Competition Horses

KOYUNA SUN MAGIC

Photo from Sydney International 3DE 2004 by Julie Wilson

Photo by Jenny Barnes

‘Fox’ was bred by Howard & Darren Clark of  Koyuna Stud and purchased in early 2001 as a 4yo. Although by nature a rather suspicious fellow, Fox is a surprisingly bold horse to ride and possesses a quality jump. He has excelled in the Showjumping arena where I believe he has the ability to compete at the highest level though Eventing is our main focus.

2005 was a huge year for Fox; a steep learning curve in his first season of Advanced progressed him through to a pleasing 3rd place at the World Cup Qualifier at Werribee.
His Spring season was then highly successful with a close victory at the Sydney International Horse Trials followed by Australian Team representation in the Trans-Tasman Challenge at the Adelaide International 3DE 4* where he finished 6th individually with his best ever dressage score and clear cross country and showjumping rounds.

Photographs by Barbara Thomson

Elite listed for the Aachen World Equestrian Games in January 2006, Fox made a promising start to the year with a win in a 1.3m class and runner up in the prestigious Futurity class at the Tempo Showjumping Classic at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre.However, an unfortunate run-out marred an otherwise super Cross Country run at the Melbourne International Horse Trials in June which served as the all important final selection trial for WEG. Although Fox did make the Australian Squad to travel to Germany, he was not selected to compete.The CCI**** at the Burghley Horse Trials 2 weeks later was still a good second option but it too just wasn't to be when Fox sustained a minor injury in the field the week prior to the event. Fox then returned to Australia in November, recommenced work and finished the year off with a session with German dressage trainer, Martin Plewa who had been on the Ground Jury in Aachen. 2007 plans include a trip to the USA for the Rolex Kentucky CCI****.

2007 - 2008 in pursuit of Olympic selection for the Beijing Games, Fox made the trip to Kentucky CCI**** April 25 - 29th along with Heath Ryan & his Adelaide winner, Flame. Despite some trials & tribulations of travel and an over-reach just days before Trot-up contributing to a disappointing dressage (57.6, which I feel did not reflect his improvement in that phase) he absolutely excelled over the Cross Country course to be the first horse to complete both clear and under time. A testing Show Jumping track with a very tight time limit followed with only the "pony" Theodore O'Connor completing a double clear of those combinations in contention. This is where Fox should have excelled and pulled up to 2nd with a double clear, but disappointingly, we failed to deliver having a rail at fence 5 and then riding too defensively for 3 time faults that dropped us down to finish 6th. Clayton Fredericks flew the Australian flag high to win the prestigious Event from ex-Aussie, Phillip Dutton & Connaught.

2008 Olympic Selection Trials
For Fox again it was so near and yet so far. He did a dressage test that I felt showed off his paces and training improvement, but it did not please the International or Australian Judges, being marked down for being too tight in the neck, lacking softness / self carriage and the score of 54 basically ended his Olympic campaign. The fact that he completed clear cross country with only 4 time faults (3rd fastest) and double clear Show Jumping to finish 4th between my mare Shine in 3rd and Dancer (also double clear SJ) in 5th was not enough to salvage what was seen as a dressage weakness.
Because the final selection Trial at Sydney did not finalise the selection process, all Aust. based combinations were required to also run at Melbourne Three Day Event 6 weeks later. At this second chance for Fox he performed much better in dressage to score a competitive 45, scorched around Cross Country with no known hick-up, double clear, but had sustained a cut along his coronary band that was too painful to present for Show Jumping and therefore put an immediate end to our Olympic Dream.