News

1 August

Albury dressage

TY, Jen Harry, Izzy and Dynasty set off for Albury dressage in the pouring rain. The weather didn't get much better but Dynasty came home with a 9th Preliminary and 4th in the Novice test. With the weather so bad and two kids we decided to come home.As you can tell from the arena it was a little wet under foot.

4 July

Training in the fog

Today is very foggy at our place and this is Ty training in the fog at 9.30am. Nice and cold here.

Also Harry playing outside.

15 June

April Leaves

Today April has left us to go to the warmer parts of the country. Congratulation to Stephanie Bosanquet of Samford Queensland. May you enjoy riding our much loved April who has taught me so much in such a short time.

23 May

Wagga Wagga Dressage

What a lovely day in Wagga for dressage. Today George (Khancoban Chaugall) and Deano (Ellesmere Dynasty) compete in Preliminary and Novice tests.

Khancoban Chaugall

Preliminary 1C 67.727% 1st

Novice 2C 62.5% 1st

Ellesmere Dynasty

Preliminary 1A 68.00% 1st

Novice 2A 57.037% 9th

Both horses performed very well and I was pleased with our results. Deanos novice test was the result of me finding out I am not as fit as I should be to ride 4 dressage tests in one day.

31 January

Isabelle Maddison has arrived

It is with great pleasure that Ty and I announce the arrival of our daughter Isabelle Maddison Nichols.

Izzy is a healthy baby and doing all the right things eating and sleeping.

31 October - 1 November

Wunghnu level 3 CDE

Last weekend Ty, Mareea, Harry Rob, Susie and I all travelled to a little place call Wunghnu for there annual CDE. Arriving friday lunch we set up camp amd settled in Indy and Gundy. Saturday saw dressage and cones day with Ty placing 2nd and 4th in the cones. On sunday the marathon phase took place and they ran 3rd and finished 3rd overall. This was a very successful weekend trying out the new carriages.

24 October

Goulburn Dressage

Very early saturday morning Elle, Vicki and I set off for Goulburn, with Gundy, Chagual and April in tow. All horse and riders performed well bring home several ribbons.

April ridden by Elle

Elementary 3B 61.15% 2nd

Medium 4B 56.389% 3rd

Chaugual ridden by Elle

Novice 2D 58.857% 3rd

Novice 2C 54.660% 9th

Gundy ridden by Vicki

Preliminary 1C 54.545% 6th

Novice 2C 53.438% 10th

Vicki riding Gundy

Elle riding Chaugal

April watching the trotters going around the track. Lucky we have driving horses at home as all our horses didn't mind them going round

3 October

Culcain

Congratulation again to Elle and Flemminque on gaining 3rd place at Culcain show in the led mare 15hh and over. It poured rain and Flemminque was a very well behaved girl.

2 October

Wagga Wagga Show

Congratulations to Elle and Flemminque on first plase at Wagga Wagga Show in the led mare 15hh not exceeding 15.2.

27 September

Lockhart Show

After another early morning for a sunday Ty, Harry, Elle, Scott ,Flemminque (our 2 yr old filly), Hamish (Elles TB just off the track a week) and I all headed for Lockhart.Ag Show. It was a very cold windy day and we decided to take two young horses to a show. Both horses behaved very well apart from Hamish just wanting to eat and Flemminque not liking little ponies with rugs on or shetlands. We over came these problems and Flemminque won her led class Mare or Filly over 15hh and Hamish was =3rd in his led Hack over 15hh. Not bad for two young horses and a horrible day of wind and cold

Flemminque at her first Show Lockhart 2009

Hamish at his first show Lockhart 2009

20 September

ACT Dressage

After a early start we took April and Chagual to Canberra for a day of dressage in the sun. Both horses behave well and Elle had a lovely ride off both horses. April competed in two Elemnetry tests for a 6th and 7th placing which we are pleased with as it was Elles first time riding this level. Chagual placed 10th in his Prelim test and 11th in the novice. We are very proud of him as he is just coming back into work and taking it all in his rather large stride. Well done to Elle and the kids.

08 September

Richie Sold

Congratulations to Haylie Keenan of Tumut for the purchas of Jenty Park Richie. We hope to see you both out and about in the next few months. Thank you to all who enquired about him.

16 August

Wagga Wagga Dressage

Yet again the boys have excelled with Elle on board to come away with placings at Wagga Dressage comp on the weekend. Richie placed 5th in his walk trot and down the list in the Prelimary 1A but we are stilled thrilled to with the progress he is making since he couldn't even canter a 20m circle 3 weeks ago. If you look close enough at the picture you will see both he and Elle are staurated as it rained most of the morning.(Ty still threatens to make him a driving horse).

