Top Class Competition to End 2012 Australian Equestrian Season

Top Australian based event, dressage and jumping riders will this weekend take to the competition arena for the final time in 2012 and for some competitors there’s more than a title on the line.

The winner of the Grand Prix Freestyle at the weekend’s Pacific League World Cup Dressage CDI-W will be invited to start at next year’s FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Challenging for the title and the honour of representing Australia will be the recently crowned Australian Dressage Champions Maree Tomkinson and Diamantina IV and the newly formed but always impressive combination of David Shoobridge and OO Seven. Also among the all-Australian field is Rozzie Ryan and GV Bullwinkle (pictured).  Rozzie recently returned to Australia after spending a most of 2012 competing in Europe.

“Rocky feels wonderful, he seems to have travelled really well and he’s come back feeling great. He feels in good shape and confident. He has a little bit of a winter coat but I’m very happy if that’s the only side effect we experience.

“There are some good horses in this class who are doing really so I not taking anything for granted, we’ll see what happens.

“I just want to try and do a really good test. We put some decent scores on the board when we were in Europe so I’ll be disappointed if I don’t do a good test.

“I was lucky enough when I was in Europe that I did a lot of shows in a short space of time and put some good results on the board in good company. When you’re in amongst everybody there it’s easy to get a handle on the standard,” Rozzie said. 

The CDI-W is being staged at the Saddleworld Dressage Festival which commenced Thursday and will host more than 300 competitors who will perform over 700 dressage tests.

The final round of the 2012 Australian League of the FEI World Cup Jumping has gathered top combinations in Sydney for the Summer Classic CSI-W. The winner of this series will receive an invitation to attend the FEI Rolex World Cup Jumping Final, also to be held in Gothenburg in 2013.

After 13 rounds there are just three riders in contention for the ticket to Europe and they are Evie Buller and Alison Rowland of Western Australia and Queensland’s Billy Raymont.

After leading for most of the season 19 year old Evie Buller now finds herself in second position after her WA compatriot Rowland and her 9 year old mare Bickley Brook Bella recently strung together a series of strong performances, most notably winning the Be the Influence Equestrian Grand Final CSI-W and Sale CSI-W.

The summer classic brings an end to the 2012 Australian Showjumping season and has attracted the country’s best 250 riders and 450 horses. 

In country Victoria elite level eventers and young rising stars will contest the annual Lakes and Craters three day event. In 2012 this event has attracted a record number of 291 entries.  

Story: Equestrian Australia  Photo: Peter Stoops