Standardbred Riding Group Inc

Standardbred Riding Group Combined Training Day.


On the 18th January The Standardbred Riding Group hosted their very first HRCAV official event. A Combined Training Day. The event was held at the peaceful grounds under the shady trees at Broadford, not too far out of Melbourne on the Hume Fwy.

The weather was perfect for the event, with the sun shining, and not a breath of wind. It was an early start with the first competitor arriving at the grounds by 7.30am, with more arriving every minute after that. We had a great amount of entries for our first event, gaining 48 competitors, from locals, to out of towners! Some travelling as far as Wandin, Bendigo, Echuca, and even Horsham! (Huge effort for Alieshia and Bazz)
 
The day ran smoothly with our dressage rings running pretty close to time, A special Thankyou to Bev Mumford who judged the level 3’s and 5’s on the sand arena, and to Mandy Etherton who judged the level 1‘s, 2‘s, and 4’s on the grass arena, and bought her own pencillers along to help. We also have to thanks the marshals at each ring, pencillers for each judge, and runners for the dressage tests. It takes lots of helpers to have everything run on time.

The show jump judge and course designer was our very own SRG member Peter Boyd. Pete did a fantastic job with the lay out of the course, making it a challenging round, with twists, turns, and lots of dazzle boards. This made it entertaining for the spectators to watch. There were some riders that had trouble going clear and making it in the optimum time.  It was also a good course as it had the placing’s change quiet a bit after the dressage phase. Again the SJ arena ran on time, with the help of the penciller, gate steward‘s, and crash crew, a big thankyou to you all.
We only had one fall for the day, and one nearly fall, both in the show jumping arena. Both riders and horses where fine, and hopefully not to sore the next day. We had a first aider on course, to take control of those moments, Thankyou to Dawn, a past member for making the trip down to help!

We would like to congratulate all the winners and placegetters. You all did yourselves proud. The presentation of all the competitors was amazing. Too think they went to so much trouble to prepare for us! Our Club! We were honoured to think people really tried there best, in performance, presentation, and also in attitude, it was wonderful to see so many having fun with their horses.
Some of the competition was very close, and sashes to 6th place were very tight in some classes.

We would like to take the opportunity to Thank our 5 main sponsors for the day,
www.rustyspring.net (Animal friendly B&B)  level 1
Central Veterinary Clinic Broadford                level 2
Victory Meats Broadford                                  level 3
LJ Hooker Broadford                                        level 4
Broadford Pharmacy                                         level 5

Also to the new High Street Bakery in Broadford for donating some bread, Highlands Feed Store and Saddlery, Northern Hwy Feed Store Wallan, and Whittlesea Feed Store for your generous supply of the raffle prizes. All the winners were extremely pleased.
We had a separate prize to support the Standardbreds and Standardbred Crosses that competed on the day, with a Best Performed Standardbred Trophy. This was won by Kym Sanderson, who is an SRG member. Her horse Social Drink, was a well known pacer a few years ago, who was trained in Kilmore. Congratulations for not only winning the trophy but also proving that the Standardbred can have a life after racing by coming second in the level 5 section.
Deb Austin did try and sneak into the running by suppling Clancey with her own brand in liquid paper! E=MC2, she had all the SRG members in stiches riding around showing everyone that Clancey really was a Standy!

Their was a high standard of competitors in each section and it was terrific to know that some in the lower level 5’s chose our event to make their début outing. They had started so nervous at the beginning of the day with the anticipation of getting on and trying to remember all the things that needed to be done, and then to the relief at the end of the day when they’d finished. They had achieved what they had probably been dreaming about. One lady even rode out of the SJ arena with happy tears knowing she’d made it through the day! She hugged all her support crew, and her lovely chestnut horse, who had been perfect for her all day.

I want to Thank all the members of the SRG, (and their families), who could make it on the day. (And those who could make it the day before, to set up). You all worked your butts off! Im pleased to say that you all deserve a huge pat on the back for a job well done. We had excellent feed back from those that attended, and it would not have been such a success with out all your help. It takes a lot of dedication from club members to have a wonderfully ran event, and we pulled it off!
We all left the event with bouts of sun burn, sun stroke, and dehydration, but we also left with huge smiles knowing that everyone enjoyed themselves.
Lastly I’d like to add what a wonderful job the 4 people on the sub-committee did. It takes a lot of work to get a day like this from an idea, to an event that’s accomplished. You all set a wonderful example of how a small group of people can get a big job done.

Winners of each section are
Level 5   Melissa Harper
Level 4   Simon Harper
Level 3   Jennifer Ellingate
Level 2   Peta Elstreck
Level 1   Zoe Warrell

Kym Sanderson