Victorian Pony Challenge
1-2 August
Werribee Park
National Equestrian Centre
2
0
0
9
Matitojo
Palomino Pony Stud
Many thanks to the following sponsors for supporting the ASPR and this event
KAPETA
NEW FOREST PONY STUD
Vinny
the
Handyman
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Australian
Pony Owners & Breeders
New Forest Pony Supporters Group Inc
Official Results
Congratulations to all winners and placegetters from our very successful event held on 1st & 2nd August at the National Equestrian Centre, Werribee.
Many thanks to all those who supported the event either by riding and/or helping out on the weekend and especially our judges, pencillors and sponsors.
For more photo's and reports on of our weekend click on the following links
‘Where Tomorrow’s Champions Are Made’ is the motto of the Australian Sports Pony Registry Inc and the annual Victorian Pony Challenge held on the 1st and 2nd August commenced with classes true to that motto; the 4 and 5 year old Young Ponies. While numbers in the classes were not large, the willingness of riders and owners to present their youngsters in these classes bodes well for the future. Accredited judges Chris Sievers and Moya Jess assessed the ponies for the important attributes of correctness of movement and training according to the training scale.
Ponies in the 4 year old Material class are scored for their walk, trot, canter, general impression and conformation. The first group to work was the New Forest Pony stallion, River Valley Sultan (Kapeta Faro/River Valley Picnic) owned by Hipwell Bros. and trained by Liz Alexander, the Riding Pony gelding View Bank Barista (Wedgenock Coffeepot/Viewbank Bijou) owned and ridden by Nirelle Somerville and the part Arabian pinto mare Raven Lodge Aura (Raven Lodge Born Brave/Goldluma Allure) owned and ridden by Lisa Hocking. With a few hiccups from a couple of them near the scary judges table, the riders handled their mounts well. Following the ridden test, the ponies returned for the conformation judging.
The second group was the Welsh D/Thoroughbred cross mare, Murrong Skyla (Barnon Mikardo/Murrong Rosey’s Daughter) owned and ridden by Lauren Britton and the Riding Pony mare Halcyon Scandal (Royalwood Scallywag/Springfield Sonata) owned and ridden by Rebecca Richards.
This class was kindly sponsored by Stallions at Stud and the winner, Murrong Skyla (pictured above) was presented with a beautiful trophy rug and rosette in the SAS colours of black and gold, a prize that I am sure they will treasure in the years to come. This mare showed great potential with impressive forward movement. Second placegetter was the lovely New Forest stallion River Valley Sultan who also showed good potential for the future. Third place went to Halcyon Scandal, fourth to View Bank Barista and 5th was Raven Lodge Aura.
I am sure that these ponies will continue to improve and we can hopefully look forward to seeing at least some of them at the 2010 Dressage With the Stars next March. The 4 & 5 year old classes held this weekend are qualifiers for this very prestigious event.
We had 10 beautiful boys present for the very popular stallion parade this year including New Forests, Welsh Section C and D Cobs, a Riding Pony all the way from South Australia and two imported pony stallions. The German Riding Pony Hilken’s Nougat Cream owned by Tina and Steve Barker with only her 2nd ride on this stallion, was very well ridden by Rebecca Ross and the European Riding Pony, Flowervale Boginov, owned by Case Wientjens and Lyn Spiers was ridden by Danni Flood. Both of these stallions showed their exceptional movement and temperaments in the parade in front of a small but very appreciative crowd. The New Forest Pony was very well presented by the imported stallion, Furzley Brocaide trained and ridden by Liz Alexander, River Valley Minstral and River Valley Sultan. All three of outstanding New Forests are owned by Hipwell Bros. It was delightful to see the New Forest stallion River Valley Tip Toe, owned by Jaccy & Ruth Kennedy looking none the worse for wear following his heroic survival of the Black Saturday bushfires. We welcomed the lovely little Riding Pony stallion, all the way from Mt Gambier, Wynara Talk of the Town who is owned and ridden by Jessica Herring. He might not be tall in stature but this little stallion is big in quality and movement. Also participating in the stallion parade were the Welsh C stallions Bookra Sovereign Edition and Fluer De Lys Hamish. Of course no ASPR stallion parade would be complete without Australia’s best performed Section D Cob stallion, Barnon Imperial Jack and his owner/rider Norm Clark.