Chagual only had one test today a I made a mistake on the entry putting him in the Elementary 3A. We are not quite up to that stage yet but watch this space in a few months. Elle and Chagual had a 5th placing in the novice 2A for 58.8%. Well done Elle and thanks to Vicki for coming along to help and Ty and Scott (Elles boyfriend) for the support in the rain.

Sorry photos of Richie and Elle are not so good as I took them. I will have to practice more.

Chagual and Elle warming up.

9 August

Today we attended Albury Dressage Training day with Richie and Chagual. Both gentleman behaved very well and performed outstanding. Chagual caught the eye of many people and how could they miss him at 17.1hh. Ellen Staas rode both horses for me and will do it the coming months as I am 4 months pregnant.

Richie Chagual

7 June

The arrivial of Royston a 13 year old Chestnut 16.2hh Holstien gelding arrived last night. He is for Ty with the intention of going into harness. Photos to come soon.

24 May

Wagga Wagga Dressage

It was a lovely day for dressage at Wagga Wagga on sunday. Gundy had some up and down moments but performed his 2.4 what I though was one of his better efforts really well. The 1.4 I though he could of done better but came away with a placing which made us happy.

1.4 63.2% 2nd 2.4 62.4% 7th

16/17 May

Canberra Classic

Gundy attended the Canberra Classic for the first time with some very nice scores in the tough competion we competed against. It is not my luck this year as this is the second time at a championship in a month we are first in tha arena for our first test. This was a disaster as Gundy thought the dressage arena was going to eat him as it blew down around us. I did manage to stay on just and keep him going forward as side ways was not my idea. The judges were still very generous but I think you can guess which test we did first from the result below.

Saturday 1.3 61% =9th 2.3 55.2% 19

Sunday 1.4 62.2& 8th 2.4 61.4% 11

Gundy before the dressage arena was going to eat him. (note letter down in back ground).

11 May

My dream horse has arrived thanks to Tracey Lewis. Chagoul is a 17.1hh WB/TB gelding. He is another dressage horse for me to ride.He is training Prelim/Novice and taking everything in his huge stride. He has fitted into the family very well and is just lovely to handle and do anything with. I hope to have him out and about in august for the local dressage events. Pictures to come soon.

24 April

We welcome the new arrival of Elsmer Dynasty. Dynstay is a 13 year old irsh sport horse.

This photo was taken the day after he arrived and it have rained for the fist time in months so dynasty took advantage of rolling in the mud. I will post more photos soon.

18 & 19 April

Young Dressage Championships

A camping weekend in Young for the dressage Championship saw Gundy and I have some success at Preliminary level. We have found that Gundy does become a little flat on the second day and doesn't perform as well. It is amasing how we are still learning about each other. First in for the 1.3 and I was happy with the score and a placing.

Saturday 1.3 60.6% 6th 1.4 62.0% 6th

Sunday 2.3 60.2 9th 2.4 57.0 13th

28 & 29 March

Newstead CDE

Ty compete JP Gundagai andJP Indana at Newstead to place 2nd behind andrew Pollock. Gundy decide that walking was not a option and jodded the walk movements in the dressage and made it hard again in the 1km walk section on Marathon. We had a great weekend and enjoyed the company for meeting new people and catching up with old friends. A bonus for the weekend was TY winning the muiltples Concours d'Elegance again for the weekend. Thanks to Tys parents Rod and Cheryl for coming to help

Victorian Championships

The long haul was made to Wandin in Victoria with Jen, her dad Bruce and Harry taking Jenty Park Gundagai, Jenty Park Indana and Tylo Rhodes down for Ty to drive at the Victorian Championships.

They all past the vet check with flying colours so dressage was next on the list. Indy decided that he didn't want to do dressage this weekend and made the task for Ty very hard. With a score of 87 pentalties we doubled our points from the Masters Games a few week earlier. Tiger and Indy proved to be very handy on marthon day put in a good round and made it enjoyable for all. Cones day arrived after a lovely saturday night dinner and auction for the bush fire relief raising over $3000.00. Not bad for 60 people in the room. Cone day was intresting as Indy decided he was going to make it hard to drive but Ty managed a clear round with some time penlties. A wonderful event was had by all and we won our class and also Con Cours d'Elegance.

3rd March 2009

Masters Games VIC

What an exciting weekend with the return of Ty to carriage driving. We attended the Masters games in Geelong. Ty was griving JP Gundagai(Gundy) and JP Indiana(Indy) in the Dressage and Cones for a score of 42 dressage penatlies and one cone down with 15 time penalties as the course was very tight and the boys didn't make it very easy for Ty. On the sunday in the marathon Ty drove JP Indiana(Indy) and Tylo Rhodes(Tiger). This was lots of fun and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Ty came away with first place and 4 gold medals.Thanks to My Mum and Suzie for looking after Harry and Rob for coming to groom on Sunday.

