The Caramut Riding Club is one of, if not the, oldest Riding Clubs in Australia and was started by two equestrian legends, Colin Kelly and Bill Roycroft and both these gentlemen were on hand this weekend to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Club - and it was in fact a big weekend for birthdays as showjumper, Chris Smith also turned 50 on the Sunday and at the other end of the scale Katie Clarke turned 20 on Australia Day - add to that the 21st birthday celebrations for Scottie Barclay and all this made for a big" weekend for showjumping and celebrations.

Thanks must go to the members of the Caramut Riding Club for all their hard work towards making the weekend the success it was.

The training rounds were well supported on the Friday evening as was the Junior class - but the show began officially on Saturday with the Maiden D Grade which was generously sponsored by Judge and Penciller, Peter and Di Kemp who not only give their time to the sport but are also known for helping out with sponsorship and help for traveling riders - their generosity does not go un-noticed even though they are very quiet about it!

Course Design was again in the hands of John Wilsher from Mount Gambier - John is an Internationally accredited Course Designer who assisted Linda Allen at the Olympic Games in Atlanta and his tracks are always of an excellent standard regardless of where he is building - and this weekend was no exception - some were heard to complain that perhaps the D Grades were too high but this didn't seem to be born out by the numbers - the Maiden D Grade 45 starters with 34 going through to the jump off so that didn't seem to cause too many issues and the D Grade Class saw 64 starters with 17 going through to the jump off which again is a perfectly acceptable percentage anywhere in the world of showjumping!

Left: Mark Nichols had an excellent weekend which began with a win in the Maiden D Grade class on the grey Ellesmere Expression with his clear round in the time of 35.77secs - Mark was in the last half dozen to jump off and managed to knock 16 year old Hayden Kneebone out of first placing - a spot he had been holding on to since coming out 4th in the jump off -but Hayden was well pleased with his second placing riding Sport for Short and their time was 36.16secs.

back in the showjumping scene - caught here sampling the great Mortlake breakfast with his great mate and eventer Nick Roe who was also competing this weekend brushing up on some showjumping skills before heading off overseas again later this year. Brett is now working very hard building trucks/trailers for his own company, recently purchased from Bruce Harding, Premier Floats after Southern Cross transport became too busy to be able to continue building trasnportation for horses! Southern Cross Horse Transport are the best around and come highly recommended to anyone needing to move horses around the countryside.

As for getting a truck or trailer built make sure you call Brett and give him a chance to quote for you - the quality is excellent and as I understand it so is the price!