Well Hastings put on a cracking week weather wise for the 2011 Horse of the Year Show. Hawkes Bay is renowned for its great weather - and great wine! And this year was no exception.
For the first time in a long time I had no pressure on me to perform at the show. I only had one horse entered - Donnerwind in the PSG / Inter I level, and no qualifications for WEG or Olympics to go for. So I was determined to have a bit of fun, treat it as a holiday, and to spend time with friends and sponsors alike. Two of my sponsors had big trade stands there - Mitavite and Horse Vans - so it was great to spend time with them and meet the public looking thru their stands.
One fantastic young lady in a wheelchair wanted to meet me at the Horse Vans stand. I took her over to the stables to meet Donnerwind and I gave her Donnerwind's sash for his overall placing - she was over the moon and excited to be feeding him apples and giving him pats.
Donnerwind's show got off to a bad start when he managed to somehow "de-glove" his ear in the stables - a very painful injury indeed. For a while I was unsure if I could start him - not knowing if I could even get a bridle on him, or how he would cope with his injury. I decided just to see how he went in the warmup - it was two days after the injury he had to compete. It was definately a mission to get the double bridle on! We had to take it apart and put the bit in seperate, so we didnt have to pull the bridle on over his ears.
He coped remarkably well once i was on board, just a bit of a head tilt and a few shakes - such a trooper! We ended up 4th in the Prox St Georges, but I was more than happy being placed 1st by Mary Siegfried who judges at the Olympics and World Championships. Greta marks from a judge of her calibre are always appreciated. In the Intermediare I class he was again great - with another fourth placing - and then best of all 2nd in the Musical Freestyle on the saturday. He finished an amazing 3rd overall. I will link a copy of his musical onto the videos page of this website.
Donnerwind and I also took part in the Friday night Extravaganza - which was meant to be a pas de duex with Kalista Field on Waikiwi. Unfortunately the sound man lost our music and we had to perform to something far less exciting, and then Waikiw got a little overcome with the atmosphere and Kalista showed the huge crowd that dressage girls can REALLY ride! Donnerwind was cool calm and collected despite the noise, crowds and spotlights - a real performer.
I lent him to eventer Donna Smith on the Saturday night for the "Battle of the Disciplines" where he showed the crowd that he can not only do dressage, but jump a bit too!
All in all it was another great show - thanks to show manager Kevin Hansen and his team of orgainisers and to Chris Paston who does a great job of the dressage section. I couldnt have made it through without the help of Jude and Anne who were my loyal grooms and dogs bodies over the week - Thanks guys!