How awesome was Glenorie camp?? Horses, rivers, dams, good food, adventures and awesome people! What else can you ask for?

There was two rides a day, exploring a beautiful property and well-behaved horses. (Most of the time anyway!! Ahem, ahem, Gully and Scooter…)

All the rides were special but I think that everyone agrees the day of swimming in the dam was best! Every single horse enjoyed it and so did every single person! My group was especially adventurous that day! 

Swapping horses around for a morning was exciting and we should do it again! Later on, an impromptu, bareback cantering session on Chockie, Boot Scoot and Gully lead to some very funny moments and a whole gaggle of giggling girls (tongue twister for the day …) I have to congratulate Claire for some excellent riding during some unexpected cantering on Gully! And Alex cracked us up the most by two slow-mo-slip-offs from Scoot and Gully!! She smiled all the way down! YOLO!

Just to let the Collin chicks know, Alex will be stealing Tully, and I’ll be pinching Chockie… ( when are you going on your summer vacation??)

Having sundowners at the little cottage on the hill was beautiful and extremely amusing as we tried to practice for our play… Sarah lost her voice in the end…

Getting muddy and wet in the river and screaming at floating sticks was the best fun off – horseback though, and we are all very glad nobody was eaten by drop-bears or bashed by the phsyco roo. (!!)

I had an amazing time, ate myself sick with homemade cakes, said YOLO obsessively, bonded with my horse, and our amazing, though cray-cray, Pony Club people!!

A HUGE thanks to everyone involved in making it happen, but especially Leone and Marie-you guys are amazing!!! ❤

See you all at the windup!! Darcie and Gully 

Although I didn’t ride at this weekends zone school, I still got to catch up with everybody and meet Sharon Jarvis face to face! She was kind enough to agree to an interview;

When did you start riding and what first sparked your interest in it?
I started riding at 3 years old, and got my first pony at 4. I don’t know what first sparked my interest in riding, I just always loved horses!

Tell us about your first pony:
My first pony was called Tonka, he was a little pinto Australian riding pony who was very naughty-every time we cantered he would try to buck me off! He was only 10.3 hands and about 6 years old.

Tell us about the horses you own at the moment:

I own a lot of horses at the moment!
I have a few riding pony broodmares, and some young sport ponies, as well as some retired ones. At the moment I’m riding a Hanoverian stallion owned by Kate Barton and my own TB for eventing.

What has been your best moment with horses?
Lots and lots!!
I just love everyday when I get to kiss and cuddle them, but traveling Australia and the world with my horses is hard to beat!

What has been your funniest moment with horses?
Falling off in a show ring, getting back on and then still placing in a rider class!

Do you have any other pets?
Yes, I have a cat named Schnappy and dog called Grover.

What would you say to young people who would like to make it into the Olympics?
Be prepared to work very hard and make a strong commitment. Be ready to forego lots of other fun things to train yourself and your horse.

You developed a rare bone cancer in your leg at a very young age, and after chemo and radiotherapy you broke that leg leaving you with very limited movement from the waist down. How did this affect your life and riding aspirations?
It did, of course, have a major influence on my life but it did show me that you should never forget what your dreams are. It did put my whole riding life on hold for a while, and while I didn’t make it to the Olympics, I did make it to the Para-Olympics!

What does it feel like doing a dressage test in the Para-Olympics?
Absolutely amazing! The best part was entering for my first test and seeing the Australian flag flying! To be able to wear the Australian flag on my saddle blanket is a really amazing feeling and doing it with a horse I love is awesome!

How many hours of training and practice go into preparing you and your horses for events?
A lot! I ride a lot of other peoples horses and I’ve learnt that it doesn’t really matter what horse you are riding-it always makes you a better rider. I train in the gym for strength and core stability and I also see a physo weekly to keep mobile.

Do you have a favorite horse breed?
Hanoverian.

Are there any issues in the horse world you would like to see addressed?
Yes. There will probably always be a political side to dressage. Judging has to become more transparent and clear-cut so the sport can become better.

