Team Sunburst Open Day

The Team Sunburst Open Day, aimed at showcasing the equestrian services my business offers including online training, was held on Australia Day, January 26. Beautiful weather and a schedule that ran smoothly made for a great day!

Wendy did demonstrations and instruction in all 3 disciplines of the Eventing Sport. Fortunately the headset speaker system hired for the day worked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting with the Dressage phase, Wendy rode "Zorro" a 14yo warmblood x TB who I had been recently schooling for her sponsor, Jo Schnieder from Animal Therapeutics Online. Zorro had recently won and placed 3rd in his Medium tests at the Dressage Club of SA twilight meeting so he was the most experienced horse for Wendy to ride on the flat. He was also the most spooky! Throughout the warm-up and work session Zorro took varying degrees of offense to the numerous sponsor signs that had placed around the arena which gave Wendy an ideal opportunity to show that horses are not machines and that rider's often have to work with their minds as much as their bodies. I reiterated the importance of maintaining a rhythm and line or returning a horse to your rhythm and line as efficiently and harmoniously as possible as the case may be! 

Zorro Dressage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMsCcItMk6w & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0gcYk1e1LE

After taking questions from the audience, which included the training of changes with horses who weren't as naturally inclined to change as Zorro, I then instructed my working student, Rachelle Verma on my young 4yo, Smokin' Sun. A big, gangly youngster, 'Bertie' is at the stage where he needs to focus on staying in front of the rider's leg, taking his head and neck out and down. Rachelle did a great job, especially his first transition into canter where he stayed both forward and round! Discussion from this session revolved around the need to firstly train such big horses to move their shoulders in order to be rideable as they are too big to 'man-handle!' Square turns using the outside rein on the horse's neck in a 'neck rein' technique then sending them forward from both legs was advocated. 

Bertie Dressage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSSv9Dd53nE

An autograph signing session and general discussion then followed to enable spectators to learn about the Team Sunburst Support Group concept and view the interactive Team Sunburst Members portal on the soon to be released revamped Sunburst Equestrian website set up on a large Computer screen in the stables. A feature of Team Sunburst Support Group Membership is exclusive access to a monthly training article and newsletter, a weekly blog and video links of Wendy's training and competition in the lead-up to London. Many thanks to Jo Schneider, Wendy's sponsor from Animal Therapeutics Online, who has not only taken us into the modern world of dynamic websites but has arranged a sponsorship with DVE, an IT company of which she is an Associate Director. 

Two Jumping sessions on the arena were the next feature of the day where Wendy rode both her 6yo warmblood cross, "Sunhill Surprise" (by local stallion Glenrose Dionysus, from Cor de la Bryere lines) and her 5yo warmblood cross "Delamerie Sun" by Majestic Supreme (Souvenir lines). She went through a series of exercises which then led to a jumping a course of fences which Wendy stated was what these horses needed given they were Jumping in competition the next day. Wendy described the techniques she used to prepare both her horses and herself to jump, namely suppling exercises on the flat followed by cantering over poles set up down the long side at 16 (regulation 4 strides) then 20 (regulation 5 strides) paces apart. She then jumped a cross pole in one direction a couple of times before changing rein to jump the cross pole the other way which was then related to a small vertical some 24 paces away which was ridden in a steady 7 strides or a more open 6 strides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monty Jumping - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lXjN_sQXfE. This small vertical then became an oxer and once this was jumped satisfactorily (which in Surprise's case took a few attempts to get the desired straightness), Wendy added other fences to form a mini-course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surprise Jumping - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI7ytahIH5U. A full course was built up to after completing many of these mini courses. Wendy stressed the importance of softness in a horse's body being imperative for it to jump successfully stating that a horse's jump was really only an elevated canter stride. Both horses were quite different as types so it was interesting to view the different approaches taken to train them to jump at their best. The main gist of discussion with the audience centred around exercises to discourage the ex-racehorses from rushing their fences. 

Another signing opportunity was given during the lunch break where Wendy signed some A4 photos of her London Olympic Shadow Team Eventing horse, Koyuna Sun Dancer and her Jumping mare, Koyuna Sun Set who is also qualified for the London Olympics. Several items were also made available for tender auction including riding lesson vouchers, Olympic memorabilia from the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics (many thanks to Kirsty Withers, CEO of the SA Olympic Council for these!) and framed, signed photos of Wendy's Olympic Gold Medal horse, Sunburst and her potential London Olympic horses. These items will now be available through an online auction on the new Sunburst Equestrian website in the near future. The Sunburst Equestrian horse truck was also opened up for perusal for interested parties.  

 

The final riding for the day was done out on the Cross Country course which Wendy was fortunate to have built by world-class Cross Country course designer, Wayne Copping (current course builder of the Australian International Three Day Event CCI**** in Adelaide) back in 1998. Commencing at the water jump, this session included some demonstration from Wendy on her young horse "Sun Bright", a 4 yo by Koyuna Genesis (by well know Jumping sire, Brilliant Invader who also sired many of Wendy's top event horses including Koyuna Sun Dancer) as well as instruction. Wendy commenced with walking her young horse down the ramp into the water then turned around and jumped out up a small step before asking 'Legs' to jump into the water down the same small step. She then schooled an arrowhead fence set at the edge of the water jump from dry land - firstly by cantering to the 'wing' then trotting on a steady turn to the 'face' of the arrowhead fence. Legs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POd5JViSw9Y - before jumping it in relation to the small bank out of the water. Wendy then instructed both Fiona Guthrie on her 2* Event horse, "Crocadoo" and Rachelle on "Aussie Sun" a school horse preparing to compete at Preliminary level. These riders jumped a variety of fences in succession, beginning with some smaller options then building on that experience when the horse was deemed to be ready. Repetition of exercises to build a horse's confidence was demonstrated to be an important tool. Wendy then used Rachelle and 'Aussie' as a lead horse to follow when asking 'Legs' to jump out of the water up 2 steps for the first time before repeating the exercise solo. She explained that this was another useful tool she used when teaching. Following Aussie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phEETza8CDs

Deemed a successful day for the first attempt, the Team Sunburst Open Day was a useful 'prototype' which has given us the experience and feedback to do it better next time!