22nd Feburary 2009

On sunday we attended Young dressage at Bendick Murell with Gundy He didn't score very well in the first test as well have been running late and did't get to warm up enough so a dissappointing 55.40 and 8th place in the 2.1. In our second test I was not going to let him have a repeat performance. 3rd in the 1.1 with a score of 65.00 and we are back on track.

1st Feburary 2009

With a cooler change on sunday we attended ACT Dressage a Exhibition Park in Canberra. Gundy placed 7th in the 1.3 with a score of 56.80 and 4th in the 2.3 with 57.40. he was feeling a little full of himself and I am sure we could have scored better but it was the first show of the season.

15th to 17th January 2009

Boyd Exell School

What a fantastic weekend it was in the Southern Highlands driving on a beautiful arena at Trevor and Sheryl Leibowitz complex "Shibumi". Ty had lessons with Garry Rolands which turned out to be very helpful. Indy and Gundy behaved very. Thank You to Sheryl and Trevor for having us.

1st January 2009

The boys are back in work. After 4 years off from carriage driving Indy and Gundy have been put back in the carriage in preperation for the Masters games and Victorian Championships in March.

30th December 2008

What an exciting boxing day night we had. After retiring to bed Jenty Park April suprised us withe the arrival of a Bay/brown colt. he is so cute and each day suprises us with this ability to move and be so independant. At this stage we have named him "Boxer".

30th November 2008 Goulburn Dressage

Another early start and we again met my parents at the Goulburn showground. It was a beautiful sunny day but was blowing a gale which made it very unpleasent.

April started the day in the meduim 4.1 with 61.333% and 4th place which I was very happy with.

Gundy then did his second novice test 2.1 placing 3rd with 60.8%

April was back out again in the 3.1 placing 7th and only 53.??% (sorry forgot the score) which I thought was a good test but not from the judges stand.

As the sun was fading and Gundy was the last to go in the Preliminary 1.3 placing 2nd with 66%. I was not please with the test but the judge liked it and he was a very good boy in the bad conditions.

Gundy had lots of admires at this event and always turns heads. People stopped to watch his warm up and followed his tests all day. What a thrill and Gundy has his own fan club.

27th & 28th November 2008 Rodger Fitzharding School Wagga Wagga

What a instructor and wealth of knowledge. i attended this school with Gundy as April was not playing the game and had a slight cut from playing over the fence at home. Rodger loved him. Gundy made huge improvements over the two day and I look forward to the next school. Look out April I will book you into.

22nd & 23rd November

With no competions this weekend I took the oppunity to take april to Graham Chaples for some well over due lesson for both of us. after 8 hours on the trailed april was happy to arrive at my parents place in Raymend Terrace for a nights sleep. Up early the next morning we arrived a Grahams only another 30mins up the road. 2 hours later April and I are performing like well established Elementary/Medium partners. The lesson the next day was even better and we seemed to be back on track. Thanks Graham and I look forward to the next lesson and I wont leave it so long next time.

We also dropped off out broodmare Jenty Park Quarnie who will be breed to Grahams Stallion GMC Mattice. We look forward to hearing some postive news soon. Will keep you posted.

16th November 2008 Wagga Wagga Dressage Champioships

This was a day I should have never got out of bed. After having to scratch April from her three test due to her not performing at her best I was only left with the ride on Gundy. after trying very hard he was well done the list in both his preliminary tests. I don't think this had much to do with the horse. He behaved perfectly and went very kindly but it was not my day which reflected throughout our tests. We will live to fight another day.

9th November 2008 Young Dressage Bendick Murell

After a early morning Ty and I left home around 5.30am to make the 2.5 hour trip to Bendick Murell.

The horses travelled well and settled into the stable we hire for the day. Gundy was first out in the preliminary 1.3 placing 2nd with 62.4% out of 8. I was very thrilled as I thought we could have done better after the test. Our first ever novice test was not so good placing well down the field but I personal thought he went a lot more relaxed.

April started with a 6th place out of 7 in the 4.3 and only 53.788, but we completed the test without any major mistakes and a little tension in the rein back and lateral work. We did improve our marks for again 6th place out of 9 in the Elementary 3.3 and 61.167.

Thanks to my Mum (Mareea) and Dad (Bruce) for looking after Harry (our two year old son) and supporting us for the day. Young Dressage club always puts on a good event and we enjoy going even if it is a long day.

Gundy warming up for his second test. novice 2.3

1 & 2 November 2008 Albury Dressage Championships

Gundy and April attended albury dressage championships after a long winter ( 4months) off.

This was not the start to the end of season that I was looking for. April managed to pick up 2 ribbons for the weekend 6th in Elementry 3.4 and 5th in Medium 4.3. Gundy suffered from lack of competion as he had not competed since Wagga Wagga Dressage in March 2008, but he still amazed us with his attitude to his work.