Thank you Sharon! 🙂

Spalding Horse and Pony Club
Darcie Darbyshire

The Spalding Horse and Pony Club held its annual Spalding Show last Sunday.
The all-day event kicked off with a whole morning of hacking and progressed onto fancy dress, show jumping and novelties. At the end of the day prizes were awarded to a winner and runner up in each age group, based on points accumulated throughout the day.
Many horse competitors and enthusiasts from all over Geraldton joined the Spalding Club for the event, including neighboring Clubs Walkaway Horse & Pony Club and Moonyoonooka Horse & Pony Club.
SH&PC holds many different events over the course of the year, including 13 rallies, various zone schools, 2 station camps, fun days, 2 shows and lots more.
The Club aims to teach youths aged between six and 21 years horsemanship in a fun and engaging way. Spalding Horse and Pony Club teacher and coach Karin Christie has been involved with the Club since it first started in 1970. She said a lot of work goes into preparation for the Annual Show.
“The instructors help the children weeks beforehand and educate them about rules, regulations and show etiquette. The committee organizes judges, canteen rosters and ground event helpers”
Karin said that Rider Events are judged solely on the rider and their ability and capabilities, regardless of whether the horse is misbehaving.
“All other hack events are judged on the horse behavior, looks and conformation,” she said.
The Club currently has over 70 members and 20-year-old Tori Beaver has been riding at Spalding PC for 5 years.
Tori started riding when she was 10 years old and has been competing for 14 years. She has been training her current horse, Tiger (Artillery Prince) for 2 years.
She said she loves how Spalding always puts a great show together and she has always enjoyed the day.
“I love competing!! Even when things go wrong on the day you can always be proud of something and can keep striving for more. It’s not until you look back at what you used to do (jump height, eventing levels etc) that you realize your moving forward and that is really encouraging. My favorite classes at shows are the jumping and games,” Ms. Beaver said.
“Competing gives me such a buzz, I know it’s not all about winning, but it’s the best feeling when you receive your 1st ribbon and you know the hard work it took to get you there.”

What a great three days!

This is always an exciting event, with many of our inspirational coaches and high level riders up from Perth and beyond.  Definitely one of the best spectator events of they year and not one to miss even for those who aren’t riding!

Spalding riders strutted showed there talents in quality if not quantity; both Marie on Gally and Tori on Tiger had a great weekend with ribbons and prize money an added bonus!  It was great to see the enthusiasm of our members who were there watching if not participating; I saw Kate and Elizabeth (with mums in tow!).  Kate was very impressed to see the classes that Nell was jumping in; a good reminder of the great coaches our club goes out of it’s way to provide for you guys!

Lots of other local riders did really well, with Richelle doing everyone proud in the “big” ring and Hayley (on both grey ponies) among others spending some time in the saddle.

All in all a good weekend and I hope everyone who went enjoyed it!

Here is some footage of Tori and Tiger.  Enjoy.

~Sarah

Has everyone seen this video?  Such a wonderful example of how amazing our equine friends really are.
Inspiring, isn’t it?

It was crisp and clear this morning as we all met together for another mid-winter early morning.  The ponies all wondered why they were getting on the float instead of eating grass in the paddock; at least mine did!  The D group were on first and had lots of fun in their first lesson up in the RDA yard, going under streamers and over tarps.

There was also some pretty interesting lunging going on in the Marshelling yard with the C, C* and B group.  Gally and Tiger were very well behaved and patient with everyone though!  Then this group had flatwork and everyone did pretty well with their trot-halt transitions and not so well with their leg yielding!  It was getting there though, and once again the ponies were very well behaved.  Especially Darcie did really well riding Gally, since she had never ridden him before and he was a bit bigger than she is used to! We learnt that some of us need to practice our flatwork at home a bit more often!

Having fun in flatwork.

There was a delicious lunch provided by our ever vigilant canteen volunteers, lead by Barb who always does a good job.  It’s great to have so many mums helping out with this, doesn’t it just make everything so much easier?  All those hungry children are forever indebted to you!

Lunch: time for a short nap!

After lunch there was more action in the RDA yard, this time with the D candidate group.  Although not many of the riders legs were quite good enough to get their ponies over narrow fences, they did everything else very well!

What was left of the D group had a brilliant time cross country, apart from a little bit of excitement for Danielle and Renny, who decided she didn’t like being away from the other horses!  They eventually had some fun though going over the tyres and the Z jump.

Some personal bests were achieved with Kate in the last showjumping lesson of the day, getting over a double in an inspiring fashion (even if she did keep going too slow).  Tully was exceptionally behaved as he has proved himself to be thus far.  Although Dior thought Neffi was “dead”, she seemed to be pretty normal to the rest of us and maybe just needed a bit more hard work!

All in all a great day, hope to see some Spalding members helping, watching or competing at the GCEC July showjumping on the 12th, 13th and 14th; it’s a great event with some very high jumps which is great entertainment!  Failing that see everyone at the zone school at Walkaway from the 16th!  For more photos of this rally see under the Gallery tab.

❤ Sarah