{"id":22510,"date":"2015-04-01T11:55:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T00:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=22510"},"modified":"2017-02-09T16:57:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T05:57:41","slug":"stars-in-her-eyes-sharmayne-spencer-joins-the-front-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/04\/stars-in-her-eyes-sharmayne-spencer-joins-the-front-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars in her Eyes \u2013 Sharmayne Spencer joins the front-line"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MegaStarSharmayneSpencer\"<\/a>Story by Chris Hector and Photos by Roz Neave<\/h3>\n

Sharmayne Spencer, who recently won the Horseland Three star at the Bates International Sydney 3DE on Mega Star, is one of the legion of riders that make up the amazing depth of talent and experience that keeps Australia one of the world\u2019s great eventing nations \u2013 and as with so many of our riders, and horses, she comes from a background of the rich legacy of horsemanship that is the Thoroughbred racing scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am \u2018bred\u2019 to play around with horses,\u201d Sharmayne explains. \u201cMy grandfather was a jockey and then trained at Randwick in Sydney. Mum rode trackwork for him, so I think I was destined to ride horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you get into eventing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it be good or bad, I was a hackie as a junior. I bought a pony from Bud Hyem so my first One Day Event was at Gunnedah. My Dad has even ridden Tic Toc \u2013 the whole family is involved with horses. That\u2019s a long time ago but we started eventing back up there with Mrs Hyem. I went to pony club, started eventing\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Who did you learn from along the way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have helped me along the way. Definitely mum, she\u2019s been fantastic. I have had lots of lessons, but when I got back into eventing, Prue and Craig Barrett helped me a lot. I\u2019ve had lessons with George Sanna, and now with the NSWIS squad, with Sam Lyle and Wayne Roycroft. That\u2019s been good.\u201d<\/p>\n

You ride very neat flatwork?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had lessons from Roger Fitzhardinge, but I don\u2019t think I necessarily base myself with one person. I learnt little bits from a lot of people\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The cross-country thing, that just comes from being slightly crazy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think so, I think it\u2019s the thrill at the end of the day, as you come through the finish flags\u2026 I think anyone who says they are brave and want to be out there as they are standing around in the start box, they are really crazy. I don\u2019t think you can claim you are not feeling nervous as you sit there in the start box, but getting through the flags makes up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you work a lot on your cross-country technique?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRecently I have. After Melbourne where I fell on Mega Star\u2019s head in the water \u2013 although I stayed on \u2013 I went back to have a look at that problem with the help of my partner, Michael (Ruddy). He was a steeplechase jockey in England, and we went cross-country schooling together. He really knows how to sit up and stay there, and I knew Adelaide was coming up, and whether that bank was going to be in there or not, I had to sit up. So we really went away after Melbourne and made sure that if I was dropping down into water, my legs were going to be well and truly forward.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went schooling to the new place at Wallaby Hill, we always go out to MacArthur, and we went out to SIEC, there\u2019s a little cross country schooling area. Just popping around. I can\u2019t fake it up here at home, not jumping down into water, and that was really where I knew I had to work. Different things like grids and arrow heads\u2013 I can replicate them at home, but I can\u2019t replicate banks down to water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Trot2\"<\/p>\n

