Report and photos by Rebecca Ashton
What a lovely task it is to report on people supporting each other in sport. As it was last month with Brett Parbery and The Book Club in the Southern Highlands, so it is this month with the Queensland Festival of Dressage.
It was a privilege once again to be asked to present at this annual fundraiser run by the dressage community of Queensland. A day of information sharing, shopping and fun always pulls a large and enthusiastic crowd. As presenters, we get treated like royalty and it’s also a wonderful opportunity to catch up in Rosie’s Cafe, the VIP area to exchange notes and information with each other.
This year I was asked to present on rider fitness in the Peter Horobin Saddlery Interactive Zone. Hopefully I was able to encourage a few more riders to take up a riding-related fitness routine and in so doing, help their horse and make their riding more enjoyable. The interactive zone was set up a little differently this year. Where in previous events it was arranged in a lecture hall style, this year saw a small sawdust strewn yard surrounded by seats which meant horses could be included in presentations. The bedding proved too tempting for some four legged presenters with full bladders, and I was glad that my exercise demo was scheduled for early in the day!
Alistair McLean
Amongst the eight presenters in the interactive zone was Alistair McLean, son of well known animal behavouralist Andrew McLean. Back from three years traveling and training in Europe and now based at his parents Australian Equine Behavioural Centre down in Victoria, Alistair talked about the mind of the horse including the differences between horses and humans and explained training exercises such as ‘parking’ and ‘over shadowing’.
Peter Horobin demonstrates saddle fitting
Australian saddler Peter Horobin gave fascinating insights about the horse’s anatomy and saddle fitting, his equine helper very colourful by the end of the talk covered in lines and stars of techincolour chalk. Amanda O’Sullivan had a handful of tails as she came in to set up for her lecture on presentation and the lovely Liz Owens, that stalwart of Australian dressage, used her thirty years of animal nutrition expertise to explain how to best feed your dressage partner through the different phases of life.
Gary Lung entertains the kids
The presentations in the main arena didn’t stop all day either. Well, ok, maybe once for Gary Lung and his Mitavite team to entertain the kids for awhile. No one can wear a green afro like Gary! The entertainment allowed time for the fashion parade to take place outside. Here vendors could show off their wares using the best that Queensland dressage had to offer as catwalk models! Some riders, off horses and out of the arena, were out of their comfort zone, but they gave it a good strut and a few looked to be enjoying themselves. A new career calling?
The morning main arena presentations consisted of more then one appearance by Tor Van Den Berge. Who knew Tor had so many hidden talents? One minute he was skillfully manoeuvering a team of four through a driving course and next he was trying out his reining skills. Ok, so maybe the reining needs a tad more work, but Tor is an impressive horseman!
Western bridle looks a bit confusing to Tor…
My main arena presentation was on how to improve your sitting trot. I couldn’t have asked for two better demo riders; position-perfect Emma Flavelle and Andrea Byrne. In past years demonstration riders were usually members of the state squad but this year the Festival opened up a few spots to the public which proved very popular and yet another way to give back to the sport with the chosen riders also working with their particular presenter the day before the event. Andrea had won the spot to join my presentation and she did a tremendous job.
Emma Flavelle and Fiderfürst
Fellow New South Welshman and also member of the Southern Highlands Book Club, Grand Prix rider Sue Hearn presented on Tips for Training Lazy Horses. So what did Sue think?
“I actually think this is a great thing for people to come to because it’s informative and I think the way it’s organised, there’s something on every minute, I don’t think people can get bored! Everyone is training a little differently and it’s a great way to get tips that maybe you haven’t had from your own trainer or even a reminder about basic things. It was good to see bums on seats and an interested audience and I think the trade stands did very well. We’ve had a lovely weekend away from home, and the food here is fantastic!”
Lauries As in the stallion parade
Queensland rider, coach and judge Jenny Gehrke also enjoyed her involvement. She’s presented at almost every Festival since its inception. “I love doing it. I’m happy to talk on whatever the organisers want me to. Today we did the physical and mental demands on the Grand Prix dressage horse which was really fun because I was working with Nicole Tough and Jayden Brown. We had a lot of positive feedback on our talk and a lot of people didn’t realise how hard it is to do Grand Prix. It’s good that they know it’s not just a bunch of tricks but it’s a culmination of years of training and it’s a different level from just general submission and relative fitness of the horse. It’s a bit like people, if we just go to the gym to feel great and look awesome, it’s different to the person who goes to the gym to be an Olympic gymnast.”
And did I see you strutting your stuff in the fashion parade?
“That wasn’t my choice! But hey, we need to see normal bodies, right? I’m lucky to be sponsored by Horseland so I was happy to get out and show their merchandise for them. They have a great range of products…and I got my hair and makeup done! I had a great catch up with Liz Owens in there and we were saying we should do this all the time; find a salon somewhere and have a horsey chat.”
Nicole Tough acts as a demo rider for Bjarne Elefsen
Organising such a big event, especially a fund raising event must be stressful, but you’d never know. No matter when you talk to her and about what, event organiser Nicole Tough is always pleasant, professional and smiling. I always find her inspiring. She has a family, runs her own business and still has time to give back to the sport. It would seem her attitude is infectious if the conduct of her team is anything to go by. They are all volunteers and are just so pleasant to deal with.
I caught up with an exhausted Nicole at the end of the day. “As an event director, you’re up at 05:00am and you’re on the go the whole time and it’s not until afterwards that you sit back and think ‘We did it!’ We had a few behind-the-scene dramas as you would expect, to do with sound and technical issues, but we have a great crew and they just soldier on, fix the power issue, fix the sound issue.”
You said in closing you aren’t holding an event next year?
“We usually start planning in January. We usually have three months off then start planning again. But this was our ninth one in a row where we’ve only had the three months off in between and we all felt it a little bit this year so instead of losing members of the team, most of whom have been part of it all from the beginning, because they’re tired and their families need them, we thought we’ll take, not a full year, but we’ll start planning again in July instead of January for our next one which will be in March 2017.”
Nicole has a bit of fun on the catwalk…
How have you kept the same team after all this time?
“They just believe in the event, the sharing of knowledge, the education of riders, the celebration of the sport and having the trade vendors. It’s literally a day where you can just shop, catch up with friends and sit down and enjoy a mix of education and entertainment. It’s what we are able to give back to the sport that keeps us so pumped.”
How do you keep it fresh and have so many new topics?
“When we’re planning we have a brain storming weekend and we really go off our feedback forms as well. We end up with about 20 things then we have to cull it to 10. Last year there was a strong feeling that people didn’t want to see coaches working with their students on problems that they’d fixed. People wanted to see real problems on more normal horses. So this year we opened to the public the chance to demonstrate. We had over 100 applications. So, for example we had tips for riding lazy horses and it was a genuine rider with a genuine lazy horse. You yourself had tips for sitting trot which a lot of amateurs struggle with so we thought that was a good one.”
“I also read magazines and go back through old magazines and find ideas and look at events like the Global Dressage Forum and see what they’re presenting. Last year Andrew McLean presented the topic he was going to present at the Global Dressage Forum a month later so we got to hear it first.”
“We all want to get better! If one person gets better, the country doesn’t get better, but if we all get better, the whole sport gets better.”
And the most important reason for holding such a wonderful and successful event? “Celebrating dressage because it’s an amazing sport and the horses are amazing animals!” Amen to that.