Mildura Horse Trials

11/01/2024

WINNER of our ‘Best Dura Story’ is …

Amanda Usher !!!!

Grab a cuppa and have a read. Many good stories involve an elimination and Sandy Natale you had it won with the triple phase elimination but because you lacked commitment to detail you threw it away 😂😂

Congratulations Amanda, yours was still cool, very entertaining and your commitment to the ‘No Spare Policy (amended)’ was exemplary. You will also be called upon if the goes down.

Here is Amanda’s story (don’t blame me for the long post this time) …

I attended last year as part of the no empty bay policy in my fully packed micro car for a weekend of camping with my friend towing 2 mares that couldn't possibly share a float together, even with the bay empty between them (don't worry, that bay was full of their egos, no room for an extra pony with 2 queen bees on board). My patchy t**t the day before decided she couldn't possibly canter without a meltdown (which was typical behaviour of the time, but why not attend a HT anyway, right?)

Saturday butter wouldn't melt and she scored impeccably, for the patchy t**t behaviour to be put in full force when the cameras of RiderVideo were rolling to capture her in her full patchy t**t glory. My rider video has plenty of these moments and we eventually got eliminated at the last roll top of 5 on the course (as she'd never seen one in her life before and she wasn't about to jump one now!)

Before we had a lead from a less t**ty patchy (my thoughts were she thought it was her jumping it in an out of body experience so she thought she'd already gone up to and jumped it). Before we finished the course. The idiot rider on top (that's me in case you were wondering) was then told off by the TD as apparently you're meant to leave the course when you're eliminated and not blindly follow less t**ty patchies over the last jump and finish line.

11/01/2024

For the planners out there, 2024 is a no go.

Although the water jump looks great mate, it needs work. Now the Mildy peeps aren’t afraid of hard work but this is only the tip of the iceberg. We’re still working on completion dates for repair of our club rooms and toilet block, water and power needs to be reinstated (and as leasees we cannot just go and ‘do’ these things), being a small club we only have a certain amount of muscles (alright Anthony Caminiti you count for two) and machinery (gratefully accepting more at all times), and if we’re flat out fixing stuff we won’t organise a HT to our usual and it may be more than just a few draw whoopsies that happen on the day.

We have pre-booked some officials already (cough, cough David Johnson pretty sure you said yeah at the G didn’t you? 😉) but all other officials in the southern hemisphere please clear your calendars for the weekend 25-27 July 2025 and be sitting by the phone.

We will see all you crocodiles in a while. With a big smile.

And to the winner of the ‘Best Dura Story’, you can collect your prize at . We’ll be in contact with the happy news soonish.

29/07/2023

And the weather is perfect this weekend for what would’ve been but isn’t

If this were a normal year most of you would’ve had done a lovely practice test yesterday to fine tune a few lateral movements and then had some drinks with friends around a campfire. Got up in plenty of time this morning, proceeded to do a lovely calm warm up following your tried and tested routine, to crack a 70%er when it mattered (albeit not that unusual for you). Now your horses would be happily munching in their yards with their mates and you’d be bugging us to know when the xc course was open for walking.

That’s most people. Me on the other hand, I would’ve done a pretty hairy test or two yesterday on a greenie that raced last Sunday and come out this morning, doing a ride-by (sort of, maybe more a nod from a distance) the Bronnie Juett as part of my warm up consisting of a lap around the arena. Poor person after me in the draw would’ve been stressing they’d have to go early. Would’ve pulled out a definite sub-60 and trotted back to my yards to get the next one, thinking that was pretty good, stayed on in the arena and just on in general. Multiplied by five.

I kinda wish it was raining today, not this gorgeous sunshine, blue skies and 21 degrees. Then we could think, “would’ve been a nightmare anyway so just as well”.

Anyway, it’s not to be. Here are some pics to show why it is not to be. Although a few yards are usable and the front little arena and Mt Mildura, no matter how we tried we couldn’t fit in the required number of efforts for a xc course in the front arena coz it left no room to land or take off and the horses would be buggered from swimming to Mt Mildura😂.

We miss you this weekend. But here is something fun for you and us to do. Post ONE (your favourite) pic of you and your horse competing at Dura (for those cray crays who ride multiple horses 😬 you get multiple pics, but still only one per horse). Then explain why it is your favourite pic, what is represented to you on the day or whatever funny story goes with it. Keep it clean and in the spirit of our event; kind, good-hearted and in it for each other.

We’ve got nothing better to do this weekend than read all your stories. It will be hard but we’ll award a prize to the one we decide as the winner (no criteria, just our choice). Dunno what prize will be yet but whatever it is will be able to be collected at our next HT whenever that is.

Thank you to Andrew O’Carroll for the pics of our grounds from last week. Much appreciated for providing to us.

