EQUITANA Day 1 Wrap Up

Horsezone's EQUITANA news is brought to you by HORSE FIRST - supplements made by horse people, for horse people! Check out HORSE FIRST supplements at the Horse and Hound stand #429 in the Epsom Pavilion at EQUITANA.

David Cameron and RR Dyranta are leading the jumping after Round 1 (photo: Stephen Mowbray)

With Charlotte Dujardin - a total superstar!

Bogie Webb during the Starting Your Barrel Horse session (photo: Stephen Mowbray)

Horse First is the STAND OUT STAND! Read all about Horse First here

Charlotte with Nicole Tough in her Dressage Training Session

The Double Dans - The Art Of Horsemanship Session

 

By: Jo Johnson/Horsezone

The first day of EQUITANA for 2014 has been completed with large crowds - consisting of fans of all things horsey - enjoying unique retail therapy opportunities, wonderful displays, educational clinics and super competitions - and we've still got three days to go! 

My day kicked off beautifully with one on one interviews with Charlotte Dujardin and Lynn Palm - what a thrill to meet these two superstar horsewomen and they were both really lovely to chat with. Stay tuned to HORSEZONE news powered by HORSE FIRST for these EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS.

If you didn't visit the HORSEZONE stand #489 in the Epsom Pavilion today, be sure to come and see us tomorrow for your chance to WIN in our competition! HORSEZONE and HORSE FIRST are offering you the chance to win fabulous prizes including two nights 6 star accommodation at Crown Metropol in Melbourne, a VIP tour of the Living Legends farm with behind the scenes access, HORSEZONE merchandise, HORSE FIRST supplements and other great prizes! 

Some general highlights from today include:

Stand out Stand - Horse and Hound #429 in the Epsom Pavilion

HORSE FIRST Supplements were launched in Australia at the Horse and Hound stand today! People were able to come in and check out this high quality range of products, enter prize draws and get free samples, as well as buy all items from the range. If you haven't already, be sure to check them out tomorrow!

Essential Retail Therapy Experience - Magic Brushes #444 in the Epsom Pavilion

Magic Brushes - we can't get enough of these durable and practical brushes, which stand the test of torturous every day use around my stables and just go on and on. Plus they come in pretty colours!

Horsezone Highlight

Meeting so many fans of the site who have had great success with buying and selling horses through the Horsezone website.

Charlotte Dujardin Dressage Training

The rail of the John Deere arena was 10 deep and the stands were packed with people watching Charlotte work with Nicole Tough and Traci Bolt's beautiful horse, Borsato. What a way for fans to kick off Equitana! While this was happening we found out that Charlotte has won the Sunday Times & Sky Sports Sportswoman of the Year! Stay tuned for Coverage on Charlotte and Judy Havey's Dressage Clinic which is being held on Saturday morning.

Bogie Webb Starting your Barrel Horse

This session focused on getting your horse to follow his nose around the barrel, by keeping his shoulder up and not throwing out his hind end. Bogie also stated the importance of picking the spot where you go into your turn so that you're can complete a neat turn. He also stressed how important it is that your horse isn't leaning on you and at this stage in the training, if he is being chargey to stop and back him up.

Double Dans - The Art of Horsemanship

The Double Dans are always entertaining and today's session was no exception. They worked on teaching a horse at liberty to stay beside another horse and focused on making the space beside the ridden horse the 'comfort zone' for the liberty horse. This is the start of training horses for activities such as Roman Riding. There was a massive crowd in attendance and all enjoyed seeing the progress the liberty horse made as the Double Dans made the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. Simple! VIEW PHOTOS HERE

Natasha Althoff: How to Overcome Competition Nerves

This was an interesting and relevant session for anyone who gets nervous before competing. Natasha stressed how important it is that we focus on warming our horse up properly and making him comfortable to help overcome the fear factor.

The Way of The Horse (TWOTH): Challenge I

THE Way of the Horse (TWOTH), proudly sponsored by Horse and Country TV, is a unique horse starting challenge which runs during the four days of EQUITANA Melbourne offering plenty of opportunities to study the training techniques demonstrated by the featured trainers. Today the trainers selected their horses for the challenge and then took part in Challenge I. VIEW PHOTOS HERE

Breed Village

There is a huge range of horse breeds here at EQUITANA and the Breed Village is the place to meet them! We'll feature different horses over the four days of EQUITANA. VIEW PHOTOS HERE

STAY TUNED TO HORSEZONE NEWS LATER TONIGHT FOR REPORTS ON THE LYNN PALM WESTERN DRESSAGE CLINIC, EQUESTRIAN GRAND FINAL EXHIBITION EVENTING & THE EQUITANA AUSTRALIA OPEN REINING CHAMPIONSHIP

Day 1 Highlights from the EQUITANA Team

Today saw the opening of the 2014 EQUITANA Melbourne, with a jam packed exhibition space with hundreds of traders, the event kicked off with a bang as eager equine enthusiasts shopped until

they dropped. Meanwhile the education sessions were off and running, popular star presenter Charlotte presented an informative and well attended dressage session, which was one of just 50 sessions from horse training to horse health that took place.

The Competition Arenas were off with aplomb hosting the Equestrian Grand Final Exhibition Eventing, the first round of Showjumping and The Way Of The Horse.

John Valance presented an exciting and challenging course for the warm up round of the Equestrian Grand Final. Three clear rounds saw David Cameron, Billy Raymont and Jessica Stalling in first, second and third place respectively.

In an EQUITANA first the horse selections for this prestigious challenge were open for all to see.

Ambassador Rebecca Stoneman facilitated the selections. Competitor Kane Lamperd said that the horses all presented well and had different traits that would pose some good challenges for all competitors.

In a popular showcase riders competed in a challenging and entertaining competition. The Dressage phase saw our star presenter Dirk Schrade from Germany take a very well positioned second place, behind popular Victorian Rob Palm. The jumping (a combination of XC and SJ fences) sorted out the field (separated by just 8% between 1st-11th place after the dressage) and saw Victorian Katja Weimann take top honors.

A pumping first day saw a huge crowd converge on the three shopping precincts in what traders described as one of the strongest days to date. A number of new and innovative products, together with star presenters signings with Charlotte Dujardin certainly made the exhibition a popular destination.

The education program is in full swing. Today saw Charlotte Dujardin presenting a training session and then her sidekick Judy Harvey on how to train the Shoulder In. Dirk Schrade presented an informative session about relaxation in jumping training, whilst Lynn Palm showed how correct foundations apply to all disciplines and how the fusion of dressage and western works well for a supple horse.

The evening concluded in spectacular form with the EQUITANA Australian Open Reining Championship buckle taken out in equal first and second place by Shaun Saunders and previous multi-champion Warren Backhouse in third place on Shiny And Nu.