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Postcards from the Saddle: Sheridan Sullivan

Published on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 in Postcards from the saddle

Sheridan practising horseless-dressage during the big wet of 2013!


 

Sheridan and Master OReilly on their way to winning the Harry LeBherz trophy at Warwick in 2011, for the Highest Place Junior in One star (photo: Oz Shotz)
(photo: Leanne Sullivan)

Leading up to and during the 2013 Queensland International Three Day Event, being held on 21-24 March in Warwick, young eventer, Sheridan Sullivan, is kindly blogging for Horsezone.

13 March

To the untrained eye, the letters, A, F, B, M, C, H, E, K would mean nothing less than jumbled letters, but in preparation for the Queensland International Three Day Event, these letters have found themselves situated on my back verandah, with only being able to spend limited time on our very wet arena, I have been running through my tests countless times on foot and reverted to trotting the horses down the road to keep their fitness in fine tune.

In just over a weeks time, we will find ourselves on the road to Warwick, with numerous events cancelled and rescheduled due to wet weather, a lot of horse and rider combinations have missed crucial qualifiers. This hasn't weakened the spirit of the strong love we all share for eventing, as we pack out trucks, goosenecks, floats and cars, and pray for some fine weather.

As initially planned I had five horses running at the QI3DE however, due to weather conditions I to have missed qualifiers and will only be riding four horses, 'Talent Thyme', 'Wenlock Lodore', 'Kelecyn Princess' and Jo Morris' 'Mojo Nemo'.

I am looking forward to a great event and am excited to see the great course Morgan Park and the organisers of the QI3DE have to offer. I wish everyone the best of luck, see you all there!

Sheridan

11 February

My name is Sheridan Sullivan, I am a Veterinary Nurse from Brisbane. I started riding at the age of six however eventing was not my thing in the earlier days, I started my riding career in the campdraft arena.

I have always loved fast adrenaline sports, however, it was my two younger sisters that started eventing and then I was hooked ! My parents bought my first eventing horse 'Master OReilly' affectionately known as Bubba in 2010 and in 18 months Bubba took me from my first ever Intro start to One Star, with our highlights being Reserve Champion at Interschool Nationals for One Star in Melbourne and winning the Harry LeBherz trophy here at Warwick in 2011 for the Highest Place Junior in One Star.

After selling Bubba I was looking for the next step up, so my very supportive Mum, my coach Kevin McNab and myself hopped on a plane to New Zealand determined to find 'the one'. It did not take us long to stumble across 'Talent Thyme' (aka Alfie) a horse nobody gave a chance, he was a very average looking thoroughbred, a bit hot at times but what we saw was a horse with a big heart, so in early 2012 Alfie had a ticket to Australia and some big shoes to fill in Bubba's place.

2012 was a big year for Alfie and I, we had our highs and our lows but we made it through. One of your most admirable achievements was placing second at Melbourne CCIJ*. This year I will be campaigning 'Talent Thyme', 'Any Thyme', 'Kelecyn Princess' and Jo Morris' horse 'Mojo Nemo', who will all be competing at QI3DE and supporting our Queensland team to a great victory over the NSW riders!'Talent Thyme' will be competing in the feature 'State of Origin' Two Star event.

I would like to make a special mention of my coach Tony Manca for all his help and coaching and I would also like to say a big thank you to my sponsor Online Horse Supplies for there on going support.

More soon! Sheridan

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