The sun was welcome on Saturday, following overnight temperatures of minus 4
degrees, for the commencement of the annual FEI Dressage Spectacular hosted by Tamworth
Dressage Club. The idea of a dressage competition, this year held over the weekend of
Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th June, devoted entirely to Medium
through to Grand Prix levels was instigated by Lois Peters, FEI competitor and member of
the Tamworth DC. The competition is now in its sixth consecutive year, and in 2001
coincided with the host club's 20th anniversary. Local businesses has been very
generous in providing sponsorship.
The competition venue is the Tamworth
showground, which, to my mind, has some of the best country stable facilities going, with
plenty of clean, safe, roomy rubber lined boxes and an abundant number of wash bays to
stable ratio. The showground proudly boasts an indoor arena where the Prix St Georges
through to Grand Prix tests were held over the weekend.
As well as local riders, the competition
attracted a strong contingent from the Hunter Valley and competitors from as far away as
Queensland. A field of 17 Prix St Georges and 12 Inter 1 competitors provided healthy
competition and should be an encouraging sign to the hard working committee. The Prix St
Georges Freestyle was well supported, with a Medium/Advanced Freestyle, a Grand Prix Kur
and a Keiffer Dressage Leaderboard Qualifier also included in the program.
An anniversary
dinner was held on the Saturday night to celebrate Tamworth Dressage Clubs 20 years
of operation and an invitation was extended to all competitors to attend. Such a fabulous
evening for all horse lovers started with a happy hour, followed by dinner and the
entertainment was provided by Heath Ryan, as guest speaker. Heaths enthusiastic
presentation was focussed on encouraging competitors to aim towards International
competition and portions of his inspiring talk was particularly targeted at the young
riders attending the weekends competition.
Sundays competition was held with much warmer
weather conditions than Saturday, much to the appreciation of competitors and spectators
alike. It was interesting to note the improvement in the overall quality of the riding
from previous years, with some particularly nice tests displayed over the weekend.
The hospitality of the Tamworth people and the
ensuing friendly atmosphere is guaranteed to encourage riders to return to the Spectacular
in coming years. |