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  • Writer's pictureFran Cleland

Colac turns it on for a terrific day of three-phase equitation


ABOVE: Katherine Green and her Highland Pony Pamtab Park Drambuie. Picture: LISA GREEN of MANE MEMORIES

COLAC Adult Riding Club in western Victoria is one of those special, smallish country groups run by a happy and active committee.


It was formed in 1982 and was first run on the car park of the local racetrack but now shares a ground with great facilities with Riding for Disabled.


They held a Three-Phase Equitation event last weekend with big smiles on their faces after it was postponed three times due to Covid and weather. The day didn’t start as planned when Angie Toole from the Balnarring club and riding the appropriately named “No Pain No Gain” had a fall in the practice area.


Angie broke her collar bone and being four hours away from home this presented a logistical problem of how to get home.


ABOVE: Margaret Anderson and Aninmado Nikolai. Picture: MANE MEMORIES

Her pilot husband came to the rescue.


“My husband Craig flew our son Greg across from the peninsula in our plane and Greg then drove the float home with Rusty,” Angie said.


“My daughter Ebony then came from Avenel horse trials to pick me and my broken collarbone up from Geelong hospital that evening, returning to Avenel on Sunday to complete her event.


“Gone are the days when we would all be in the one place on the weekend – it makes life interesting.”

There were others that travelled a good distance to compete, including Sue French from the Lancefield and District Club.


Competing on Atherton Othello she scored consistently in the dressage, style and time phases to win the level one class by one point from Margaret Anderson’s Andalusian stallion Animado Azul and Christine Darby’s Bloomfield Furst In Wonderment. There were no level two competitors but in level three, Lorraine Stark’s Andy finished two points ahead of Margaret Anderson’s second ride Aninmado Nikolai, the son of Azul, and third was Jessica Wills riding Millwood Shady.


Competition was strong in level four, where all three placings were decided on a countback.

Katherine Green’s Highland Pony Pamtab Park Drambuie won from Rhonda Armstrong on the pinto Gypsy Cob Golly and Kathy Ball’s Pilgrim.


Rhonda is “mature aged” and has had some health problems, so her course walk is done via quad bike, adding another quirk to the day’s proceedings.


The level five winner was Sally Mexted riding Peppertree Lady Sue from Jennifer Renouf on VBA Aurora. Jennifer runs Southern Brumbies, educating and re-homing business and Aurora is one of the brumbies in training.


ABOVE: Rhonda Armstrong, Margaret Anderson and the hardworking committee.

Pictures: LISA GREEN of MANE MEMORIES


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