Entries up and juniors star at Tassie's horse of the year show
EQUESTRIAN Tasmania’s Show Horse of the Year championships saw an increase in numbers in a lot of sections, with the quality of the horses presented top class.
The event at the Coal Valley Equestrian Centre also featured a large contingent of impressive junior riders who featured in the awards.
The judges this year were Emma Schaaf, of South Australia, Wayne Loughan, Victoria, Angie Paterson, Queensland and Tanya Benton-Hall, the ACT.
The winning newcomer pony was Milford Park Ambassador ridden by Hannah Burn who then cemented a very good show by going runner up large open pony.
The lead rein combination of Brayside Showman, a super polite pony with his cute-as-a-button rider Darcy Watkins, swept around the arena for the win in the open leading rein class. His handler was Josh Clarke with a pocket of lollies for the little rider. Runner up was Tibooburra Tryst nominated by Alycia Hall.
Anne and Jess Campbell’s medium show pony Melody Park Kingdom of Heaven took out the state award for Medium Pony Of The Year. Ridden by Dani Zeiser for the Campbell family Dani then backed it up winning Large Pony of the Year with Thorwood Toy Story. Melody Park Kindom of Heaven also won the Penny Woods Memorial Class with a foot perfect workout and the quality pony was the judges’ pick across the board.
The matriarch of Tasmania’s show ring, Anne Campbell, capably piloted her galloway KT Celebration around for a win in the open.
The fourth exhibit shown by the Campbell family over the weekend, Harry of Potter Park, went runner up to his stablemate in the small galloway class ridden by Claire Lester.
The Large Galloway of the Year was Ann Paterson’s Home Vale Victory with Bernadette Warren riding. He’s a very leggy and elegant chestnut and he glided his way around the indoor facility. Runner up was Expressions FF and Tracey Gangell.
The small Hack of the Year was Twelve Oaks Lovorno ridden by Shari Sweeney and nominated by Rhonda Hall.
Josh Clarke then had his work cut out in the large hack class with two entries, Royal Fairs and El Casco. It was Royal Fairs’ win over the chestnut El Casco. El Casco redeemed himself in the Thoroughbred Open Show Horse Cup by taking out the Tasmania Racing title.
On hunter day, Shetland Marbet Wallace (Darcy Watkins riding) owned the arena for the win in the hunter leading rein. Runner up was Westcourt Warlord ridden by Lilly Elphinstone who was straight off the newcomer hunter pony win ridden by Matilda Cameron.
Matilda Cameron had a good showing in the Small Hunter Pony of the Year with her two rides, Snowdonvale Crumpet and Snowdonvale Allure going winner and runner up.
Medium hunter pony was Midsomer London Town with Jodie Baker in the saddle. This combination also won the Rising Star Hunter Pony Award.
The large hunter pony class was strong and with all ponies showing true hunter attributes the judges had their work cut out sorting this one out. Their winner was Anne and Peta McMinn’s Bamborough Pentax, a super-chilled liver chestnut who gave Peta a great ride. Runner up was the bright chestnut Anderton Park Annabella ridden by Lynda Anderton.
The small hunter galloway winner was Astral High Society, a strong-moving bay who gave his rider, Jess Elphinstone, a relaxed, calm ride. Runner up was Allenmore Royal Harlequin ridden by Yvonne Barr.
Jess then swung on to her second nomination, the big chestnut hunter galloway Beaufort Sunshine, who trumped Magic Show ridden by Fiona Clark for the win. Both galloways are very consistent in their work.
The small hunter hack winner was Oscar De La Renta BD ridden by Tamara Smith for Jody Rybarczyk. He is a liver chestnut gelding who worked softly to take the win from Kasperaddo Diamondo ridden by stalwart of the ring, Fiona Fehlberg.
Large hunter hacks are always an exciting class to watch and Debussy ridden by Amy Griffiths took the honours again with a previous winner Reearnahs Fine Design into second with Claire Lester.
The Penny Woods Memorial Hunter Class winner was the bay Astral High Society with last year’s winner Magic Show with Fiona Clark runner up.
The Thoroughbred Hunter Cup was won by the newcomer winner Doroza ridden by Abbie Bessell, a true hunter type who will be one to watch in the future.
The first ridden winners were Darcy Watkins and Marbet Wallace and Carter Rybarczyk with Bubbles CC. The judges awarded both these children the win as they could not separate them. It was fantastic to see the lap of honour the five and nine-year-olds put on, waving to the crowd and having a mini race to the exit.
Riding classes were well supported this year across the board. Darcy won the five to nine years age group and Master Carter won the under 12 years. Maya Stephens won the 12, 13 and 14-year age group with Abi Brooks taking out the 15, 16 and 17 years.
Shari Sweeney won the 18 to 25 year-old class with Claire Lester winning the over 25, just beating the male representative in the class Josh Clarke.
The Sarah Beltz Memorial Riding Class was a hotly contested class with entrants of varying ages and ability. The winner was Sarah Bellchambers riding Yardah in Action, runner up was Shari Sweeney riding Debussy owned by Amy Griffiths.
GALLERY
(Click any image to expand)
ABOVE: All images supplied.
Stories on The Regional’s website are free to read and always will be.
If you enjoyed this article you can show your support by joining our mailing list (either by filling out the form below or sending us a message).
We'd also get very excited if you put a "like" on our Facebook page.
Comments