AUSTRALIAN SHOWJUMPING - AN EDITORIAL

While the Australian Equestrian Federation is patting itself on the back for qualifying for the Beijiing Olympic Games in 2008, I have some serious questions.

Firstly, when the manifesto first came out regarding selection policy and the responsibility of the Australian Showjumping selectors there was mention that the Selectors were not to send a team unless they were confident of a top 12 teams finish and at least one rider in the top 50.

Surely the Selectors did not believe that the team they sent were going to finish in the top 12! There would have been little to no doubt that Edwina Alexander would finish in the top 50 - she is currently ranked 39th in the world rankings and has been on fire this past season - but a team finish in the top 12?!

And as it has panned out the team finished in 16th position out of 24 teams - but the euphoria in Australia is based on the Olympic qualification. This qualification was achieved by way of negotiation with the FEI to allow the highest placed G Nation at the World Games to gain entry to Beijiing - there were only two G Nation teams competing at Aachen this week, Australia and Japan. Japan's team of only 3 riders finished in 18th position. Has anyone stopped to wonder why there were only two G Nations at the Games - perhaps the others realised they were not up to the job this year or in two years time!?

Is Australia going to continue going to World Games and Olympics for appearance money? Is there ever going to come a stage where the officials of Australian Showjumping will realise that changes have to be made to the sport at home before they go out into the world stage of showjumping?

Yes Rod Brown improved greatly on day two of the Aachen World Games, as did Peter McMahon and that is fabulous but imagine just how well these two riders could have done with proper preparation - and surely that would be cause for excitement!

And for those not aware - the day two track has been deemed a "soft" track - Rothenberg decided to sort out the sheep from the lambs in the opening speed class and then for day two built a classic jumping track with lots of room to move, classic distances and no tricks - the fences went up 3 holes from the previous day but he is obviously saving the tough stuff for the "real competition" where the battle for medals take place.

The realisation of what is wrong in Australian showjumping came to me last year at the Junior European Championships, held in Switzerland - jumpingaround.com were there with the Irish Junior Team and when the team finished in 4th place and Nicola FitzGibbon finished 6th Individually in Europe - we were thrilled and ready to celebrate such a great result - when we caught up with the Chef, Trainer and team, they were ready to throw in the towel for such a disappointing result - they were there to medal, NOT come fourth!

Therein lies the difference between Australian showjumping and the rest of the world - Australia accepts mediocrity as exciting!

For years Australians have said they have the best riders in the world but they never have a chance to prove themselves because they don't have good horses/their good horses are always sold etc.- well when are we going to give our riders the chance to prove themselves?

I do believe that Australia has some exceptional riders - young Jamie Kermond is an example of the quality of rider we have coming up through the ranks BUT he will never do better than "improving on elimination with 21 faults" if we don't start accepting that the way things run in Australia does nothing to improve the quality of our International hopefuls!

A great deal of money is spent going to Olympics and World Games and the discussion before, during and after these events is always the same - "we should/shouldn't have gone" and "we improved from shocking to bad" and so on.......this simply is not fair to our riders!

The Athens Olympics was a disaster for Australian Showjumping and no doubt there will be those colouring the Aachen result with a "rose tinted" version of "didn't we do a great job?" but the reality is that Edwina Alexander did a great job!

Edwina has been based in Europe since 1998 and has gone through the hardship of finding quality horses, supporting herself financially and working damned hard to get herself to the place she is in today - a rider who competes regularly against the best in the world and does exceptionally well! Edwina is putting Australia into a good light with the showjumping fraternity at the top of the sport, so are we now going to hang off her coat tails (as the Australian Dressage is also doing with Kristy Oatley-Nist) and give no thought to making sure she has 3 other team members to support her hard work with equal performances?

Australia does little to nothing to help riders who are serious about their sport, riders who want to compete with pride for their country and want to hear their National Anthem played in the International arenas - they prefer to spend money sending teams who are not even remotely prepared for the task asked of them at the top level - perhaps the time has come to assist riders like young Matt Williams who is based in England and trying to improve himself by working long hard hours and living on the smell of an oily rag - and then when Matt comes up with the goods in the not too distant future, the Australian Federation will beat the drum about how great the Aussie riders are and how they, the Federation are so proud of him - this is simply not fair to our riders, they deserve better!

To those who are reading this, please understand that I have great faith in our riders, and I believe we now have exceptionally talented horses - our riders need support from their Federation and from a system which will prepare them for what they will face internationally.

Jamie Kermond has been quoted as saying: "I was happy. He jumped some really nice fences. I went out there on a mission because he just kept trying to drop behind my leg like he did yesterday. I had to ride not trying to keep the fences up but to make sure he was actually going to go."

The above comments from Jamie show just what he had to face - he was concentrating on getting the horse forward rather than on jumping clear - this is not fair to a talented young man - he was sent to war on a rocking horse and the only result could be being shot down!

Australian riders need to learn to ride the performance bred warmblood horses as they are very different animals to the Aussie thoroughbred ex-racehorses and for this to be effective they need to be either based in Europe with top trainers or have access to these trainers over courses in Australia!

And maybe the time has come to send our Course Designers to Europe to work at the National level shows to understand how to build courses for horses from 4 years old up to International Grand Prix and then they need to be allowed to build these technical and testing tracks in Australia without complaints from self serving riders who want to be big fish in a very small pond!

I have always had plenty to say about what is wrong with Australian showjumping - and I have received many emails agreeing but I have also had emails telling me I have it all wrong and that I am knocking Aussie showjumpers!

I would like to state categorically that I am not out to abuse Aussie showjumpers. My aim is to make people aware of what is happening in the European world of showjumping and that Australian riders deserve more than appearance money for being at Olympic and World Games - they deserve to be serious competitors with good results heading towards excellence!

I hold the Federation accountable for the lack of improvement in Australian showjumping and a system (the grading system) which does not encourage the correct producing of young horses through to the top level.

I hold the Federation responsible for allowing a fractured administration which sees some states providing additional money for their riders to go the World Games and other states refusing to add money to help a rider from their state - this causes unnecessary grief at a time when riders should be focussed on their sport not on fundraising!

I hold the Selectors accountable for sending a team, which by their own listed criteria, they believed would be in the top 12 teams, when this was a very unrealistic expectation - if it was not for Edwina the team would be a great deal further down the list than they already are.

The world of showjumping has changed - Alexander Omischenko has bought a showjumping team for the Ukraine much like European Football Teams are bought and sold - the horses are changing, the courses are changing - it is a very professional world and Australia needs to recognise this for the sake of the many people who pour a great deal of money into the sport via sponsorship, buying horses and all that is involved in keeping them on the competition trail in Australia - these people are, in my opinion, not getting a fair deal and sadly we could one day see a situation where an Australian rider of the caliber of Edwina will be bought to join the Ukraine team!

We have already lost owners from the sport and the word on the street is that there was a businessman who offered big money (with possible further large monies for a future team) towards the preparation of the Aus showjumping team in Europe prior to the Games but his offer was rejected by the EFA as they thought it might offend others who supply balloons and party streamers for the team - good one lads!

I rest my case............................and look forward to hearing from those who care enough about the sport I am so passionate about!