EQUITANA 2012 Off and Running!

Supreme Horse of EQUITANA - Sanlirra Talk of the Town and Briony Payne

Press conference with EQUITANA's international stars

Jo Formosa was thrilled to chat to visitors and let them wear her gold medal for photos

EQUITANA 2012 kicked off today with a huge variety of horse events, exhibitions and trade stands!

There is something for everyone at EQUITANA with all things horsey taking over the Melbourne Showgrounds. Whether you wanted to watch some of the country's best show horses, cutters, Arabians or showjumpers; learn from top instructors; or simply indulge in serious retail therapy, it was all at EQUITANA today.

My day started off in the company of EQUITANA's fabulous international guests Ali Al Ameri, Richard White, Kyra Kyrklund, Mary King, Sarah Winters, Richard Winters and Josh Lyons. This was the first time EQUITANA has held a press conference and it was great to be able to chat to these illustrious horse people about various topics. I asked them what they look for when buying a horse for their various disciplines and received wonderfully comprehensive answers! Stay tuned for an article on 'What to Look for When Buying a Horse' buy EQUITANA's international stars.

On the events side, the lovely galloway Sanlirra Talk of the Town (ridden by Briony Payne) won Supreme Horse of the Show, while Alison Rowland and Bickley Brook Bella took out the Equestrian Grand Final showjumping in fine style with two clear rounds.

It was lovely to see Briony and the beautiful little bay mare win as they won Champion Galloway at the Royal Queensland Show in August and the Horsezone trophy rug for that event.

The showjumping this evening was really entertaining to watch and kept the capacity crowd on the edge of their seats. See Horsezone's Facebook page for results/scores from during the event.

The Horsezone stand was the place to be in the Grand Hall (stand 216), with Jo Formosa chatting to visitors, bestowing them with her gold medal for photo ops and signing autographs. It was lovely to see so many people having a wonderful time with Jo and so totally excited by the prospect of wearing a gold medal. The Horsezone team were also amongst those keen to feel the weight of Olympic gold!

The other fun activity, which was in demand at the Horsezone stand, was our role in the Equestrian Australia Treasure Hunt. Children keen to partake of the Treasure Hunt have to come into the Horsezone stand and 'ride' the Horsezone showjumper!

Today was the first of our daily prize draws, which was won by Ella Bradshaw from Kyneton, Victoria. Congratulations Ella.

We're looking forward to another great day tomorrow so be sure to come and see us, meet Jo Formosa and enter our daily prize draw! See you then.

By: Jo Johnson

Quick Links

• View all EQUITANA 2012 photos in the Horsezone Gallery (more being added regularly)
• Read all EQUITANA news