Hi my name is Tommie, I am 12 years old and I have been riding since I was 3. I am from Australia and this is Ivy my Australian Riding Pony who is 13. I am a member of Harden Pony Club and a couple of weekends ago Ivy and I had a big competition…
It’s been a long road to the 2022 Pony Club New South Wales State Dressage Championships – our preparations began in July 2022 as the original competition was to be held in August but Mother Nature had decided that down here in Australia we needed some rain so the event was postponed 3 times – so Ivy and I were in training for the championships for 6 months! Dressage isn’t my favourite discipline but we had set a goal to represent my Pony Club Zone in three disciplines in 2022, so I persevered with the training!
Last weekend the Championships were held at my local dressage club grounds in regional NSW. There were 75 riders (6 boys) from across our state, some travelling up to 5 hours to get to the event. We all camped at the grounds for 3 days in our floats (this is the Australian term for a horse box).
On the Friday we got ready for the trot up and presentation with competition beginning on the Saturday morning early to beat the hot weather- I rode two of the best tests I have ever ridden which gave Mum goose bumps apparently! You should have seen her face when I told her I had dabbed the judge on the way out!!
The Championships concluded on Sunday with the presentations- I was placed in both tests and awarded the Reserve Champion Preliminary U13 ribbon and gift bag from Ranvet. My friend Lila who trains with the same coach was awarded the champion ribbon and rug.
Ironically (after being postponed for rain) it was a super hot weekend, so we had water fights to keep cool, washed our ponies down, played in the creek and even our mums bathed their feet in water buckets! It was a great weekend with our ponies, friends and dressage.