The questions on the cross are getting more technical?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, more lines, a lot of related distances, you have to know how to jump in at a particular pace so the distance comes up. At Adelaide, the double of apexes \u2013 one stride – so many questions just that one fence, and it could be ridden in a number of different ways. You really needed to have your plan of attack as you came down that hill, otherwise you were in big trouble. The plan was to jump it in one stride and attack it, and it came up just like that. But definitely the jumps are more technical, a lot more questions, a lot more decisions to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where did you find Mega Star?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe came off the track, from Warwick Farm as a four year old. He was a $900 horse. I thought he would either be good or bad \u2013 you never know. I trotted him around the yard at the track, put him on the float and brought him home. There was not a lot of decision-making on that one. He turned out to be good \u2013 I always knew he was talented but luckily it all came together.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long did it take for him to show you he was a bit special?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always had a flamboyant trot, and has always been very careful with his jump. I knew that was there. Being a Thoroughbred, he was always a little bit spooky but with the time, he\u2019s got it together. It\u2019s six years now I\u2019ve had him and he has well and truly proven himself this year. There have been the usual ups and downs with him but he\u2019s definitely there now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big thrill winning Sydney?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely \u2013 we had a ball. That\u2019s the first time I\u2019d ridden around Sydney three star track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where did you pick up the time in Adelaide, you looked pretty good where I saw you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFence seven, the oxer, down the hill to the double of apexes on a five stride left hand turn. I jumped the oxer, and instead of saying, \u2018come here and be sensible and canter down in nine strides\u2019, he is so bold and so willing, he just cantered down and jumped the first apex out of eight strides and the turn in five was just not going to happen \u2013 so I had to flick around and jump the black flag (alternative fence) at B. I wasted a bit of time there, but still I should have kept kicking\u2026 I\u2019ll know that next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have been on the National Squad with Mega Star, but I\u2019ve sold him to the UK. Now I\u2019m concentrating on my youngsters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CounterCanter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The mare you were working with today, she\u2019s by Carbine, an imported Warmblood, is that a big change from the racetrack refugees?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJaybee Star Celebrity is the first Warmblood bred horse that I\u2019ve had. Anne Serrao had her and the idea originally was to sell her on, but mum fell in love with her and bought her \u2013 so that\u2019s mum and dad\u2019s little project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got such a big trot but she still feels so soft to ride, soft in the back \u2013 different to the Thoroughbreds. Although Mega Star had a bit of a trot, she\u2019s different, with floating movement. The jump is slower, steadier and has a lot more elevation. Some of the Thoroughbreds can get a little quick, a little worried. She spooks but she spooks and then backs off and jumps bigger, she doesn\u2019t flatten when she spooks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will she gallop fast enough?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see why she can\u2019t. She\u2019s athletic enough, she\u2019s soft, she\u2019s not dead to your leg, like I imagine some other Warmbloods to be. She will definitely go, she\u2019s got a bit of turbo charge there. I hope she\u2019ll have her first one star start at Sydney in September. We\u2019ll see, hopefully she can maintain it and get on into the top ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you driven by a desperate ambition to ride at an Olympic Games or a WEG \u2013 what keeps you doing it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the thrill of riding at Advanced level, but I also get a kick out of bringing the young ones through, the feeling that I have brought something from nothing and produced it to the highest level \u2013 that\u2019s the thrill. Yeah, everyone wants to go to the Olympics, you do, but you have to be realistic as well. For me the thrill is to take a horse like Mega Star and produce him from nothing to National Squad level, and that\u2019s what I hope to do with the mare.\u201d<\/p>\n

You have two good sponsors, does that make it easier?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEquissage has been fantastic \u2013 it gets my horses more relaxed and I don\u2019t have to work them so hard, they are soft over the back. My horses all get Equissaged before they are ridden. The Thoroughbreds stay a lot more relaxed on it. Prydes my feed company, has been awesome, they supply me with all my feed, and they come and regularly do feed analysis of my horses. We\u2019ve been on Prydes for over a year now and they have really helped me make sure my horses are getting the correct feed. I\u2019ve also got Value Plus as a sponsor, they are a generic brand of all different sorts of things like wormers, biotin, selenium husks, electrolytes, they sell the same things everyone else has but cheaper for the same products. They supported me throughout Adelaide with all their range.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in THM April 2007.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eventing rider and trainer, Sharmayne Spencer talks about her equestrian upbringing and her training methods…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[73,1137],"class_list":["post-22510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eventing","tag-eventing-training","tag-sharmayne-spencer"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22510"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32296,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22510\/revisions\/32296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}