The first competition event at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre part of the Equitana Asia Pacific 2001 competition program was the Grand Prix Dressage Masters CDI-W.  They did not let the first lot of spectators in until after the first test so the huge arena with its 5000 empty seats was a very scary environment for the first horse to go.  Most of the horses were rather distracted by the '''aloness''' of this arena and it seemed to affect most of the performances here today.  The top three horses were the exception, and the scores reflected their ability to handle the atmosphere.

Limbo and Mary Hanna were the eventual winners and it was a well deserved outcome.

Ricky McMillan and Crisp were second, for a very nice ride, that well justified her trip down from Queensland.   Snowy River Black and Di Jenkyn have been in great form in recent months, but Blackwood was very worried, and showed his concern with a little disobedience and lack of desire to go forward.

The lighting in the main arena was not very good - and moving pictures of good quality were almost impossible.. Flash is not really the answer as you need a very big flash to solve the problem and I am sure that the riders would not appreciate this interruption to their test. 

 
By the imported stallion, Kaliber and from a Thoroughbred mare, Kelvin Lass.

Kaleb is very spooky and this tendency affected the evenness and flow of some of the work today, they scored 58.48%

He has performed cabaret and taken a disabled rider to National Champion after winning a medal at the Paralympics - what a horse.

It was a nice test but weakness in the piaffe cost marks as this will also affect the transition mark.

They scored 59.27 for 5th place.

Don Georgio found the empty arena and the sound of horses 'far away' very distracting and this meant that he was not always quite with his rider.  He is a beautiful fluent mover and this was such a shame.  They scored 58.05%.

Snowy  River Blackwood (by Stirling Liberty from a Percheron cross mare) does not really like it indoors, and this environment did not suit him at all. He was quite naughty in the piaffe at D, and the flying changes were tight, with mistakes - it was such a pity, for a score well down on their usual  - 57.51%.  This put them well down in the placings - disappointing, after a long trip from Queensland!

He looked very strong and secure with the only this to criticise - the swaying in the Passage.

The Piaffe is not perfect, but has improved to my eye.  It was a great test and the mark reflected that - 66.88%. 

When the score was announced, I knew that this would be hard to beat and no one did!

Ricky travelled very frequently to Germany to train and ride Crisp - she must love having him with her all the time!

It was a very precise and accurate test, but I have seen Crisp a little more fluent than he was today.  It was still a terrific score of 65.41% and put Rice into second place.

Circumstances must have not been quite so much to his liking today as he appeared tense throughout the test, this was manifested by head tilting.  Heath did an expert job (as usual) to keep the talented but obviously reactionary horse together, but the score told the tale 56.49%.  Disappointing after their much better recent result.

Equitana Dressage Masters CDI-W - Grand Prix - Page 1  | Page 2
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