SEPTEMBER 2002 - ON MY WAY

I am writing this as I sit half in, half out, of the horse container holding GV Stirling Stilton and Yardley Aphrodite. We are some 35,000 feet up I the air, and we’re travelling at about 950 km / hour heading towards Hong Kong and then on to Amsterdam.
The air conditioning is low, I’m nearly frozen and I’m covered in lucerne hay and horse snort. Yuk!
It’s not been easy moving. We loaded at Sydney airport at 9.00 this morning. In my container of three horses was Aphrodite, a young Koyuna horse heading towards England, and Stilton. All loaded fine however the guy driving the little tug which was to tow us across the tarmac to the waiting Cargo Martinair Plane whipped us around the first turn much too quickly and all hell broke loose. Aphrodite scrambled and scrambled and then really panicked, thrashing from side to side. The space is tiny and Rachael wrestled with the mare’s head amongst the flailing hooves. Really scary! I jump out of the still travelling container and ‘politely’ ask the driver to stop. The container is billowing at the seams and rocking on its tiny wheels and the crashing sounds are ominous. Once the pallet is still, Aphrodite slowly settles and stands upright again.
The immediate damage is a 6" cut under her left eye going right through to the bone. Not life threatening but not good.
"Oh well," says Rachael, "Now she has a matching scar to the right eye which she got at the Sydney CDI before the Olympics."
Once everything is as in order as we can get it, the Tug starts towing again. WHAM-flip-crash!!!! #@* This time the little Koyuna youngster in the bay between Aphrodite and Stilton has had enough and firstly freaks out, tries to climb out the front, and then goes down and stays down. Rachael is doing all she can to keep Aphrodite in the worlds of reason, and Stilton is still letting go with his loudest snorts and seeing how hard he can kick the back wall. PANDEMONIUM!!!
Eventually we unhitch the Tug, pull down the front of the container, lever the baby Koyuna horse to its feet and drag it off. It has a few small cuts but is basically OK. Amazing! Everybody realises that it can’t go back on – so off he goes, gets on his own container, and seems to be now surviving very happily. Aphrodite and Stilton now have a bay and a half sharing the vacated space and although obviously shaken go on to survive getting hoisted into the air, and so loaded onto the plane.
Already on the plane in another container is Crisp with Ricky MacMillan and Jamaal with Kallista Field. Kallista has flown in from New Zealand heading towards the World Equestrian Games.
Because Crisp and Jamaal have already got one and a half bays each due to their owners foresight and willingness to pay an extra 5,000 odd dollars for the extra space. The horses look calm and settled. I wonder if Rachael and I will now get billed an extra $5000 each? It does look as though we will have to seriously consider it next time we’re flying. Ouch!
Anyhow, thank goodness, the company we are flying with IRT has also provided a vet so Aphrodite has had all the appropriate treatment, been stitched up and looks as good as its possible to look after the ordeal. Stilton continues to snort and paw and I do wonder how the fax machine will cope with these disgusting snort deposits all over the page when I fax this back to The Horse Magazine tonight. Every time I leave him he gets more agitated so here I’m stuck. I suspect he has a wicked sense of humour. Oh well, world, here comes the Australian dressage team ready or not!
The Eventers on the other hand don’t leave until next Monday and instead of training in Germany like we are, go on to England. Already disaster has struck in the Australian training camp with Kirby Park Irish Hallmark injuring himself in a gallop and so ending the dream for Megan Jones. God it’s tough! Megan then had to drive all the way from Sydney back to South Australia. What a lonely drive.
I can promise you that most of those miles would have been navigated by eyes behind tears. Poor Megan. I can also promise you that she will be back.
Landing in Amsterdam I learn that Tarsha Hammond and Fuzzy Logic are also ‘off the plane’ but Tarsh is another mega-talent and she and Fuzzy will be back, and that’s for sure.
Megan’s departure does open the way for Australia’s 19-year-old teenage superstar Jessica Irvine-Brown to join the squad and head on into the Northern Hemisphere with her wonderful little mare, Belcam Aaberdeen. It’s an amazing 12 man squad when the first reserve, or number 13, has Jessica’s record of having won and placed third at her last two CCI*** starts. Most countries wouldn’t have that sort of performance in their No 1 rider.
