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October 2006
October sure was an exciting, if not hectic, month for us. The Sunshine Coast Dressage Championships, Queensland State Dressage Championships, South Queensland Dilute Championships and the Allora Championships, and maybe just one little trail ride!
Read on and enjoy some of the success our great horses brought home!
The Sunshine Coast Dressage Championships were held at Nambour one week prior to the Qld State Dressage Championships and our three Morgans were impressive against the big Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds who traditionally do so well at this sport.
RanchBoss Cortez, Mt Tawonga Natasha and Mt Tawonga Oscar represented the breed at Nambour and we were very pleased with the results of the weekend. RanchBoss Cortez with Linda Shore up and Mt Tawonga Natasha (Elegance to us) with Jane Warren as her rider, competed in the Novice Freestyle to music and the winning line-up had Cortez in 4th place and Elegance in 6th. Impressive!! Jane has competed Elegance for some months now and they make a great team.
The Championships comprise of two tests in each level the horse has qualified for, with the highest combined scores at each level taking out the Rug/Rosettes/Prizes. The competition was stiff and so we were very pleasantly surprised when Cortez placed third at Novice level.
I am very proud of Mt Tawonga Oscar. He was not quite 4yrs of age when he commenced his competition life at Preparatory level. Early this year he achieved Champion Preparatory Horse at the Toowoomba Dressage Club's members' Championships. Then, just six months later he competed as an 'Official' horse at Preliminary and Novice levels at the Sunshine Coast Championships and achieved scores over 65%. He is a horse just so willing to please, he will turn inside out for you - a typical Morgan!
Queensland State Dressage Championships
RanchBoss Cortez and Mt Tawonga Oscar represent the Morgan breed at State level.
At State level, with just six months training in this discipline, RanchBoss Cortez acquitted himself well with scores in the 60's and yet again drew attention to himself. It seems he has quite a reputation now and is referred to as "That little Golden Stallion". I guess when you compare him to those 17hh Warmbloods, he is little!
Oscar, the love of my life, gave me two brilliant rides at Preliminary level & he has not been out long enough to qualify as an Official horse at Novice level. Comments from judges were so encouraging, he obviously impressed them with his temperament and his paces & lets see what this little horse can achieve next season!
South Queensland Dilute Championships
We were lucky enough to be able to enter Cortez in the South Qld Dilute Championships that were held at Caboolture the very same weekend as the State Dressage Championships.
We were very aware that even though he had taken out Supreme Champion Buckskin at the Gold Coast Show, that it was not going to be easy to bring home the ribbons from the Dilute Championships. However...I'm still sewing buttons back onto our shirts...he brought home the Reserve Champion Buckskin Sash!
Allora Dressage Championships
Allora Show Society run a two day Dressage Championship Event each year and as we compete our Morgans there throughout the year, we like to take them to the finale of the Season.
Mt Tawonga Natasha (Elegance) and Mt Tawonga Oscar competed at Allora for the Preliminary and the Novice Championship rugs. Jane Warren, on our gelding Mt Tawonga Nepean, brought home the Preparatory Championship rug a year or two ago when they started competing together, so we headed to Allora with the hope of bringing home a Championship Rug & knowing the competition was going to be fairly stiff.
Our Morgans were in the top three of every test & three tests at each level had to be completed to qualify for the Championship, which meant three tests each day for each horse.
By the end of the weekend, Elegance and Oscar were both on the same points in the Novice Championship & with another horse one point ahead. Which one was to get the Reserve Novice Championship?? The highest percentage achieved in any of the tests over the weekend was the decider. Elegance and Jane very proudly brought home the Reserve Champion Novice Title. We were all tremendously pleased with the results from the weekend. Oscar was also just pipped at the post for Reserve Champion Preliminary Horse as well. These are great horses, and they give us just so much pleasure.
Greg and Nepean go trail riding
He and Nepean have just been on a Cumburrie Trail Ride ... a 5 day camp at a magnificent property down near Tenterfield, with beautiful valleys set amongst the most magnificent mountains and a river running through it all. Greg was telling me the highlights of the Trail Ride and I just have to share a couple of these with you.
On the day of arrival, Greg put Nepean in a paddock that ran beside a paddock with 4 Arabs that belonged to the Property Owner. He watched for about 40 minutes to ensure that Nepean and the horses next door didn't have any altercations and apart from a bit of snorting over the fence they all went about their business of eating grass, so he left them to it. He'd set up camp, the sun had set, and he was deep in conversation with Trev, a long time friend, and Organiser of the ride, when he 'felt' Nepean call him.
