avondale warmbloods

Before we start too far into the new year and all the exciting possibilities that lie ahead in 2012 there are a few people I would like to acknowledge who are key to our success!

Bidski Park - Terrance and Alex Rowe

Terrance keeps the competition team well shod and the young guns coming along well handled! After a break in 2011 Terrance is back starting horses and I cannot recommend him highly enough. The 3 yr old filly Avondale Resolution(Cildara Conquest/Northern Vanderbilt) has just started her education with Terrance this week and I cannot wait to ride her when I return from training with Ilse Schwarz in the US.

Alex purchased the young Mayfield Pzazz gelding Avondale Panache who is coming along nicely in his education and we really look forwrad to seeing them out and about in 2012. You can find their website at www.bidskipark.com.au

Fortissimo Freestyles

Mel Widdis has been brilliant at designing and choreographing freestyles for my horses this year. We have designed a new advanced freeestyle for Avondale Libertine which is fun and dramatic and I just can't wait to ride to my music!!!  We have also done a novice freestyle for Avondale Lindt which we rode at the YH competition in Towoomba in November. Even though it was his first ever run through a test with music blasting, he was a little star and we ended up second. His music is beautiful and I look forward to upping the difficulty in the choreography. I lot of people say they cannot be bothered with the lower level freestyles but I truly believe it is a great foundation for young horses and can really help with the rythym and consistancy whilst in a competition environment. You can find Mel at www.fortissimofreestyles.com.au

 Susanne Brundell is our lovely team vet and good friend. It has been great to see her bringing on her Andalusian Stallion Harmony HIlls Tamino in the YH classes this year with great results gaining qualifiers at every event they competed at. We wish them all the best for the 2012 competition season and look fowrad to their continued success. You can find them at www.harmonyhillsandalusians.com

Thanks must go also to Kerry Jones, chief masseur for the team(myself included!) Kerry is a wonderful massage therapist and keeps the team supple and pain free Ludo(Avondale Libertine) is a great fan and will always come running when he sees Kerry.  I am not always that keen, yes I whinge a lot when being massaged but it is vital to keep straight and flexible in the saddle! You can contact Kerry on 0400076607.

Kailiea Goyen has been a welcome addition to the team at the end of this year, house sitting and taking great care of all the "family". Kai is now a second year vet student with distinctions in everything and the Deans commendation. Kai has also been selected on the 2012 Qld State Dressage Squad...congratulations!!!!

What a super time we had at the Dressage Festival! Sue Mills and her commitee run a great competition that just seems to get better and better each year. Avondale Lindt competed at his very first "Official" competition in the Preliminary and placed 5th and 6th and scored 64% and 69% respectively. I wa super happy with how cool and easy this youngster is, he takes everything in his stride and thinks it is all just one big party especially put on for his benefit! So great to have such an uncomplicated young one coming along. We also did the 5 yr old Young Horse qualifier which is a bit of an ask for him at this point as he isn't quite 5 until next year and I have been bringing him along quite slowly. We had some little bobbles in the test purely from inexeperience but he scored 7's for his submission, canter, and overall appeal so we were pretty thrilled with him.

My student Susanne and Harmony Hills Tamino competed as well in the 4 yr old Yh and got another qualifier for the Sydney CDI so congratulations are in order! If you have a look in the photo gallery under Armidale Dressage festival you will see how beautiful Tamino is and what an amazing temperament he has! Most incredible for a 4 yr old stallion, a great advertisement for the Andalusian breed.

Recently Avondale Libertine(aka Ludo) and I competed at the local Allora Club day. As usual it was a super friendly relaxed happy day run by Marina Brand. They had big entries for the day, something other Clubs don't seem to get. Perhapsthey need to take a leaf out of Allora's book as it would be lovely to have more of these wonderful days to go too! Anyway you can read about it at http://www.barnbynotes.com/open-notebooks/407

We are so lucky to have a trainer of Ilse's calibre coming right to our own backyard! Once again "Avondale" hosted a full clinic and four days of fun and learning. Check out the photo gallery to see some of the clinic participants. You can watch a video of Ilse competing here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLI0x7EMLEY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Congratulations to clinic participant Kailea Goyen on placing first in the Advanced Freestyle and 4th in the PSG at the Sunshine Coast Regional Championships. Also to Melanie Farrand and the lovely William on winning Champion led hack and Reserve Champion ridden hack at the EFA Horse of the Year Show!!! This now qualifies them for the Nationals in Werribee in December, well done!!!