So that brings me to the next point. What do the other countries have in the way of teams? Sharon Ridgway has already done her assessment elsewhere in this magazine. Now it’s my turn.
Britain seems to have a dream team on paper. It’s the best they have had for years. Their individuals are also strong which is not usual for Britain. Interestingly they are all training under sweat rugs in an effort to get their horses used to the expected heat at the WEG. A bit ironic in my opinion. The ‘poms’ are always willing to keep their horses warm but when it comes to ‘aggressive’ cooling techniques, researched and pioneered for the Atlanta Olympics, they basically refuse. Both Badminton and Burghley still view the supply of ice in a 3DE situation as unnecessary. A view shared by most British riders!!! Britain has had a dream team on paper on perhaps three occasions in the last 15 years and yet, never once have they delivered. Very interesting.
New Zealand has monopolised the World Championships in recent times and will again feature as a strong bidder. Unlike Australia, New Zealand has a policy of encouraging riders to base in the UK for long periods of time. My feelings are well known on this topic and with the fading of their freak superstars, are they about to pay for their neglect of those home based riders who just could not afford to up and move home into the Northern Hemisphere?
Reigning world champion Blyth Tait and Ready Teddy will lead this team with Andrew Nicholson probably on Mallards Treat, Heelan Tomkins on Crusada and Kate Lambie on Alibi. Individuals are likely to be Dan Jocelyn and Silence and Bryce Newman and Inishturk. I do get the feeling that as a team these guys could be shaky. Certainly some great individual performances are expected.
The USA should field a strong team, however their recent great successes have tended to revolve around David and Karen O’Connor anchoring and leading the team. Their horses Gilt Edge and Regal Scott have not performed as well as expected recently. Both riders do have a reputation for not necessarily going hard in lesser competitions so it is not easy to get an accurate line on them. Kim Vinoski has been in breathtaking form on both Winsome Adante and Royal Venture. Watch for her.
Germany will be interesting for many Australians to follow with Andrew Hoy’s wife Bettina finding some great form to recently take out the German 3DE championship. Many Australians will be familiar with Englishman, Christopher Bartle who annually holds clinics in Australia and who has recently been appointed the German eventing coach. Can he change German fortunes around for the better?
At the end of the day, one has to wonder whether some of the international household names and their established partners may be getting very close to their ‘use by’ date. It could be the World Championships of the new World Champions. The Australian team does look very strong and we are positioned to go out after the individual medals as never before. This is Australia stalking the medals!
Finally a Guy Wallace update. Guy continues to make slow progress in Westmead Hospital. He is eating a little, like mashed potato, yoghurt and the other day slurped his way through a McDonald’s Thickshake, brainstormed by his Mum. He can touch his head with his right arm, and can sort of wash his face. His left arm is not yet as responsive. Guy is not yet talking but does make some noises and Melissa is sure that the day Guy talks again is not too far away. He is right now being re-taught the alphabet and does seem to recognize people. Just you hang in there mate.
Well that’s the column for this month. This has taken me five and a half hours to write, although to be fair, Stilton has and still is, doing his level best to get all of my attention. I have another 23 hours of flying time to survive!
Poor Nicholas Fyffe – Nick has the dubious honour of being Stilton’s special groom for the next six weeks. As soon as we get to Gronwohldhof where the team is basing, I am handing this hyperactive prima donna over to Nick. All I have to concentrate on from there is beating a few girls in a little dressage arena. EASY PEASY!
Cheers HEATH
PS. Landed in Amsterdam – all OK – One day rest for Rachael and I then 10 hrs by truck to training camp at Hamburg. Ricky and Kallista going to Kasselmann’s near Osnabruck, five hours by truck. Stilton has fallen in love with Aphrodite (Bloody Idiot!)

Return to the top of the page

HOME