'Small, encouraging and friendly' - what more could you ask for at an event?
THE Tatura Dressage Club has held its second competition as a standalone group.
It is one of many horse clubs around the state that is doing a great job providing training and competition to riders of all levels.
“I don’t know if its fuel cost that’s making people look for more local competition but people are seeming to be discovering how small, encouraging and friendly Tatura dressage events are,” event organiser Sue Terry said.
“The football and netball club had decided they were heading in another direction and asked if we could run the dressage ourselves, which we are now doing.
“We are really grateful for (the club) for supporting us over 14 years, so we parted company as the best of friends.”
Having its own identity has given the group a new lease on life and it seems to be appreciated by the competitors. There were record entries for the first event that filled in only one week after they opened and the next event, held earlier this month, was nearly at capacity in one day.
Providing judges of the quality of Veronica Steward and Lou D’Elia has helped riders know they are on the right track with their training.
“The first major program we introduced was to establish a regional youth development dressage squad program,” Ms Terry said.
“It will eventually feed young riders to the metro-based young rider program.
“The highlight of the day was freestyles being ridden, with Javais Ham on her medium level horse Sevenoaks Romanov cracking 70 per cent. First-timer Molly Farran, one of our squad girls, reached 70 in preliminary. There were great scores and even better smiles all round.”
The club works hard to provide quality competition for riders in the northern area, and with good coaching, training and competition provided at all levels, it is one of the most popular in the state, providing classes from prep to advanced .
Molly Farran with Kohinoor Lace and Emily Weston riding Hollands Bend Danseur were winners in the novice horse classes and Robynslea Del Rio ridden by Javais Ham and Parklands Jupiter and Hayley Bland-Drust scored well in the pony novice classes.
In the freestyle classes, the winners were Melanie Ford’s Gorserella Let’s be Frank in the elementary and Grantulla Leviathan ridden by Alexandra Parratt in the medium.