Reflecting on a year gone by

Hey EN, as the year draws to a close we all start to reflect on what we have and have not achieved this year I have to say I have had an amazing year in Eventing. This is also my first year as part of the EN team which has been great fun and despite my physical isolation from everyone else I feel very much part of the team that is Eventing Nation.

I started my year visiting the USA to the Red Hills Horse Trials in Tallahassee Florida, this is a lovely event and returning for my second year I really felt like I was returning home to my big old southern family. This is remarkable as at many events TDs are often treated as a necessary evil.

While on the subject of Red Hills I hear from Director Jane Barron they will definitely be running next year, with a mammoth fundraising effort and little trimming of the fat from the budget it will happen. Unfortunately some of the fat includes overseas officials, so I won’t be back to Red Hills in 2012.
So here is the SHAMELESS plug, any FEI events that are looking for a hardworking and dedicated FEI 1 & 2 Star TD for 2012 drop me an email [email protected], I know that was shameless but I love my Eventing and want to do more around the world.

After Red Hills I spent a day in LA with my mate Susan and saw this Bugatti

Still on Red Hills, Marvin Mayer is Jane’s partner in crime when it comes to event organisation, Marvin is the logistics man that turns the greenfield site into the wonderful horse trials venue that it is. Marvin had a fall in his bathroom back in September and fractured his C6 vertebra, he has spent the last few months in rehab in Atlanta and only returned home to Tally a couple of weeks ago, talk about interesting times. As a rider or a spectator I urge you to support this fantastic early season event and come to Red Hills in March.

While at Red Hills this year I got to meet my mate Samantha Clark and catch up with the big EN Kahuna, John. Both Sam and JT are completely mad, spend way too many waking hours (I say as I write this at 4am) bringing the very best in Eventing from around the globe to you the EN audience. While I saw Samantha running around taking pics and interviewing countless people, the only time I could catch her standing or sitting still was at the local Starbucks uploading video or photos on their free wifi, usually til all hours of the night or any time after 5am.

EN John is even harder to catch and the only time I remember spending more than 3 mins in his presence was when we sat down at the competitors party and had a few beers. Apparently, when you work for EN, sleep is optional, I don’t recall that in my employment contract….. while on that subject, just over a year ago when I agreed to contribute to EN, I committed to one story a fortnight. Since I started I have published almost 100 stories which is more like two a week than two a month.

I have to say while I love covering events, especially when they are big ones like Blenheim or Adelaide, I do love my random ramblings like this one, my favourite is uncovering a big story. For me the pinnacle so far has to be A good place NOT to leave your car keys! the story of Italian WEG horse Iman du Golfe and the Aussie team vest that got stuffed into his gaping wound by Krysten Lituri that saved his life. That story still marvels me and still brings a tear to the eye.

In May I headed off to my favourite Aussie event for the Sydney World Cup round, again I was there as a TD, so I juggled my roles and managed to bring some of this fun event to the EN audience. What I enjoyed most was watching young Clarke Johnstone, win his second World Cup in four weeks (which secured his win of the overall series) on the same horse, with his mate Chris Burton hot on his heals. Both Clarke and Chris are young rising talent that will probably grace their respective national teams as London rolls around next year.

Personally while I would love to see the Aussies win gold next year my head tells me the Kiwis are the ones to beat and they will pip the Poms at the post and come home with gold, the home team will have to settle for silver, who will join those two teams on the podium will be anyones guess.

As the year rolled on I managed to get the scope on Prue Barrett as the Australian Performance Director of Eventing thanks to a chance meeting in the supermarket. Catching Prue so early was great but being quoted by Horse and Hound was almost as thrilling, I mean its H&H, the magazine made famous by Notting Hill (you know I’m kidding don’t you?).

To be honest as the year rolled on I had one thing on my mind, Burghley. Every Eventer dreams of making it to Burghley and Badminton, I was pretty stoked to be heading to the UK for two weeks of Eventing first at Burghley and then Blenheim, man I have a cool job sometimes. My bucket list now includes doing Rolex and Badminton back to back in two weeks! Anyone?