This is not a sop story but if anyone had considered donating any amount big or small, the Sunraysia Equestrian Centre Gofundme thingy is still open. Hate asking for money and it really is a no obligation thingy and it hasn’t set the world alight with its tally to date if you know anyone who doesn’t know what to do with their money and is looking for somewhere for it to go 😂.

A competitor who is also an instructor has contacted us to generously offer to hold a clinic in their patch with proceeds going to Dura HT, as their way of contributing. A bit like It is catching on a bit with others showing interest too. Anyway, details aren’t sorted yet but when they are we’ll share more info. Thanks to the instigator of this, the ever-supportive Kerrie Bowman who has been bringing a truckload of horses to Dura forever, and is now on her second generation of rider and struggling for truck space for her own horses 😂.

PS. For the rule breakers, you won’t go to jail if you can’t decide on just one pic.

PPS. Last pic is one of my crew demonstrating to me what he thinks about not being able to gallop around our xc in the glorious weather this weekend.

04/07/2023

Our very own Budgie Tinkler (there’s a long, funny HT-related story to that nickname) is a finalist in the EA Eventing Volunteer of the Year Award!

She started our Horse Trials when she was in high school doing a Yr 12 subject. They had to ‘organise an event of some sort’ as their major project. Maybe some did lemonade stands or a long lunch or something, but not Budgie, this dreamer thinks it’s a good idea to organise a nationally accredited event with high risk activities, at first using local horse peeps as guinea pigs and then away competitors who have to travel from miles away to attend. I suppose she just thought she’d give her parents a break from having to drive her miles to compete in a Horse Trials somewhere else. Little did they know their ‘break’ would be gobbled up by other allocated tasks like scoring and course building and almost anything else she could talk them into.

This Yr 12 project doesn’t sound like it would have too many logistical, risk, scheduling, planning, constructing and other general organising nightmares to 1. teach yourself and 2. co-opt your whole family into learning, making bits up as you go along kinda thing does it? Oh, and also you may not have realised there’d be a bit of convincing officials for this ‘official’ event you may not have known had to be so ‘official’, to jump on board and help you make it officially happen 😂. Thanks to those who she either talked into or just took pity on the persistent and determined young lady with a big idea from way up whoop whoop in Dura, for helping make this happen.

We have always known you are awesome Budge!! You have built our event into what it is today, from that Yr 12 project about 15 years ago. And you have persisted, amidst various challenges, when it nearly outgrew and buried you, even a few years ago when you were about 38 wks preggo, you didn’t miss a beat. And this year if the grounds weren’t still completely flooded and we were indeed holding our event, you would’ve been continuing organising, only stopping for the actual delivery of your second kid a few weeks ago, and then straight back into it for what would’ve been our event in two weeks.

All of the finalists are well-deserving but we hope you win of course 😉. But most of all we just love you. X

🏆 𝓐𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓬𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓕𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 2023 𝓔𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓷 𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪 𝓔𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓥𝓸𝓵𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓨𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓐𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓭!

This Award recognises the outstanding dedication and achievements of volunteers who have given their services to Equestrian Victoria and/or equestrian clubs and/or events in Eventing and who do not receive any remuneration for their services.

🌟 Stuart Benson
🌟 Bridget Caminiti
🌟 Sarah May
🌟 David Permezel

Join us on Saturday, 15 July, at our awards celebration, where we will announce the winner! 🎊 Secure your tickets online now, and don't miss this thrilling event!
🔗 https://bit.ly/2023-Awards-buy-tickets

Why not take advantage of our special discounted accommodation rates for a truly unforgettable weekend? All the info:
🔗 https://evarena.org.au/awards-accommodation/ 🏨💃

We thank Print Design Australia for supporting the 2023 Equestrian Victoria Volunteer of the Year awards! 🐎✨

13/04/2023

No amount of working bees will fix this in time for our Horse Trials in July.

We were in , hoping we could magic it away (yes we have sought permission to pump it out, to no avail) but alack and alas, we are now disconnected from the river and the water is not going anywhere. Pics are recent.

So to assist you in your competition planning this year, count us out. Soz.





PS. Severe xc withdrawals may lead to temptation for some (me) to head down and jump the jumps that have floated out to the road, but that would be irresponsible right?

23/12/2022

What a thoughtful gesture; gold coin donations to help us with the rebuild.

Thank you Dale and your team at Chaballo - Equestrian & Lifestyle for supporting the Mildura Alcheringa Pony Club and Mildura Horse Trials in flood recovery.

Get behind the people who get behind others when in need. Hit up the Chaballo Boxing Day sale with all your peeps!! Have you seen their gear? It is soooo lovely.

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19/12/2022

For those planning their 2023 competition goals over the Chrissy/New Year break with resolutions like , we have some bad news.

