Fran Cleland
He's got film-star looks but Zulu II is not just a pretty face
THE stand-out performer at the Australian Sports Pony Registry dressage event at Werribee Park last weekend was Nirrelle Somerville’s...
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Fran Cleland
Jul 27, 20223 min read
Breeders unite to fight for greater recognition of Australian horses
A GROUP has been established to work towards better promotion of Australian and New Zealand-bred performance horses as a distinct...
Fran Cleland
Jul 27, 20222 min read
'Prez' a once-in-a-lifetime horse and he's still just six years old
WHEN Elizabeth Krog visited her friends Pat and Richard Ryan at their Warrawee stud near Lancefield in Victoria five years ago aged just...
Fran Cleland
Jul 27, 20224 min read
Horse bits: Para girls set off, new head of AERA and Donald ride to time ...
AUSTRALIA’S para dressage girls begin their journey to the FEI World Championships this weekend. Team members Di Barnes reports that the...
Fran Cleland
Jul 19, 20222 min read
People power wins the day after EA reverses para dressage team decision
EQUESTRIAN communities are always hopeful of publicity but it’s doubtful our para dressage riders would have liked the attention they...
Fran Cleland
Jul 19, 20222 min read
No shortage of Pony Club events or competitors as winter digs in
THERE’S an old expression “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun”. Well, pony club kids are too smart to go out in that sort...
Dale Webster
Jul 19, 20225 min read
Flash still helping children and one amazing woman to shine
BURIED in a paddock a few kilometres north of Bendigo is a pony called Flash. By the time Kristy Kemp, the fifth child in a line-up of...
Fran Cleland
Jul 19, 20223 min read
Endurance riders some of Australia's most successful athletes
A personal reflection on the quiet achievements of an often overlooked discipline THE Quilty Gold Cup will be returning to Victoria in...
Fran Cleland
Jul 19, 20222 min read
Shetlands show off their versatility at annual big day out
MAYBE they were once thought of as pit ponies, or stars of Thelwell cartoons, but the Shetland Pony breed also has one of the most...
Fran Cleland
Jul 19, 20222 min read
Award winners continue to give back to their disciplines
THE Victorian Young Rider of the Year awards began in 1987 as a means to give promising young riders in showjumping, eventing, dressage...
Fran Cleland
Jul 19, 20224 min read
Horse bits: warhorse memorial, actor to join Brumby vigil and selections ...
BILL the Bastard is getting to be more famous than Phar Lap. A bronze, life-size sculpture of Australia's greatest war horse was unveiled...
Fran Cleland
Jul 13, 20222 min read
Para dressage decision flies in face of the Olympic creed
THE Olympic Games creed says: “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but...
Fran Cleland
Jul 13, 20222 min read
Hard to beat a winter woolies show for a good day out
WINTER Woollies shows are marvellous little events that pop up just like mushrooms all around the country. They are identified by hairy...
Fran Cleland
Jul 13, 20222 min read
Kid from Tassie chases down a dream to take her pony to top 3DE
A SLIGHT 14 year-old-girl and a 14.3hh Riding Pony are not a pair you would expect to see sailing around the two-star cross country...
Fran Cleland
Jul 13, 20222 min read
'Small, encouraging and friendly' - what more could you ask for at an event?
THE Tatura Dressage Club has held its second competition as a standalone group. It is one of many horse clubs around the state that is...
Fran Cleland
Jul 13, 20222 min read
Development squad delivers some top dressage performances
THE Victorian Young Rider and Development Squad in dressage is one of the success stories in equestrian sport. Catering for dressage...
Dale Webster
Jul 13, 20223 min read
Japanese encephalitis and horses - the latest update
A WARNING to safeguard horses against mosquito-borne diseases may seem out of place in the depths of winter but unusually wet conditions...
Fran Cleland
Jul 13, 20223 min read
Briefs: 'Patto' lame, tragic fire, watch Quilty finish and an old foe returns
JOHN Patterson, known Australia-wide simply as Patto, is in hospital with a broken hip. The family of the much-loved former Clerk of the...
Dale Webster
Jul 10, 20225 min read
Time for a reset after union's bank closure media release sparks chaos
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE FEDERAL TREASURER, DR JIM CHALMERS Dear Dr Chalmers, We need to talk about Peterborough. It’s a town in South...
Fran Cleland
Jul 6, 20223 min read
Barbie's a pint-sized class clown whose most important job is 'best friend'
WHEN Stacie Robinson bought the little black and white Shetland Pony Lynvale Lodge Barbaro from the Vicary family she didn’t realise what...
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