Victorian showjumping was being held on both sides of the State on this weekend with a big annual show at Lang Lang in the eastern part of the state and on the western side the Western District Showjumping Championships, which is where the jumpingaround.com crew were to be found.

Mortlake is a small and friendly Australian country town, which is 30 minutes drive from the satellite city of Warrnambool. Mortlake is also home of the all Australian made Clarke's Pies which are famous throughout Victoria and South Australia as the best meat pies to be be had!

The family owned Clarke's Pies are also a family of showjumpers - dad Morris, mum Judy, son Timmy and daughter Katie who is now back into the sport after a break while she was busy being an apprentice chef which left little to no time for showjumping. Katie, as a junior and Young Rider won pretty much every major title in the country and so it is great to see her back in the sport now that she is a fully qualified chef and has her time organised to allow for working a horse!

The show is run and organised by the Caramut Riding Club which is, I believe the oldest Riding Club in Australia and was started by the Roycroft family who were the pioneers of international Australian riders, with the tradition still continued with Vicky Roycroft riding at the top level both nationally and internationally.

The major sponsors for the show are Advanced Coaching Education (A.C.E) and Woodglen International, breeders of the Australia Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs. Wendy Heine has been breeding the stumpy tail cattle dogs for many years now and does all the working dog showing with them - and this weekend saw Taddy McLean add to his family when he purchased a gorgeous little fellow from Wendy. Taddy was so keen to bond with his new friend that he stayed at his lorry rather than popping over the to Mt. Shadwell Hotel for drinks and the two were never far apart after they agreed to live together in harmony on Saturday afternoon!

Never far from dad's side is Morry Mortlake - pictured above and left with Taddy!

The Mortlake Show is one of the jumpingaround.com crews favourites to cover as the venue is friendly, the people are friendly and the jumping is good - but this year tested the dedication of everyone due to the incredibly hot weather which then turned nasty

on the Sunday as the thermometers registered temperatures of over 40degrees celsius and the reports started to flood in of bushfires which in many cases were too close to many of those at the show lorries leaving the grounds in a big hurry to get home and ensure the safety of their properties and livestock - at the time of going to print we understand everyone was ok but it sadly affected the numbers in the classes.

With the temperature reaching 33 degrees celsius on Saturday, Judge, Rob Leishmann allowed riders to remove their jackets and on Sunday they were permitted to ride without ties and ratcatchers - a wise and kind decision!

Riders showed great care of their horses throughout the weekend and there were no signs of distressed horses - the humans on the other hand were a different story.............although with the swimming pool next door to the jumping many opted for a quick dip between classes!

Icepops were being handed out by the box load - pictured left - as another way of trying to beat the heat.......................

and water fights were being carried out in almost every corner of the grounds!