternoon riding horses while Alice my groom plaited them up.On Friday Geisha warmed up well for the dressage, but became a little tense in the test, causing her to do a few uncharacteristic things like strike the ground in the halt before her rein back, and do a flying change at the end of her medium canter. I was a little disappointed, … Read More

Wandin HT

Sophia HillEquestrian

For the first time in a while we were arriving at an event in broad daylight, and even better, there was time to ride all the horses on Friday afternoon at Wandin Park! Having not had the time to do this for a while it was nice to familiarise the horses with where they would compete the next day. By all accounts Wandin proved to be a great, albeit very busy event! I had five horses competing over four different levels, which made for a lot of different dressage tests and cross country courses! Luckily the courses all followed a similar path, and I was quite pleased that I managed to walk all four in one go, and even better remembered exactly where to go on Sunday!Geisha was meant to be competing in the CIC 1* class, but we unfortunately found out at the FEI horse ID that her FEI registration wasn’t up to date. Having only just done it in October last year I didn’t realise it needed to be refreshed on a calendar year! The same thing had happened to 11 other riders, and so a CNC 1* class was made for us to allow us to still compete. Geisha had her A game on all weekend, starting with a PB dressage test where she got a 65% from one judge. She has struggled with this phase for so long so it is really exciting that it is starting to come together finally! On Sunday she jumped a very careful clear show jumping round, one of not that … Read More

Canberra Horse Trials

Sophia HillEquestrian

Having missed out on the entries for Tonimbuk HT but still keen to get a run in, we made the road trip to Canberra Horse Trials instead. With just Geisha and Hughie going, we took the car and float and drove there through the night on Friday, arriving at 3am in the morning! Luckily for me Andy did the driving and I got to sleep!Saturday was dressage day, and with just two horses competing it was very relaxing compared to what I am used to! Hughie did a nice test to start off, I was very happy with him and some of the work he did. Geisha was a little tense, but still did do some nice work in her 1* test. I was pleased that she scored above 60%, the goal with her at the moment! She actually got a 7.5 for her first centre line so we just have to work on getting the rest of the test to continue on that streak!Once dressage was done, we had time for a nap to recover from the late night, walked both cross country courses in one go, and then explored Canberra a little! It felt like we were on holidays, not at a horse event!Sunday was all the jumping phases, which started off with Hughie’s show jumping. I thought I had a lovely and relaxed canter to the first jump, but it proved to be a little too relaxed when he had it down! That is his first ever eventing rail and he wasn’t impressed, jumping super cleanly around … Read More

February Update

Sophia HillEquestrian

February has been a strange month, with a little less help at home than usual with just one groom working for me, and what seems like an impossible number of horses to get worked each day! My young horses have had to be put into intermittent work to make time for all the clients horses and my higher level horses!After a cross country schooling boot camp at Benalla and Mansfield for the eventing first timers, we headed off to Ballarat Hickstead, the first event of the season. I was very pleased with how the four horses I took performed. They all did nice dressage tests, Geisha did her best yet in the 1*. Hughie was a touch tense but still scored well in his first EvA 105 test. And Chuckle and Woody were both super cute in their first ever dressage tests! All four of them then went on to jump double clear rounds, a great way to start the season!The following weekend we headed to Shepparton for the NVSJC Summer Show. The highlight of the show was placing in two classes on the main arena with Hughie and Geisha who both jumped super. Geisha stepped up to her first 1.20m class in a while, and proved to be well and truly ready taking out 5th place! Hughie placed 4th in the 1.10m, a super result for such a green horse. The younger horses had a great time in arena 2, with Woody jumping around his first 104cm with ease. Chuckle showed some serious style in the 75cm and 90cm … Read More

Tonimbuk SJ

Sophia HillEquestrian

We were in for a hot weekend when we headed down to Tonimbuk for the Gippsland Show Jumping Festival. Luckily for us it turned out to be cooler at the event than at home! The four horses on the truck were: Geisha and Hughie, having their first event back for the year after their spell, Chuckle, at her very first show, and Woody getting ready for his first eventing season. Geisha had a fantastic show, proving what a consistent performer she has become, placing in three of her four classes! She placed 3rd in the 1.10m class on Friday, then jumped in the evening Speed Class entertainment that night. It was a big atmosphere and she rose to the occasion, zipping around for 6th place. The following day she jumped a clear round to get in the jump off, but unfortunately had one down in the jump off. She finished off with a fantastic round in the 1.10m – 1.15m championship on Sunday which placed her 6th. I’m looking forward to getting her out eventing! Hughie can’t seem to help himself but to steal the limelight every time! He started off with two clear round on Friday, and then wowed us all with a win in the 1.05m Championship on Saturday! Being a relatively green horse still (having been jumping for just 6 months) this was a fantastic result. I was excited to start him in the 6 bar competition, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to lack of entries. A shame as it is always such a great event, … Read More

When we evacuated Euroa to Camperdown HT!

Sophia HillEquestrian

The first weekend of December kicked off with a severe weather warning for what was forecast to be one of the most major storms to ever hit Victoria. With horse events all around the state being cancelled, the Camperdown Horse Trials which I was entered in was set to go ahead, with the Western District of Victoria supposed to be missing much of the rain. At home in Euroa on the other hand, it was a completely different story! On the Friday before the event the rain began and it didn’t leave! I have ridden in the rain my whole life, and been caught out in many storms with hail and heavy rain, but I have never been quite so soaked as I was after riding 5 horses on Friday morning! My saddles were squelching as was every other part of me! To begin with the ground was soaking the rain up, but very soon it began to flash flood in places and we began to worry about whether it was the right thing to do to go away to an event. I was very indecisive all afternoon, having spent a lot on entry fees and my horses being well prepped I was keen to go, but equally I was worried about the roads to get there and the rain at home which just kept coming down in torrents! It wasn’t until Andy got home from work (when we were meant to be leaving straight away) that we went for a walk around the property and looked at the flash … Read More