Quote:
Originally Posted by BerrieK
Trevor we have stated down the slippery (financial) equestrian side....my 10 year old daughter has started competing in shows, Frank (hubby) has been having riding lessons along with her. And thus we now have 2 horses of our own.
Consequently a lovely arena has been constructed in our front paddock, including about 90tonne of crushed limestone base and 75 tonne of sand and a lovely rock wall along the built up side....oh the gear I COULD have bought instead. Oh well, all is fair in love and love!
Ariel (my daughter) really wants to see the horse head nebula with her own eyes - but my little 8" scope just cant do it.
Kerrie
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I can sympathize with you Kerrie, Equestrian pursuits can be very expensive to follow and require great commitment.
The only people that think astronomy is a very expensive hobby are those that have not been mixed up with horses.
Obviously living in Broken Hill, it is a long haul to get away and compete at the highest level. We used to do show runs down through the Riverland and county S.A.
My wife learned to ride at a very young age and developed into the most successful showjumping rider in our region. I never got involved with horses until my early teens. I was extremely fortunate to be able to buy my horse. A friend of mine who was a good rider had been given the choice of two horses, I was able to purchase the one he didn't want, one was a flashy thoroughbred a chestnut with a white blaze and four white socks, the other was a plane looking chestnut with a thin white blaze. My friend chose the thoroughbred.
I named my new horse Davey Crockett and over the next 10 years we developed into a very good team. He trusted me and I trusted him.
I really enjoyed cross county jumping and started competing in One Day Events locally and interstate. We were successful at the Balhanna ODE where the competition was of a very high standard.
We advanced to 3 Day Eventing, our first outing being the Gawler 3 Day Event of 1972. This was recognized as the most prestigious 3DE in the Southern Hemisphere, members of the Australian Olympic team competed there and our Olympic selectors were present. Princess Ann had previously ridden in it.
It was a whole new ball game for us and although Crockett went very well we were eliminated due to a mistake made by me, I passed the wrong side of a flag in the second roads & tracks stage on day 2. I was not aware of this at the time and continued on through the entire cross county, only to be made aware of my mistake at the end of day 2.
Later in 1972 we went on the long haul to Melbourne for the Royal Melbourne 3 Day Event. This time I made no mistakes and we finished a creditable 14th overall, not bad for a combination from the bush.
The highlight of our equestrienne performances was the 1973 Gawler 3 Day Event, this really was used as the Olympic selection trials for Montreal. Crockett was at the absolute peak of his career. Before we went I promised him that this would be the last big effort I would ever ask of him and that I would retire him from competition following it.
We had never had any professional coaching and were a bit rough around the edges but Crockett had spirit and trust in me that I would never ask of him more than he could deliver.
There were 47 other competitor in the field from all over Australia.
Day1 was the Dressage test, our weakest discipline, not many dressage coaching clinics in Broken Hill. We received -84 penalties and at the end of Day1 we were in 18th place.
Day2 is the cross county speed and endurance stage, our strength.
Following the first Roads & Tracks section, we arrived at the start of the Steeplechase, we were clear around the Steeplechase and earned +30.4 bonus points for our good time. We then started on the second Roads & Tracks section that took us to the start of the Cross Country, made sure I made no mistakes with the flags along the way.
At the start of the Cross Country was a 5 minute rest while Crockett had a compulsory Vet check to make sure he was fit to start the Cross Country. This 5 minute rest ballooned out to 10 minutes, they would not let us start as there had been a major fall out on the coarse. The horse preceding me had crashed heavily landing on it's rider and the rider was badly injured. I didn't know where this had happened.
When the starter released us Crockett surged away, taking different obstacles we encountered in his stride. About half way round the coarse we crested a hill and there on the down slope was the Fishtail jump, it was both maximum allowable height and spread, there was a very large crowd there, obviously this was where the bad fall had occurred, I collected Crockett, got his hind quarters under him and then as we came to our take off point I sat down pushed, Crockett stood off and rose beautifully over it, a brilliant leap, landing on the down hill side I concentrated on the position of my seat in the saddle and the support of Crockett's head, not to over balance him landing on the down hill side. It felt great I wanted to get off and give Crockett a big hug but we galloped on, it was inspiring stuff.
At the end of the Cross County we had gone clear but also fast enough to earn +56 bonus points. Our total score from the 3DE at the end of Day2 was +2.4 points and we had risen to 8th overall.
Day3 was the Show Jumping, in the morning was a compulsory Vet check to make sure the horses had recovered from the stresses of Day2.
Crockett jumped very well and recorded a clear round with no jumping or time penalties. We finished the Event with an overall score of +2.4 and rose to 5th place after the Show Jumping.
Davey Crockett was full of heart and was my mate, on returning to Broken Hill I retired him and he lived out the rest of his life with a group of other horses on a property not far out of Broken Hill.
Have attached an image of me and Davey Crockett. This is the cover of Australian Equestrian July 1973, Crockett is the plain old chestnut with the narrow white blaze, bottom left, this was taken during the Show jumping stage of the 1973 Gawler 3DE.
Sorry for rabbiting on so much, it was a long time ago, but I remember it very vividly.
Regards
Trevor
. I wonder where all the soil will end up this time? Maybe continue all the way to the coast and dump in the ocean? Which way is the wind blowing? It feels very eerie, like a holocaust movie, in that weird red light doesnt it.
oh if only i had an observatory i would never get out of it 
