AWHA Victorian Branch Gala Day and Young Horse and Pony Dressage: 1 March at WPNEC

By: Mary McBurnie - Victoria Branch AWHA

It was a very busy day for the Victorian Branch of the AWHA Ltd on Saturday 01 March 2014 when we conducted our annual Gala Day along with a program of Young Horse and Preliminary, Novice and Elementary dressage classes. 

It was a bit tricky trying to negotiate possible clashes between the dressage and showing, but with a bit of flexibility from all concerned I am pleased to say that everyone managed to "do it all".

Our Led Show was judged by two very well known breeders Dirk Dijkstra and Jane Bartram. This did raise an issue in a couple of classes as each judge faced one of the horses they had bred. As our scoring system for the show is based on the average mark of the two judges, in order to be unbiased, both Jane and Dirk decided that the fair thing was to step aside for their own horses.

We had an excellent attendance of older horses this year with 22 horses spread over 8 classes. It was a very strong field that presented for the Senior Championship judging with the award eventually going to Kookaburra Park Toscana (who had also been out in the dressage arenas) owned by Jason Dins and Sue Adams and shown by Jason. Toscana is by AEA Tuschinski out of a Dutchboy II mare. The Reserve went to Hollingrove Dazzler by Dancier (IFS) out of an imported Sandro Hit mare. He was shown by his owner Rebecca Williams-O’Brien.

Kookaburra Park Toscana (all photos: © Bray Photographics)
Hollingrove Dazzler

After this very long session we gave our judges a well deserved tea break before the Foal and Broodmare classes. These classes have been a feature of our show for many years, but for whatever reason, most breeders had decided to leave their babies and mares at home this year. Although the numbers may have been disappointing, the quality certainly was not and thank you to those people who did venture out.

Champion Foal went to Hollingrove Dami who really was a special little lady. She is by Dancier (IFS) out of the imported mare St.Pr.St. Bella Carmina, owned by Bruce and Debbie Williams. Dami also took out the highest scoring led AWHA sash. She is also in the running for the $500 prize being awarded by the AWHA Victorian Branch to the Foal with the highest aggregate from the Gala Day and the AWHA Ltd 2014 Assessment Tour that has been all around the country and will be winding up in Victoria next week.
The Reserve sash went to Stoneleigh Park Whispering Jack owned by Sam Marshall and shown by Travis Cole. Jack is by Callaghan, an Irish Sport Horse and out of Sharalyn Whisperina by Whisper.

Hollingrove Dami
Stoneleigh Park Whispering Jack

While all this was going on our two visiting colt/mare classifiers Silvia Ahamer (NSW) and Lesley Archer (NSW) were busy in Indoor 2 classifying 4 mares, all of whom were involved in show classes and one in the dressage as well!

There was only 1 Broodmare class this year and it was won by the imported mare Emma owned by Ellanbrae Park Pty Ltd. She is by Rohdiamant out of a mare by Diamond Hit. Second place went to Sharalyn Whisperina and the Champion and Reserve Champion also went in that order.

Emma

The lunch break was very welcome for all concerned and was staggered with judges coming in from the dressage, Silvia and Lesley finishing their classifications and then being sent off to Indoor 2 to commence the ridden classes, while Jane and Dirk resuming in Indoor 1 with the Junior Led Classes. Confused yet?

Indoor 1 saw some very lovely (and feisty in some cases) youngstock. Once again our numbers were down on last year, but the quality was sky high. It is so exciting to see these "little" ones at this stage and then hopefully see them out competing later on. 

The scores for these classes were exceedingly tight with only 2.75 marks across the field! It took a lot of deliberation but the Junior Championship went to the very lovely Hollands Bend Dancing Queen (Dirk selected the Champion). She is owned by Ellanbrae Park Pty Ltd and is by De Niro (IFS) out of the imported mare Hirtenqueen by Sunny Boy. Carolyn Welsh certainly had a good day out with her girls. A very popular Reserve Champion was RVL Radiant owned by Leah Crane. Roger is by Raphael out of a Jaybee Alabaster mare. He visited us last year as a foal and his dam Jaybee Alchemy took out 2 Championships at the 2010 Gala day.

Hollands Bend Dancing Queen
RVL Radiant

Meanwhile, out in Indoor 2, the ridden classes were progressing with a very large entry however some of the riders obviously decided that they had had enough and didn’t show for the 5 and 6 and over classes. The Ridden Champion went to Robyn Todd on yet another stunning chestnut Jaybee Farm horse, Jaybee Royalty. He is by Rotspon out of Gloria (Imp) by Glorieux. Robyn is a staunch supporter of our Gala Days and had a pretty busy day herself. The Reserve Championship went to a first time visitor Wendy Halma on her lovely mare Jaybee Alaria (Jaybee Farm strikes again!). She is by Jaybee Alabaster out of an Aachimedes mare. She also took out the highest scoring AWHA Ridden Horse and received a lovely saddle blanket which Wendy told me would be used the next day.

Other special awards included:

* Best Presented Horse - Remi Louboutin and Barbara Hilsaca,
* Best Presented Handler- Breakaway Xzoticaand Mitch Fox, and
* Most Competent Handler- Leah Crane.

Jaybee Royalty
Jaybee Alaria

That was the end of the AWHA Gala Day but then we had colt selection to run as well. While the ridden classes were finishing, a dedicated band of conscripts were putting the finishing touches to the jumping lane in Indoor 1. Silvia and Lesley were joined by our two Victorian Colt Classifiers, Ros Meadmore and Willy Knauss, and the colt CJP Hot Topic was presented to the assessors by Travis Cole for a trot up (soundness check), static assessment and measurement, then in hand movement, free movement and finally the jumping lane. There were a few exciting moments, but to everyone's delight "Hugo" passed.

CJP Hot Topic

So that was the end of a very successful day. Thanks to the judges, classifiers and everyone who attended or helped out on the day. All photos are subject to copyright and are courtesy of BRAY Photographics. Many thanks to our Sponsors on the day, Elite Frozen Foals and International Horse Breeders Pty Ltd who supply a choice of semen for our foal and broodmare classes.

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