HORSE TALK

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32628, 9 June 1971, Page 14

HORSE TALK

N.Z. titles The South Canterbury Pony Club and its willing band of workers deserve full credit for the wellrun New Zealand championships held at the Racecourse and The Levels. Fine weather contributed to the tremendous success, but the main factor was the beautifully constructed cross - country course planned by Mr C. Meares, of Waimate. The rewarding result was that 75 of the 85 competitors completed the course which is surely as it should be with the top riders from all over New Zealand competing. This did not mean the course was easy, being built for the bold horse who could gallop on and yet be collected for the tricky combinations. One disturbing feature was the number of pulling, near out of control ponies in the D.C. section. There must have been some very exhausted children galloping through those finishing flags. Although emphasis was meant to be on teams this year, there was a lot of tension on the leading in-

dividuals when the show jumping commenced. This was not helped by the announcer who over-em-phasised the placings and rode every jump with the competitor. A good buildup before and after the round is desirable, but silence during the round is preferable. Training course Recently Mr C. Jurenak, from Australia, held wellfilled courses in dressage, advanced and novice combined training. One bad fault was that horses were not fit enough for a sixday course, thus not get-

ting the full benefit. The major fault of riders, according to Mr Jurenak, was that although they maintained their position during flat work and over cavalettis, they threw themselves around when asked to jump a fence thus losing what they had been working for—“position.” Horse trials The annual Horse Society horse trials held at Swannanoa, recently, were very poorly supported which was disheartening for the organisers. The cross-country,

although more testing than it was at Otahuna, was not too difficult for the many novice horses. It is unfortunate that riders do not support these competition days. The most troublesome fence was the water jump which, being deeper than expected resulted in some duckings. The Holmslea Cup was won by M. Watkinson on Beau de L’Aire who later gained fifth place in the A. I Cup at Timaru. The preliminary went to R. Topp on Lookout, a horse which is showing steady improvement. E. McGrath on Pharaoh won the open pony section. The hunter trial for horses was won by Mrs P. Lamb on Khozan. The pony event was won by J. Shand on Ricochet.