As discussion rages on Australian shores about the poor performance of the sole Australian showjumper at Athens Olympic Games this year, there are those who are actively working towards change and improvement in the Australian showjumping scene - and the Lever family from Treehaven Equestrian Club in Victoria, Australia are one such example.

The Lever family have built an Australian venue which incorporates all the best of Europe with the best of the Australian lifestyle - a venue which hosts showjumping and dressage events for those wishing quality competition. Patriarch of the Lever family is showjumper Laurie, who "did his time" in England showjumping at the top level - Matriarch is Annie who rides Dressage and runs Treehaven Equestrian Club and this dynamic couple are parents to David, Phillip and James.

David and Phillip both ride full time, with Phil now showing some talent for Dressage as well as showjumping while James is still at school and shows a leaning towards photography and management.

The Lever family are well aware of the importance of their sons broadening their horizons and experiencing showjumping amongst the best in the world and so it is that David left home to travel to Germany where he is training at Klatte Zuchthof and that is where jumpingaround.com caught up with him.

Klatte Zuchthof (which literally translated means Klatte Breeding Yard) has it's own strong connection to Australia through Ulrich Klatte, who heads the Belcam Stud in Queensland and there has always been an exchange of students from Germany to Australia - and now the tables are reversed. Henrik's sister, Alexandra fell so in love with Australia on a visit to Uncle Ulrich that she stayed and has now made it home with her Australian husband James and their two children.

Klatte Zuchthof has many arms to the business - there is the competition/selling barn, the stallion barn and the youngsters for breaking - David is based in the competition/selling barn under Henrik Klatte, son of Heinrich.

David is getting the opportunity to ride and compete some of the most famous line horses in the world of showjumping - and they are also names famous in the dressage arenas of the world as Klatte Zuchthoff is the home of two of the greatest of German stallions, Grannus and Argentinus and many of the young horses here represent the mixed breeding of these two great stallions.

Argentinus is now an "elder statesman" in Germany and at nearly 25 years of age he looks fabulous - and it was with such pride that David and Henrik took us to visit him in the stallion barn, where he is the first stallion you meet on arrival there. This stallion belies his age - he looks so well and could easily be mistaken for an in-work competition stallion - a credit to the Klatte family and their staff. Australian, Nikki has charge of the stallion barn and she has been there for some 15 years and I suspect it is the love of Argentinus that keeps her so far from home. Argentinus quite obviously expects to be given adulation on entry to the stallion barn and he is hard to ignore - David then continued our tour throughout the stallion barn and we were introduced to all of the "boys" and it is an impressive lineup of breeding lines and stallions whose names are synonymous with success at the highest levels of showjumping and dressage.

We did not take photos in the stallion barn as we felt that this is their "private space" and we did not want to intrude - and that is how it felt - this is very much the "boys club" and they enjoyed the visit but I suspect were pleased to have their privacy back when we all left.

But take the time to visit the Klatte Zuchthof web site by clicking here - it is well worth the time.

David was fantastic showing us around the place and our thanks to his boss Henrik for allowing him the time to do this - as he was busy being "tour guide" we did not get photos of Dave on horseback - but I can assure everyone at home that he has some very classy showjumpers that he works and competes and when we chatted about the experience Dave was quick to tell us how different it all is to home!

Aside from the obvious differences in language and culture, the shows are run to clockwork timing and the numbers of entries are huge - it was interesting as Dave and Scottie Barclay, based in Ireland at Kill International Equestrian Centre discussed the enormous differences they are both experiencing away from Australia.

As I listened to them chat it became clear just how much both these young men have learned and it also became very clear that they are driven by the desire to compete on equal footing with their European

counterparts. We all have enormous admiration for Dave who arrived in Germany with not a word of German in his repertoire and just 4 short months later he is very close to fluent and certainly understands when Henrik is coaching him as he works horses - this is a huge achievement in such a short time. Both Scottie and Dave have shown the quality of their riding by being given horses to train and compete such a short time after their arrival in the respective countries but they both have had to accept the everyday chores which have to be done as well - Dave is also expected to muck out the boxes and hay the horses as well as working them but this is all part of a professional yard where the horses are stabled full time - and of course there is the shared chore of "poo pickup" in the arena - this is the job everyone hates the most but everyone from the boss down to the newest member of staff have to do their share of this job - and it is highly technical I might add! Due to the high cost of the amazing surfaces in these indoor arenas the trick is to get as little surface as possible while getting all the droppings picked up - as the photo below right shows "Dave has mastered this task well!"

Dave will be coming back to Australia for Christmas and hopes to be returning to Klatte Zuchthoff in the new year to continue his training and after seeing the place and the quality of the horses it is hardly surprising that he wants to return.

You could not find a more idyllic setting I don't believe anywhere in the world - the first thing you notice when you arrive at the entrance is the peaceful quietness - there are no blaring radios, the birds twitter happily in the trees and you hear the sounds of horses all around you - the mares and foals in the fields, the stallions in their majestic "palace grounds", the competition horses in their newly built barn - the peace is sometimes broken by the sounds of the building works going on as the new Indoor and barn are in their finishing stages - but somehow even this is done with discretion.

The barns have the beautiful German handcarvings above the entrances and the greenery grows in controlled wildness on the outside walls, all adding to the beauty of the place. These photos do

not do justice but they will give you an idea of the beauty of the environment in which Dave works each day.

Above left and right we see the nearly completed competition barn with the fabulous and huge sunlights to make sure this is not a dark and miserable place - it is a "horse friendly" environment with big safe boxes where horses are content to be, if they can't be in the field which would obviously be their preferred option!

We spent a lovely afternoon as guests of the Klatte family in their home where we all talked of breeding, horse management and competition horses over fresh coffee and German afternoon treats and it was interesting to hear Henrik say that if they had their choice they would rather have ALL the horse living outdoors as they do in Australia, but the climate and land space in Europe simply does not allow for it and so they try to make the horses living areas and work areas as pleasant as possible which is fabulous to see.

Pictured left is Henrik Klatte, Dave's trainer and mentor with a 3 year old Argentinus gelding which is beginning his career - he is such a handsome young horse, with a wonderful mind - we fell in love with all these youngsters and it is lucky that jumpingaround.com do not have land in Ireland or I suspect we would have taken many of the Argentinus/Grannus progeny home - they are too lovely to ignore!

We were also lucky enough to see the lovely young
Donnerhall Dressage stallion, Dr Doolittle, pictured below right, going through his paces - he is very impressive for a 5 year old stallion in his behaviour and movement and no doubt there will be much heard of him in the years to come - our photo does not do justice to him.
And then it was time for the jumpingaround.com crew to head back to Ireland and I am sure I saw just a hint of a sad eye from Dave as he waved off his "English speaking pals" - it should never be underestimated what a big thing Dave has done - to move to the other side of the world is tough enough, but to do so to a country where they drive on a different side of the road, speak a different language and eat different food is even tougher - and think of Dave when at the end of a tough day riding and having to listen to training in German and to

have to respond in German he comes inside to put his feet up and relax in front of the TV and it is all in German as well! Requires a certain kind of dedication - and it is this type of dedication which will see Dave make it in the tough world of showjumping in Europe.

But Dave did let it slip that he watches The Simpsons because he has seen every episode and so even though it is in German he knows the jokes and can have a laugh!

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