The beast parked and settled in near the stables
LH Brittany in her yard, plenty if shade and room.
We arrived on Wednesday afternoon with LH Brittany, Irish Ace, LH King Arthur and LH Beckham. It was very easy to park in front of our stables and as per usual Tonimbuk Equestrian Centre provides the best facilities for all competitors. The power availability was in abundance and water to. There was plenty of extra sawdust for anyone who wished to freshen up their stables. All this makes it a lot more pleasurable to stay for a few nights especially since the weather was expected to be so hot on Thursday. We put 3 in stables and LH Brittany in her own yard making sure she had enough room to walk around and have a good bit of shade. Arthur maybe the King but Brittany is definitely the queen.
Wes putting some fresh sawdust in the 3 stables
Tiffany spreading the sawdust around
Irish Ace and LH Beckham in the stables
LH King Arthur in his stable
After we were settled in we walked over to the Indoor Arena to help build the course for Thursday 1.15m Open class starting at 9am. Wes, Jordan, Tiffany and I were very sweaty and hot like many others after the job was done. Much to our delight Scottie Barclay walked in and paraded his own Team Joyce T-Shirt which did bring a massive smile to our faces, I had to take a picture! Your in the team now Scottie”….
Wes very pleased to see Scottie Barclay wearing his Team Joyce t-shirt
Building the course in Ring 1 Wednesday night
Wes, Tiffany and Jordan very hot after helping construct the course in Ring 1 on Wednesday night
Tiffany, Sarah and their grandparents having a rest. The food all weekend cooked by my mum was the best!
It was so nice to have my parents there for this show they to camped and enjoyed watching showjumping at its best for 4 days. On the Thursday Tiffany and LH Brittany started first in the 1.15m Open and they placed 8th overall in a large field of 65 horses. They jumped clean in the first round and had a cracking jump off time but did have 1 rail down. Wes jumped LH King Arthur in this class but they had 1 time fault but did actually jump a lovely clean round. Wes placed 5th on LH Beckham in the Open 1.25m class, they had the fastest jump off time by 2 seconds but pulled 1 rail which gave them 4 faults. But never mind because it was wonderful to have our old faithful champion LH Annie-Elka win this class with no faults at all ridden superbly by Tom Mc Dermott.
It was very nice of Tom to let me take a picture of LH Annie-Elka with her winning ribbon
LH Brittany and Tiffany place 2nd in the Open 1.10m class Friday
On the Friday Tiffany and her precious most reliable Brittany placed 2nd in the Open 1.10m class. Sarah jumped Irish Ace in the 1.05m class and just had one rail down , this was terrific because Sarah had just arrived late Thursday night to ride at the show and had not ridden at all for 2 weeks . Irish Ace went around like the old faithful he always was and brought plenty of joy for Sarah to be able to have a ride at the show. Wes jumped Arthur in the Open 1.20m class and he had 1 rail and 1 time fault. LH Beckham jumped in the Open 1.30m class , he jumped a clean round and then had 2 rails down in the jump off.
LH Beckham placed 5th 1.25m Open Thursday
Sarah washed LH Beckham
Sarah’s new boots for her birthday present
We celebrated Sarah’s birthday at the show and gave her a pair of boots.
Wes and his girls having a great time, just after giving Sarah her boots
Irish Ace and Sarah go and warm up for the 1.15m Open class Saturday
Tiffany and her beloved LH Brittany, she jumped so well as per usual in all classes
On Saturday LH Beckham and LH King Arthur both jumped in the Future Stars event and both jumped real nice clean rounds. In the jump offs, Beckham had 2 rails and Arthur just had one which Wesley blamed himself for because he said he added a stride and should of tried to let him canter down at his normal pace. Arthur really showed a huge amount of potential in this class as it was quite a decent height and he is still only a D Grader. We are very excited about our King Arthur’s future prospect in showjumping. Both Irish Ace and LH Brittany jumped in the 1.15m speed class and Sarah just had 1 rail LH ,Brittany and Tiffany placed 6th.
Tiffany and LH Brittany with her ribbons enjoying her extra feed!
Tiffany and Sarah sharing a smile for me!
On the Saturday night the Mouser family owners of Tonimbuk Equestrain Centre provided once again excellent facilities for a huge crowd to sit and watch the top showjumpers compete in the World Cup. The event started at 7pm with a riders course walk and then the crowd were able to also walk around the course was well. So many spectators walked around and observed the jumps. Then at 7.30pm the first horse jumped the massive course. We all watched 16 horses attempt the first round and only 8 were able to come back for the second round. In the end the well deserved winner was Tom Mc Dermott. But not only did he win the event he also placed 2nd on his other horse! This as an amazing feat and all credit must go to Tom as this is just a little reward for all his hard work and persistence. Well done Tom!
On Sunday we walked Arthur over for the D Grade Championship and he jumped once again a very pleasing round, but had 1 rail in the treble. It was the last line of the course and he just got to close to the B and just had it down. Wes, Sarah, Tiffany and I ambled back to our stables with Arthur chatting about how wonderful our horses are and what a terrific 4 days we all had together. It had been a while since we could all be together because of many other commitments that life brings when we get older, but this was another one of those times you make sure you enjoy every bit and make plans to do it all again together. It will be a while now for us to make it happen as a family because Tiffany leaves for Europe to continue her University studies in Jan 2013 and Sarah is thinking of going back to University in 2013. Never the less Wesley and I are still here and Team Joyce will always be the 4 of us and Wes will still attend many shows and compete his team of Lals Haven performance horses in 2013. We may even do 1 more show before Xmas?
We shall post some footage of our warm up and jumping rounds this week! Stay tuned.