With Christmas just a few "sleeps to go" some are winding down their horses, giving them a break before the New South Wales rounds of the World Cup circus start up with Bega hosting the first of 2005 on January 2nd, 2005.

But for those who were looking for a fun show, Treehaven Equestrian Club and the hard working Lever family put on a Christmas bash for all to enjoy and the numbers certainly suggest that there is a need for a show at this time of year.

Saturday morning kept no secrets about what the weather was going to do - it was to be hot and then some more hot, with a prediction of a cool change to come through in the evening - the rumour was that the thermometer reached 39degrees celsius!

But if there is any venue in the country to be at when the temperatures climb it is definitely Treehaven Equestrian Club - they make sure the place is spectator friendly from the fabulous Cafe to the shade tents on the hill overlooking the main arena, there are plenty of places to watch all the action from without getting cooked in the sun!

Above left and right: the shade was provided all around the place and was well utilised by everyone - above shows that even when there obviously wasn't room in the rotunda for Brad Trewin, he still managed to get comfy and avail himself of the shade!
Right: then there were those who decided to indulge in excellent wines and champagnes under the shade of the well designed verandah which is also ringside and gives an excellent view of the main arena.

Treehaven Equestrian Club is run the incredibly energetic Lever family and Annie loves to put the riders on the spot, when she catches them ringside or in the winners enclosure and hands them the microphone to say a few words - most take up the offer to perhaps thank their personal sponsors or owners and the noticeable change over the past 12 months is that the riders are speaking really well and people are stopping chatting to listen to what they have to say - this is a great innovation.

The first class of the show was the Junior class on Saturday morning and it was great to see good numbers entered. Annie Lever managed to get Scottie Barclay to say a few words before he did the the presentations for the Junior class.

Scottie Barclay is now based in Ireland and in 2005 takes up a new challenge when he becomes head competition rider for Harmony Cottage Farms in County Kildare, and where he will be training with the Internationally credentialed Comdt. John Leddingham and with Dressage Trainer Nial Quirk. Scottie continues to ride for Celtic Winners Australia as well as taking on rides from various Irish and American owners.

Scottie pictured below left and right with Annie Lever.

Pictured left we see Victorian Jumping Judge Ron Lewis who was "on duty" judging this weekend in the main arena and he was assisted by wife, Pam as his penciller.

The second arena was under the care of Lynnie Sproull, mother of well known and popular Victorian showjumper Murray, and her penciller for the weekend was Annie White mother of the Horseland Young Showjumper of the Year 2004, Cassie White.

Without these great volunteers there would be no showjumping in Australia and they all do a fabulous job and manage to keep their sense of humour and fair play regardless of the extreme heat which they so often work under.

Lynnie Sproull and Annie White are also the two women behind the "Taylor Fund" which is raising money to help the Tayor family who were struck by tragedy on their way home from the Treehaven Show on Saturday night when they became victims of an incredible

"idiot of the roads" who ran them off the road with their lorry and then took the coward's option and left the scene of the accident which left Katy Taylor's good young horse dead and two others seriously injured - please check out here for details of how to donate to this fundraiser.
Pictured right we see Ronnie Lewis lining up his start beams while Kane Chester walks the course - Kane models the latest in Australian Showjumping fashions - well actually he did confess that he had forgotten to wash his showjumping shirts and had to wear an evening shirt as it was the only clean one in the wardrobe!

Pictured below we see the Judges box for the main arena - it did provide a little shade and some of the riders took advantage of this while walking the course.
Another great innovation by Treehaven was having Australian Grand Prix rider, Fiona
John, commentating for the weekend and being a top level competitor herself Fiona was able to give a lot of insight into what riders and horses were doing when things were going well and more importantly when things weren't going quite as planned - it was great listening for all the spectators.

It was also great to catch up with so many people at the show over the weekend - and pictured left from left to riight we see Caro and Pete Wagner of Wagner's Saddlery and Michelle Strapp.

Caro Wagner is one of the most prolific Show class winners in the country and is also "the" place to go for your show gear if you want to win the turnout classes. Pete Wagner has an amazing "eye for a horse" and is the man responsible for picking out a lovely, if hot young mare named Scandal!

Scandal was purchased by Princess Haya of Jordan some years ago and when speaking to the Princess earlier this year she was telling me that Scandal was always her father's (The King of Jordan) favourite horse in the stables. Scandal was put in foal to a top racing stallion at the Princesses stables and we will bring news of the resultant foal in the new year.

Michelle Strapp is a name synonymous in Australia for producing top class showjumpers but she did trade in her showjumping saddles for the gentile art of Dressage where she has been doing extremely well in competition with some quality young horses. I was pleased to hear though that Michelle is currently cleaning up her favourite jumping saddle, the only one she kept (a black Pessoa) as she might be making a return to the showjumping arena. Michelle's husband David was also a well known Australian Grand Prix showjumper who took time out to "earn a living" for his family but the lure of the jumping has been too great and it is great to see David back in jodphurs and back on board - David is riding a lovely young horse owned by Caro and Pete Wagner.

Pictured left we see David Strapp in the lineup of the 6 year old Young Horse on Wagner's WS Texas.

Pictured below: Wes Joyce must have had a big night out judging by the big yawn during presentation. Wes spent time some years ago training in Germany and has always had nice horses - now however he has to fight his 12 and 15 year old daughters for the rides. Wes and Trish are known as the "teenage lovebirds" of Victorian showjumping even after two kids and many years of marriage.

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