A short while ago a few concerned competitors got together and formed the new "Rider Safety Committee" which was to ensure that all jumps were safe to manouver for horse and rider as there had been some concern over various jumps at some events.

The "Rider Safety Committee" consists of Craig Barrett, Shane Rose, & Stuart Tinney as the riders and Keith Parrish and Neil Kennedy as course builders.

The Open Intermediate water complex at Scone had been of concern to many riders since it's inception several years ago, as they didn't think it rode very safely or flowed well, so this was the first event for the committee to trial.

A few minor alterations had been made to the water complex so it flowed more and enabled the horses to read it better. A log was attached to the entry bank, and more prominent ground lines were painted on the bank in the centre.

However the arrowhead immediately after the water exit saw quite a few horses scraping their undercarriage, although without mishap.

The "Rider Safety Committee" got together with Arnold Martin, the TD, and it was decided that the Apex at jump 6 for the Novice and Pre Novice classes needed to be pulled out as it was deemed unsuitable compared to the options A & B.

Dressage for all classes was completed on the Saturday, as well as the unofficial classes show jumping.

Sunday dawned cool and foggy (as is the norm for Scone in July !) and the cross country phase was commenced by the Pre Novice classes followed by Novice and then the Open Intermediate. The Preliminary classes were last to go as is usual at Scone.

There were a few riders in Unofficial Pre Novice giving their horses a bit of a run before the Sydney International in September, one of which was Nikki Bishop and "Wishful Thinking", who were outright winners in every phase.

On a sad note for Nikki, her young horse "Smokey" had to be destroyed after attempting to run out at the last cross country fence when he hit his leg on the side of the jump and broke it. Condolences to Nikki ....

Danielle Walker had a very successful weekend in the Junior Pre Novice class with a win on "Falcon Poppy" and a 4th place on "Balmoral Barbarino". A great effort - see   photo (right).

Ali White and "Timeless" won the Junior Novice with clear rounds in both cross country and show jumping phases, while Ryan Wood On "Rollmop" dropped back to second place after the best dressage score, to accrue 5 penalties in the show jumping.

The Novice class was won by Fiona Hughes riding "Avendra" on their dressage score of 87, while Jessica Irvine-Brown and "Belcam Aberdeen" took out 2nd place because of a rail down in the show jumping.

Shane Rose and "Its a Knockout" took out the win in Open Intermediate on their dressage score of 79 (beaten only by Heath Ryan and "Flash Fred" on 76), but as he was riding HC, Natasha Shaw and "Kidder" (pictured left) actually got first prize. This combination put in a magnificent effort as they were placed 10th after their dressage, and only accrued a total of 5 penalties on the cross country phase.

Junior Preliminary was won by Timothy Carter riding "Our Southern Boy" on their dressage score of 96.

Scone will be hosting the State Championships in April 2000, so it was good to see the event went well in official classes and all that is left now is more jump building for the hard working committee.

The White's Belltrees property is also hosting the American Olympic Team as a training ground whilst in Australia before competing at the Olympics next year.