Greg was intent on Trev's conversation, but was distracted again by the feeling that Nepean needed him .... he was not aware that he'd heard anything at this stage; he just knew Nepean had called for help ... so he took his mind away from Trev's conversation and listened ... sure enough ... he heard a call from Nepean that he felt was like a rabbit caught in a trap. He turned from Trev in mid-conversation and ran toward Nepean in the darkness; Nepean was a fair distance away in his paddock.
As he ran toward him in the dark, he could see Nepean's silouhette against the sky line and he looked as if he was skewered on a post over a fence. With heart beating like a ferocious instrument in his chest, he raced closer to discover that Nepean had both hind feet caught in the chain wire, held above the ground, crossed one behind the other... standing there, motionless, with all his weight on his front feet, calling for help.
Greg said Nepean's call was not a regular whinny, and not something he wants to hear again in a hurry.... it was a very 'throaty' whinny that was unquestionably a call to rescue him from a trap.
Greg always wears his Leatherman which has wirecutters on it. He had grabbed a halter as he ran, so he put it on Nepean, talking to him the whole time .... "It's Ok, Boy! Just stay still and I can fix it! One step at a time! Trust me! It will be Ok! Promise me .... be still!!"
In the dark, he cut the first wire that seemed to hold Nepean's hind legs crossed. When Nepean felt the release, he kicked out to get himself free, but it was not the main wire that held him. Greg then had to decide what to cut next ... he could see a wire that seemed to be more taut then others, so he took the chance and cut it. Nepean must have felt the release again, as he took two huge kicks and bounds, luckily hitting the strainer post with his kick-out and sending himself forward free of the wire, pulling a shoe cleanly as he went ... the nails were straight when Greg picked up the shoe!!
On close inspection, under torch light, Nepean, being the magnificent Morgan that he is, had not struggled in the wire, and though he had wire 'burns' where the hair had worn off with the tightness of the wire, he did not have one cut on him. He did not swell up at all .... so, obviously, once he discovered he was trapped, he stood and called Greg to rescue him. Greg is blown away with his experience of how that horse got the message to him.
He also experienced a 'Black Beauty' moment with Nepean ... you know when Black Beauty refused to cross the flooded bridge ... when he was riding along an escarpment that was close to a very sheer drop. Nepean propped - throwing Greg forward in the saddle ... Greg dug his heels in and said something like, '*&^))*%!!!! I didn't tell you to stop ... !!' Nepean refused to move!! so Greg decided he'd best take a look at what was in front of him .... he had been riding beside a sheer drop, even though it was fenced, and just where Nepean had propped, the fence line fell away quite steeply. When he took a look at what was in front of him, Nepean had stopped before stepping into an area of rabbit warrens and holes that, if he'd stumbled in them, would have sent Greg over the sheer cliff!
Greg has renewed his admiration and respect for Nepean ... he said he had forgotten what a great horse he was - and really ... isn't he!!!! From Trail Ride horse, to teaching the beginners, to going out and winning competitions with just about anyone on his back ... he is a horse that no amount of money could replace!!
MORE NEWS ITEMS IN OUR ARCHIVES:
September 2006
Gold Coast Centerary Show. Huge three-day event...what a milestone for RanchBoss Cortez!
We were invited by one of the Assistant Ring Masters of the Gold Coast Show to take Cortez to the Centenary Show. The invitation came after she had judged him at a Dressage Competition. We decided to take up the invitation and were so very pleased that we did. Read More
August 2006
RanchBoss Cortez - Colour Genetics: EE Aa nCr
We felt it was important to have Cortez's colour genetics in certificate form, for those interested in colour. We sent hair samples to the States for testing for three factors - Red/Black, Agouti and Cream. Read More
Preparation for the Breeding Season
With the breeding season soon upon us, we decided we should have Cortez collected for testing in differing extenders for shipping chilled semen. The results were impressive. Read More
May 2006
Toowoomba Regional Championships and the Stallion Parade
We recently had the Regional Dressage Championships here in Toowoomba and...nah!!...no first ribbons or prizes, but what a great weekend we had. It was exhausting and exhilarating. We were running on adrenalin as we rushed from one deadline to the next. The highlights of the weekend for us were Mt Tawonga Natasha in her Novice Freestyle and RanchBoss Cortez's impact on the audience in the Stallion Parade. Read More
April 2006
RanchBoss Cortez and his start in Dressage
Since arriving in Australia and being released from Quarantine on 22 December 2005, RanchBoss Cortez has settled in well and has begun to make his mark in Dressage Circles. Read More