We have recently returned from a holiday in Germany where I was lucky enough to attend the World Young Horse Championships in Verden. You can see some photos that I took in the Photo Gallery and read all the results and reports at www.dressage-news.com that Ilse Schwarz covered. We also had a great time visiting some good friends of Ilse's at Gut Fechtal in Vechta, the residence had a moat around it and was completely amazing! We saw some beautiful youngsters bred by Clemence Von Merveldt including full brothers to Floriscount and Detroit that Clemence bred. Ilse also inspected her next riding prospect a 3 yr old Don Larino filly who looks very exciting. We then headed off to see Gerd and Ilona Schonebeck at http://www.schonebeck-stable.com/cms/front_content.php?changelang=2 whose hospitality was wonderful!

Then off to Leonie Bramalls and some learning and watching at home and also at the large show in Allersehl. Really enjoyed my time with Volker and Leonie and managed to get lots of cuddles from Farley the super dog so not to miss my gang too much!

You can read about some of my observations at http://www.barnbynotes.com/open-notebooks/407 more entries to be added shortly.

So back home to paradise and getting ready for the end of year show blitz!!! Ilse Schwarz clinic on the 17th 18th September and the fitness regime after all that good German food!

A very succesful weekend for the "Strong Performance Team" with an 8th place in the 4yr old class with Avondale Lindt and a 3rd place in the 6yr old class with Alexandra Rowes Regency Lanthee! Lanthee was bred by Erica Buchanan at Regency Warmbloods just outside of Toowoomba. I think this mare is a testament to Ericas breeding program there as she has an amazing trainable temperament and the ability to go all the way to FEI. You can find the website at www.regencywarmbloods.com.au.

We are very much looking forward to seeing the "dreamgirl" continue her success with Alexandra in 2012.

Avondale Lindt aka 'Choccie" was his usual devine self and took all the atmosphere and excitement in his stride. There was a lot going on as the Foodvan that is parked inside the Indoor had exploded and burst into flames in the morning so there were fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance to contend with! We wish the lovely Irish lady who owns the foodvan a speedy recovery and are thankful that no one was killed in what was a pretty awful situation.

I am really enjoying the whole experience of journalling for Barnby Notes and you can see my latest entries "matching personalities" at www.barnbynotes.com just click on the training community link at the top of the page and you will see me there!! I really recommend the whole concept of training notes and journalling and I believe it really can make you a better rider.

You may have noticed the link on the right hand side of the page to the Dressage radio show. If you click on this you can here the podcasts from the latest show. You can also download them from itunes and they are free. They have really interesting guests and news notes and it is definitley worth a listen each week.

One of the last horses that my Dad bred was Avondale Della Cairo a small fiery red head of a mare that has finally found her niche in life in Endurance. Now training with Melissa Longhurst in Mackay she has just completed her very first 80km and done stunningly well. Melissa's husband Steve rode her in the lightweight division in the Pioneer Trek on the Atherton Tablelands for a second place!! 

Della is owned by Stefanie Burke(my sis) and I thank her for taking on this project and seeing through a dream for my Dad!

We were very lucky indeed to host a clinic with Ilse here at Avondale. The weather although cold did not deter us and the days were sunny and mostly clear although Ilse did teach in several layers and a Drizabone for the 2 days!! We have a wonderful bunch of friends who attended the clinic and stayed over for some hospitality and I think we all finished the clinic thinking we had eaten too much!!

I really enjoy the way in which Ilse breaks down the actual aids and gives clear explanations on how exactly to achieve the desired result. I saw a big improvement in all my horses and have some extensive notes on my homework to be done before Ilse comes back in September!!!

Avondale Lindt (aka Choccie) at the May clinic at Blanchview Farm. Photo courtesy of Ilse Schwarz.

We had a wonderful time at the clinic with Anna who is not only gorgeous but a great teacher and clinician! Thank you to the hannoverian Society for bringing Anna out and to Dean and Anthony for their wonderful hospitality and the use of their beautiful facilities.

Avondale Sonnet aka Mimi responded well to Anna's kind and sensitive methods and we learn't a lot about contact! It was good to get feedback from Anna about riding young horses as she really is a specialist as can be seen from her anazing results at the World Young Horse Championships and the Bundeschampionate year after year.