Photo credit - Livestock Photography
Photo credit - David Kelly
The 5 year old class was sponsored by Kapeta New Forest Pony Stud and the winner received a lovely trophy rug and rosette which was presented by Mrs Dorothy Horne, representative of Kapeta Stud. I for one am certainly looking forward to seeing how all of these very young 5 year olds progress over the next 6 months.
Photo credit - Livestock Photography
The 5 year old class was next on the programme with 5 ponies presenting individually to the judges and performing the 2nd qualifier test which is the test they will be required to perform at the 2010 DWTS event.
Ponies are scored for their walk, trot, canter and general impression and the outright winner of this class was Chris Milvain’s Mithril Hero’s Return (Coed Coch Llabed/Mithril Hester), a super moving grey Welsh B gelding trained and ridden by Louise Maquire. The judges were very impressed with the quality of movement and in particular, the training of this pony and forecast a very bright dressage future for him. Second place went to the Riding Pony gelding George Michael (Mat’s Mischief of Astral/Arcamin) owned and ridden by Brittany Fort with 3rd place awarded to the Riding Pony mare Dunelm Chorus (Dainhill Octave/Favoured Choice) owned and ridden by Sally Linder.
Following on from the Young Pony classes was the very popular freestyles sponsored by Hygain. Hygain have been long time sponsors of the Victorian Pony Challenge and we sincerely thank them for their continued support.
Winner of the Hygain Novice freestyle was Gypsy View Peter Pan and Jamie Harding with second place going to the super ASPR Performance Club gelding Zachariah Silver Royal and Sophie Whitworth. Third place was awarded to Chris Milvain’s Mithril Stephanie, ridden by Lauren Gretgrix.
The Hygain Elementary freestyle was won in great style by the Dutch Riding Pony stallion, Flowervale Boginov ridden by Danni Flood and owned by Case Wientjens and Lyn Spiers. Second was the ASPR 1st Premium gelding Salisbury My Guy owned by Jodie Van Breugal and ridden by Rebecca Ross. Third went to Sophie Whitworth’s new pony, Koora-Lyn Sunrise.
The Hygain Medium freestyle was won by Smack the Pony and Katie Ryman with the Hygain Advanced Freestyle won by ASPR 1st Premium stallion Barnon Imperial Jack and his owner/rider Norm Clark. Norm and Jack appeared in costume a la’ Braveheart complete with Norm in a kilt and blue wode!
The Woodend Pharmacy Pony 6 Bar was again a very popular and hotly contested event with 9 ponies presenting for the first round. After running 3rd in 2007 and equal 2nd in 2008, the New Forest gelding Kapeta Kip and his young rider Ellen Sherwood finally went one better and took out the event in the final round with an enormous jump of 1.25 metres. The determination and talent of both rider and pony certainly showed through and nothing was going to stop them this time. Second place went to Gresam Lodge Maximus ridden by Phillipa Mitchell who knocked the second last jump at 1.18 m but cleared the last at 1.25 m. The diminutive Cintra Love Me Do at all of 12.1hh ridden by Paige Cartwright was a very popular third. This super little jumping pony cleared the second last jump at 1.18 m with a huge leap but stopped at the final jump of 1.25 m.
Pictured right is Kapeta Kip making clearing 1.25 metres
Below are the final placegetters with a very happy Ellen Sherwood far left, Gresam Lodge Maximus & Phillipa Mitchell in the middle and right is the very brave Cintra Love Me Do and Paige Cartwright.
Many thanks to Carrington for donating one of their top quality bridles to our raffle.
Also thanks to Fernwood, Hygain and Fred's Fodder for kindly donating some super prizes for the raffle. We very much appreciate their support.
