{"id":25662,"date":"2016-02-29T11:18:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T00:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=25662"},"modified":"2016-12-06T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T03:11:41","slug":"iahp-march-rider-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2016\/02\/iahp-march-rider-of-the-month\/","title":{"rendered":"IAHP March Rider of the Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"admas\"PosterDiamantinaBoneo3\"Maree Tomkinson grabs the lead and features as our March International Animal Health rider of the month!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In case you hadn\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s a leap year, and that means it\u2019s 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!<\/p>\n

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\u2019t seen the last time I saw you both at the 2015 Sydney CDI\u2026. Have you both been meditating?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter WEG, which was, don\u2019t 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\u2026 and I made this decision, that if I wanted to go forward from here, and fantastic as the WEG was, I didn\u2019t want to lug my horse back in two years time to come 40th!\u201d\"SDiamantinaMaree2\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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\u00a0forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe 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\u2019s what I\u2019ve been trying to do, and it\u2019s slowly coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty close I think, I\u2019m not quite there yet but I am pretty close. I still haven\u2019t quite got enough bend in the half passes, the lateral suppleness is still coming, it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presumably if you get to go to Rio the music will play for the whole of your freestyle?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Chris, you are very optimistic, we\u2019ll be getting 75% by then in the Grand Prix so we\u2019ll 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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u00a0confusing\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the plans now?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019m staying on that path as if I am going to Rio. I have to believe that, that\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll probably go to Europe at the last minute, which would be towards the end of April. I\u2019m 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\u2019t afford to be away any longer than absolutely necessary.\u201d\"SDiamantinaCanter\"<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be working with Christoph and J\u00fcrgen Koschel?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI have to discuss the details with them. They are definitely my coaches and will remain that way. It\u2019s a financial thing, if we go, and especially if we take Donna Elena for the World Young Horse Champs, it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a tingly tingle happening\u2026 THE OLYMPIC GAMES!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the WEG appeal was upheld and for a while I wasn\u2019t on the team, I said to a friend, You know I would rather be an Olympian anyway, there\u2019s no such thing as a WEGARIAN, there\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019t think she\u2019s there yet, by a long shot. I think there is a 75% horse inside her, and I have to learn to bring it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"LivamolEach Rider of the Month receives a prize supplied by IAHP.
\n<\/strong>This month, the Rider of the Month receives a 2kg bag of Livamol.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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.\"IAH-Banner\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maree Tomkinson grabs the lead and features as our March International Animal Health rider of the month! In case you hadn\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s a leap year, and that means it\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25664,"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":[1],"tags":[1416,1415,1186,1205,628,1332,1413,1414],"class_list":["post-25662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-diamantina","tag-iah","tag-iahp","tag-international-animal-health","tag-maree-tomkinson","tag-rider-of-the-month","tag-rio-2016","tag-rio-olympics"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662","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=25662"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30637,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662\/revisions\/30637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}