The Burghley estate is something to behold, the XC was enormous and huge and bloody big! But the fences were only part of the equation, the rolling hills and natural terrain make it the toughest cross country course in the world. If you haven’t been there it is hard to imagine. To be on the back of a horse that completes Burghley must be the most amazing feeling.

Seeing the class of the world’s best run up close and personal was a privilege, William Fox-Pitt’s win was brilliant and for his sixth Burghley win was a stunning achievement. I had a little cry when I saw Neville, I didn’t ever think he would make it there let alone finish in seventh place, yes SEVENTH, just three months after the fire. That is one tough horse, must be the Aussie thoroughbred breeding.

During the week at Burghley, I got to catch up with Samantha again, she had taken over a corner of the press tent and again was working all hours of the night and day, good thing the press tent had 24 hour security.

Following Burghley, I walked the cross country course at Greenwich park. I must say I wasn’t expecting much, the worlds press had done such a good job of talking down the park as a venue, I guess I wasn’t sure what to expect. Having spoken to a couple of riders after the test event I was expecting it to be tight, Adelaide here is tight with narrow lanes. Well, Greenwich will be very tight, narrow lanes, crowds 20 deep the whole way round and twists, turns and LOTS of terrain. Nippy little horses that don’t mind some atmosphere will be the choice on XC day for London, big horses will find the course hard work. I can’t wait to watch it on TV. Cue 🙁 sad face, unless someone pays for my airfare I won’t be at London.

Blenheim was brilliant fun, this was my first event overseas where I was there purely as a journalist. The press at Blenheim were great fun and there was lots of banter both inside the tent and out and about. Let me tell you, covering a big international event on your own is tough. Most teams have two or three people, one shooting pics or videos, one writing and another covering things like social media. To do all that as one person is tough and I dip my hat to Samantha and John who do it regularly and do it well.

The highlight of my Blenheim experience was the Puissance, great fun and a nice distraction from the otherwise very serious business of the event.
As the year rolled to a close I headed down to South Australia for the Adelaide event, this is a unique event in our calendar and it was great to be there for the second year covering it for EN. Having the changes in the venue meant that the press room was right in the thick of the action.

Adelaide is particularly dear to Aussie Eventers and is probably the only event in Australia that gets people hopping on a plane to be part of the action. Apart from accidentally insulting Clayton Fredericks and the Southern Star team on day one (I was in a sleep deprived, stupor), the rest of the weekend was great fun and ran to plan.

Christmas is fast approaching and this week Santa delivered an early present to Australia’s top home based Eventers. Mike ES is returning to Sydney, 12 years after he designed the original Sydney Olympic track on the very same course he will be back in Sydney to design the Sydney CCI course. I have more on this and don’t want to spoil it yet, you will have to wait until the new year.

In the meantime I am starting to build a ‘To Do’ list of events for 2012, Sydney CCI, Eventing Equestriad (this is the unique event run by Shane & Nikki Rose and their team) congratulations also to Shane and Nikki who are expecting their first child just a couple of weeks before their event, London (who wants to pay for my airfare???), another event in the USA and finally Adelaide. In between that I hope to TD at some local events at home next year as I neglected local events this year.

One final note, to all the Organising Committees in the big wide world, you know what makes a pleasant event for the journos, photographers, bloggers and everyone else covering your event great? Surprisingly, it isn’t the chocolate or soft drink you provide to help fuel the corps (although this rates a close second), it is the internet speed! Slow internet is almost as universal as Eventers drinking beer, I am yet to hear a journo or photographer claim that the internet was too fast, only that they spent endless extra hours trying to upload on slow internet!

Have a great festive season EN, I can’t wait for next year and the possibilities it will bring. Be good to your ponies, your parents and partners (someone has to pay the bills).

Yours in Eventing,

ESJ