Maree Tomkinson grabs the lead and features as our March International Animal Health rider of the month!
In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a leap year, and that means it’s a Games Year and the race is on for spots in the Aussie team to go to Rio next August, and after the first CDI of the year on the Mornington Peninsula, Maree Tomkinson and her imported mare, Diamantina have grabbed the front spot in the dressage race: 1st in the Grand Prix with a 70.12, and first in the Special on 68.922 (but with a 70 from German and Rio judge, Peter Holler). Ree was second in the Freestyle, but again over 70 – 71.7, and with something of a disadvantage when sound from elsewhere on the showgrounds started playing over her soundtrack during the test! Go Princess and Ree!
You might not like me saying this but I thought you had really turned it around, there was a degree of togetherness and harmony that I hadn’t seen the last time I saw you both at the 2015 Sydney CDI…. Have you both been meditating?
“After WEG, which was, don’t get me wrong, incredibly fantastic and the most wonderful experience, but you sit in quarantine for four weeks, and it is a bit like four weeks of meditation. You are there on your own with your horse… and I made this decision, that if I wanted to go forward from here, and fantastic as the WEG was, I didn’t want to lug my horse back in two years time to come 40th!”
“If I was going to try and get her on a team for Rio, then I needed to change some things. I gave myself two years and I have set about trying to change those things. In the process of doing that, of course sometimes you have to go a little bit backwards to go forwards.”
“She has an incredibly active hind leg but she often has trouble balancing on that hind leg from one movement to the next. The process was, that I had to get her to wait for me, to stay balanced on the hind leg and to control the hind leg. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, and it’s slowly coming together.”
“I’m pretty close I think, I’m not quite there yet but I am pretty close. I still haven’t quite got enough bend in the half passes, the lateral suppleness is still coming, it’s obviously a lot easier to work on lateral suppleness if the horse stays balanced on the hind leg. I think we are pretty good with that, her shoulders are up 95% of the time now, the regularity is a lot better. Now with that balance I need to work on a bit of lateral suppleness and then I might be close to happy.”
Presumably if you get to go to Rio the music will play for the whole of your freestyle?
“Yes, Chris, you are very optimistic, we’ll be getting 75% by then in the Grand Prix so we’ll get through to the Freestyle and the sound system will be absolutely on our side. It was crazy when the music cut out on me in the test, your body keeps riding the test because that’s what you and your horse have trained year after year to do, but your head is not in the game then: Do I stop? Should I say something? Am I meant to keep going? It was a bit distracting. All things considered, I think both of us did a pretty good job at keeping us in the game but it was very confusing, I could hear people talking and a sound check of instruments over the top of my music. I couldn’t hear where I was meant to be. There was a little bit of a break in the music, so that put me ahead of the music, and then when my music came back on, there was other music playing over the top of it. It was confusing…”
What are the plans now?
“The plan has always been to head towards Rio. There is no point peaking a year before. You have to peak in May and June this year, that gets you selected and then hopefully you carry that through to the competition itself. I just stay on that path, I’m staying on that path as if I am going to Rio. I have to believe that, that’s probably my hardest thing, controlling the doubt that I carry in myself. I have believe in myself, and believe we are going. Then if there is any reason why we shouldn’t go, if I decide it is not in the best interests of my horse, then we step off the path, but in the mean time I stay firmly on that path, heading in that direction.”
“I’ll probably go to Europe at the last minute, which would be towards the end of April. I’m a working rider, I have to stay home and work and run my business for as long as I possibly can. At the moment, if I do go, it looks as if I will be away for a very long time and I can’t afford to be away any longer than absolutely necessary.”
You’ll be working with Christoph and Jürgen Koschel?
“I have to discuss the details with them. They are definitely my coaches and will remain that way. It’s a financial thing, if we go, and especially if we take Donna Elena for the World Young Horse Champs, it’s two horses for nine months and it might not be financially viable to stay at Koschels, if that was the case, we might have to find a stable nearby so I can continue training with them. There are a few nuts and bolts that need to be worked out.”
Is there a tingly tingle happening… THE OLYMPIC GAMES!
“When the WEG appeal was upheld and for a while I wasn’t on the team, I said to a friend, You know I would rather be an Olympian anyway, there’s no such thing as a WEGARIAN, there’s a tingle for sure. It would be an absolute dream come true, but at the same time, it is not just a box ticking exercise. I don’t just want to go to the Olympics, I want to go and have a really good shot. I want to train my horse to go the absolute best she can go, and I don’t think she’s there yet, by a long shot. I think there is a 75% horse inside her, and I have to learn to bring it out.”
Each Rider of the Month receives a prize supplied by IAHP.
This month, the Rider of the Month receives a 2kg bag of Livamol.
A palatable blend of proteins, energy and polyunsaturated oil formulated to improve coat condition and general appearance of all stock, including stud and show animals. LIVAMOL is especially appropriate for young, aged and convalescing animals recovering from disease or injury.