That water you plan on nailing is unconquerable at present and may still be in July. The Murray is mighty. It is a force unto itself right now. Many of you may not have realised how close our grounds are to it. The Mildura Racecourse is between us and the river and much of that is under too.

Until we do a full assessment following flood recession we won’t know exactly how much damage there is, but the rebuild will be huge. Whilst we are not yet cancelling, it is unlikely there’ll be a 2023 Dura HT 😭.

Our PC kids and other user groups have lost their grounds and they and the are devo but resilient (not feeling so resilient right now but we will all pull together when we need to).

Just thought we should let you know. We will be back. Just don’t know when.

31/10/2022

🌟🌟 Help Required 🌟🌟

** Postponing due to wet weather 😔
Possibly on the weekend, but will depend if ground is still water logged. **

We have 110+ portable Cross Country jumps that need to be relocated to higher ground before the flood water reaches us.

Please bring a large shifter and/or large impact driver & socket (if you have them) to help un-screw the ground anchors on the jumps. We *think* the size is 29mm (but bring other bigger sizes if you have them).

Weather is going to be 👎🌧, so please come prepared and be careful walking around out there!

03/09/2022

Oh my word, Sarah and Jeanz went clear!! Over a track that caught out so many very experienced combinations, this superstar partnership nailed everything!

Well done!

03/09/2022

Who else stayed up late to watch an awesome test from Sarah Clark Equestrian and her wonderful partner LV Balou Jeanz at The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials late last night?

What a joy to watch a lovely partnership such as this. Plenty of other combinations were tense and got the heeby-geebies in that huge atmosphere but Sarah and Jeanz kept their cool to produce a lovely test.

They are sitting pretty, midfield with not much separating the leaderboard. Can't wait to watch them fly around Burghley xc tonight (our time).

Best of luck to this wonderful SA combination. What an achievement and thrill for you to be there

To watch, you can subscribe to Burghley TV. But be careful of scam livestreams. According to our calcs, XC starts around 8.30pm AEST and will finish about 1am. One of us has been known to stuff up her own start times and gallop past fences (on her home course) so you are strongly encouraged to make your own enquiries in this area ...

Sarah is #56 of 68 in the draw (but there'll be scratchings 😂😂) so guessing will be running later in the evening. The info. should be on the official Burghley HT page but it's not so user-friendly at times .

Also no luck finding the replay of Sarah's test on Burghley TV (wanted to screenshot a pic from that but the and let the team down by not videoing it at the time ...) but am sure will be uploaded soon. Trust me, was great!

GO SARAH!!!

15/08/2022

LAST CALL!!!

Last call for survey responses! We've had such a wonderful response so far, with over 50 surveys completed!!

We'll close the survey on Friday evening when Budgie sits down for some quiet time to go over the results. With kids (including Ant), a coupla dogs and 8,000 chooks, at her joint.

Thanks to each and every one of you who took time out of your busy riding schedules to share with us your great ideas for improvements. We have received so many amazing suggestions and once we've received the final surveys we will sure share the results with you.

Once you're done completing the survey, you have permission to go back to practising for Dura2023 and in particular, the class we are adding next year.

Don't be flamin' ridiculous, there is no way we'd put on a class that has a higher probability of stacks than we saw in this year's EvA50 xc warm up ...

Thanks again you lot,
Mildura Horse Trials Organising Committee

Next event: 28/29/30 July, 2023

07/08/2022

Now a week has passed and we are telling ourselves you’re not onto the next best thing. We know you miss us.

So here’s a little way to stay in touch. We have emailed all competitors a very short survey (that takes less time than to choose which saddle blanket you’re going to use today) that we would love, love, love all of our competitors and their support peeps (if they want) to fill out for us.

We know an expectation of ALL is probably like yours truly going 5* but nonetheless it is our goal. As an incentive, we were going to award the best ‘improvement’ suggestion two free dressage tests on the Friday at coz let’s face it, most of us need both an incentive to complete surveys and to improve in the non-jumping bit 😂😂. But alas, alac, the temptation to award an incentive was over-ridden by the desire to keep it anonymous so there’s no pressure and you will keep your answers real.

We like REAL. We like HONEST. We like to hear good and bad. We know we didn’t rock every single thing we did no matter how hard we tried, and although the sun still came up each of the days, there was room for improvement.

We like to make things better for you each year

One more thing … survey works great with Safari, Edge and Explorer but doesn’t love Chrome. So if you don’t see boxes to write stuff, maybe try it on your phone or another pooter.

PS. For those who scratched, soz but your email stays in the Nommy automatic list. Sorry to rub it in 😭. Hope to see you next year.

PPS. Pic by Geoff Dickson Photography. Check out some more awesome pics on his page. He’s a top bloke our Geoff!