The
Upper Murray Challenge is a new ride on the VERA calendar and is conducted at
a new ride base – the former Karumba Arabian Stud farm previously owned by
well known Victorian endurance rider Sue Parsons.
The farm provided a very lovely ride base located in a scenic and very
pretty valley about 5kms out of the small Murray River township of Walwa.
The
hospitality provided by the Ride Organisers, Chris Gates & Meg Wade, was
exemplary with riders, strappers and ride staff treated to free meals with the
evening meals a special treat. Home
cooked spaghetti bolognaise with sauce specially prepared followed by
delicious home baked sponges decorated with the wording of
Castlebar was on the menu one night while steak and fresh salads and
red wine plus another sponge was available on the second night.
Having
been one of only two people to vet out during the 80km 2* event I was treated
to the piece of sponge with the L on it (for Loser) while Martin Mizzi, the
other unfortunate, got E for Eliminated.
Guess it’s always good to be the butt of a joke!
A lovely big fire was made available for all of us to warm ourselves by
while we all chatted and gossiped and had a good time.
Not
many people travelled to compete in the event but we had two first time FEI
riders from Victoria – Carl Adamson and Martin Mizzi.
Both of them really enjoyed the weekend and are looking forward to
competing in the next FEI ride. The
amount that these guys learnt, especially from being able to rub shoulders
with some of Australia’s top riders, was one of the highlights, they both
commented. Carl got a bit merry
around the fire on Saturday night and was right into the jokes but
unfortunately for most of us only he got them!
19
riders competed in the 2* 80km event with only 2 eliminations for lameness.
This resulted in an 89.5% completion rate for the ride.
13 riders competed in the 3* 160km event with 8 riders being successful
and a completion rate of 61.5%. All
of the eliminations were due to lameness once again.
The
track was scenic and provided a number of challenges both with changes in
surface and a variety of inclines, declines and flat tracks.
The 3* event included a rather long hill to add to the challenge. The track in the 2* rode very well but still needed to be
considered carefully. Having said
that winning time was 4 hrs 16 mins so if you were on a well seasoned and fit
horse it wasn’t too difficult.
There
were a number of sightings of deer on the first leg, to add to the thrill of
the ride. I was lucky enough to
have two deer cross the road in front of me as well as a number of roos and a
fox or two.
Another
of the challenges was dodging the log trucks – they weren’t supposed to be
working but someone obviously forgot to tell the 12 or so truckies that! There were no dramas though as the truck drivers were always
very good and slowed down whenever going past.
Although I was less than happy as I headed out on the first leg and met
a log truck crawling along and his air brakes let go right at the time I was
trying to sneak past! As I was
riding Castlebar Dell, who is 15.3, the big shy that resulted was rather
daunting given the long way to the ground!
Meg
Wade continued her good form this year taking out first and best conditioned
in both rides. The last leg of
the 3* event was particularly exciting. As
the riders rode out across the paddocks the camp watched as Meg aboard China
Doll, showing the benefit of being a seasoned 160km horse, slowly gained
ground on Linda Meredith riding Anglesea Trooper.
It was a tense time for strappers in camp waiting for the arrival of
the first horse back into the paddock. When
the first horse appeared on the horizon it was difficult for some to work out
which grey horse it was but it quickly became apparent that it was Meg and
China Doll heading back in first.
Linda
and Trooper had put up a bit of a battle to retain the lead on the 6th
leg but it was China Doll’s experience that won out in the end.
Meg arrived back in camp 4 minutes ahead of Linda, finishing in a time
of 9 hours and 14 minutes, and presented to the vets in excellent condition
with a good strong and rhythmic trot out to get the thumbs up from the vets
and ground jury. Trooper then
presented shortly after and was also successful, much to the delight of Linda
and her strapper and husband Ted.
The
atmosphere at the ride base was great with lots of jocularity and camaraderie.
The Ground Jury and Veterinary Commission were always helpful and
informative. Many thanks to those
folk who turned up to help out at the ride, in particular Tina Hones, Bev Rayner-Mason,
Sue Parsons, Catherine McAlpine, among many others.
Australia
now has two riders successfully qualified for the World Championships, to be
held in Malaysia later this year. Both
Brook Sample on Brookleigh Excalibur and Meg Wade on China Doll have now met
the criteria to qualify for a place on the Australian team.
There are a number of other people who are trying to get qualified at
the forthcoming FEI rides so it will be interesting to see if we can get
enough qualified combinations to make a team.
And, then, the next hurdle is to see whether Malaysia will actually
allow our horses in following the EI outbreak.