Mundulla Show kicked of March.  Stephen and I went ahead on Friday morning, with Morya, Gill and Conor travelling up in the car after they finished work. Nadege will look after things on the home front until we return.  It is a great spot for a show with lovely big trees and a great oval to jump on.  They had fantastic numbers which saw events finish quite late each day and they even had to move a class from Saturday to the Sunday.  Stephen won the 110cm on Friday with Nefertiti and he did very well with El Aynaoui in the Young Rider Championship to finish 2^nd and was 3^rd in the Junior Class on Nefertiti.  Traktion won the D Grade on Saturday from a field of 60+ horses and jumped super for a 4^th place in the D Grade Championship which had a number of fences around 130cm in the final round. Heart of England also jumped well and earned his first point for a double clear in Saturday’s D Grade.  Conor and Nelson were the stars with a 1^st place in best presented pony & rider (thanks to Morya & Gill),  3^rd in the shortest tail and 2^nd in the musical mats to Harry Beckel.

Monday, Sue Brown delivered Kirkley Hill Dejavu and our new float. This made it easy for us to take six horses to Mallala the following weekend for the Indoor Championships. Trax was =4^th in the 110cm, Dejavu was 3^rd in the 90cm and 4^th in the D Grade. Stephen won the Junior Class with El Aynaoui. Kinnordy Serena also had a run in the 120cm class as her first start for nearly 5 months since coming back in. I had to fly over to Singapore on the Sunday morning so we left Stephen’s two horses at Mallala in the stables overnight so he could compete in the Indoor Championships on Sunday. He rode well to take 2^nd place to Kym Charles with Briony Temby also going well on her new horse.  Thanks to Nick Crowe for trucking the two horses home after the class.

Singapore was very wet - and wouldn’t we just love some of that at home! It was great to catch up with Pedja, Gena, Alex (who is growing fast) and Pedja’s mum Mira. Sue Freeman put me up this time which was really nice and I also caught up with Steve & Julie Burridge for dinner.  Julie is going great with Robbie and Steve said they have had a few winners at the track as well.  They are great supporters and I always look forward to their company.  The clinics went extremely well with more improvement all round including Katinka, Morven, Alice, Emily, Tosca, Soirsia to name a few.  I am also pleased to report that new pony Toby is going really well over here and has fitted in just nicely. Thankfully, Singapore has finally opened up to Australian imports again so Genesis and Kitty will head off to quarantine at last.

I arrived home in Adelaide on the Friday before Mt Pleasant Show and went and picked up a car that Tim Clark has kindly let us use to tow the float - until he finds us the “Ute” we are after. Things go very well at Mt Pleasant with Stephen winning both Junior classes. Trax and Traktion were 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in the D Grade. Serena won the A & B Grade class (not a bad effort for her first one back) and Traktion topped off our day by winning the C&D Grade Class. It certainly was a great day at a great venue, even when the temperature was around 40°C.

Easter weekend we headed off to Waikerie for a very relaxed show. Friday night was exciting for the smaller children with special led events for “tiny tots”. Every child got ribbons and prizes and really enjoyed themselves (especially Conor & Nelson). Thanks must go to Sam Kennedy for organising it all. Dejavu won the D Grade, Traktion won the C&D Grade and I had the A&B shot to pieces until the final jump and I got dumped in the water tray.  Thank goodness the drought meant No Water! It was no surprise that Easter Bunny came to Waikerie on Sunday morning and left eggs all around the truck. The final day of showjumping got underway shortly after the children’s Easter Egg hunt on the oval. I am a little more careful in the jump offs today and finish 3^rd in the C&D Championships with Traktion (who is coming along fantastic and I am sure he will be a Grand Prix horse for the future). Serena was 2^nd in the A&B Championships and Stephen is placed in both the Junior and Speed Championships.  We stayed the Sunday night and relaxed before heading home on the Monday morning. Thanks to Nadege for taking care of things at home once again.

The following weekend is Metro and we decide to only go on the Sunday. Trax is 1^st and Dejavu 2^nd in the 90cm class. Stephen won the Junior Class on El Aynaoui and I won the Sue Munro Cup on Serena.

We will be heading off to the State Championships next weekend in good form – albeit Serena will be short on competition miles with only 3 shows under her belt for the season!

 

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