EFA - Victorian Championships Fundraiser Competition
Saturday January 31st 2004
Competition Report - by Berni Saunders
Page 3 - Elementary and Medium Highights

The popularity and improvement in Dressage can be seen in the exploding class sizes in the higher levels.  As mentioned in my competition overview on Page 1 of this report - it is likely that almost 50 combinations will enter the National Championships at Prix St Georges level meaning that 20 of them will not get a ride.  Just 10 years ago organisers would have struggled to fill classes at this level.

Today we saw two divisions of both Elementary competitions - and this is a great testimony to the improvement in the standard and numbers coming through. I was not able to get many pictures so here are a few.

Elementary Classes
APH Showman and Rebecca Wolfe have had great success in 2003 - a 2nd place in Elementary is a good start for 2004.  Congratulations.	Fran Manning on her delightful 'cold blood' cross To the Max - isn't he gorgeous!
SC Tamarisk and Jessica McMahon who also has an involvement with Show Horses - nice to see her having success in Dressage.	Silvia McLachlan formerly from South Australia and now from the Geelong area had a good ride on Woodbine.
Silvia McLachlan on her other Elementary horse - Rosebank Ruckman This lovely pic was taken at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre.	Jodie Juricic and AEA Inspirado always put in a neat performance - Jodie and her husband John are very hard workers for the sport and do much to make competitions happen.
Junior Rider - Lilah Nieuwland and Commonella Folk Dance are very consistent and have now progressed to Elementary level - a great achievement for one so young.	Lilah was the Champion Intermediate Rider at Hidden Valley last weekend. This is her at the award ceremony.
	Left: Ruth Schneeberger and Flowervale Impulse came all the way from South Australia.  Unfortunately Impulse was very tense and seemed to find the Polo horses rather distracting.
Medium Classes
Nancy French is making a strong comeback to Dressage with good placings on the imposing Ari.	Jaybee Bellaire Amanda and Reiner Kramer seen here winning at Treehaven late last year - they had their first start at Advanced and did a great job.
Northern Hillary and Clinton Rich have improved in their work through good training which has enabled them to show more lightness & self carriage.
Silvia McLachlan on her third horse - Belcam Arrival a very elegant type of Warmblood, bred by Belcam Stud in Queensland.
Batten Dutch Image and Briony Guisti have demonstrated great talent in their rise to Medium - Briony is helped by her mum Dorothy who has a great eye for correct dressage.	Belcam Carrington and Kerry Sisely have just gone up from Elementary and are finding the jump plenty to think about!  They are a lovely combination.

It will be interesting to see the progress of this group of promising horses in the next twelve months - perhaps these pages are introducing the FEI stars of the future!

I have most of the photos that I have used in my report stored in large, high resolution files - if you are interested in purchasing a photo - email me for proofs and prices -  berni@cyberhorse.net.au

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