Dressage WA Newsletter

Transcription

1 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 Dressage WA Newsletter February 2015 Inside This Issue 1 Message from the DWA Chair 2 WA Dressage Championships 3 Meet a Committee Member Gill Botten 4 DDF 5 Committee members 6 Meet a dressage rider Chantelle Currey 8 Factsheet - PE Events Welcome to the Dressage WA newsletter. Our aim is to keep all dressage enthusiasts up to date and in the loop with all the dressage news in Western Australia is already shaping up to be a big year with 50 dressage competitions already listed on the calendar. Our State Dressage Championships will be held slightly earlier in the year in 2015 but there are plenty of competitions before the big event. This newsletter will also feature a Meet a Rider and Meet a Committee Member so you know who s who when out competing. And remember, for all your dressage information, tests, rules and results visit Message from the DWA Chair - Gill Botten Welcome to our first newsletter of We hope this newsletter will help riders, judges, officials and spectators to feel more connected with those who administer and oversee the sport in WA. Our committee currently consists of ten members who each have a portfolio to cover within their area of expertise. The committee meets on the last Tuesday of each month. We are very lucky to have a set of people with diverse skills and talents who spend a great deal of time working to improve the sport with such enthusiasm. I feel privileged to work with them. The Way Forward - WA has always suffered from the tyranny of isolation and a small population so we should be very proud of the standard we have managed to achieve here. Sadly many of our top riders have to head to the Eastern States once they reach the higher levels in order to gain valuable experience and training. Hopefully, with an increased population and the importation of some increasingly good bloodlines we will gradually gain some bigger entries at the Grand Prix level here. The Small Tour level entries are the healthiest they have been for a while so hopefully this bodes well for the future. We have a solid base of participant and official riders at the lower levels so we now need to keep this base moving up the grades. We have a very supportive Board, CEO and management team so that now I feel we should be working with them towards making dressage in WA more professional and united. We need transparency and dedication in order to benefit riders and Officials. There are new initiatives for High Performance riders this year which will hopefully create a greater depth of talent and encourage our riders to compete in the East as well as locally. It is exciting to see that DJTF have managed to secure a visit from Stephen Clarke this November so we look forward to the days he has in WA. I think it is very important that there is communication between riders, coaches and officials with their committee through the correct channels so that any problems can be resolved. There is a form for this on the DWA website where we try to answer queries asap. Wishing you all a happy, successful Gill Botten (Chair DWA)

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3 DWA NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 Meet a Committee Member Gill Botten Meet Gill. She s the Chair of DWA, High Performance, portfolio. She was born and educated in the UK and has been married for 39 years. She has two children, two grandchildren, two labradors :Quink and Mumbles, and too many horses to list! I came from a very musical family and was the only one to develop a passion for horses at age 11 so was regarded as a bit odd probably! Finally at 16 I gave away the ballet and spent every weekend grooming for my schoolfriend who was an Eventer. I m very much looking forward to this particular friend coming to visit in March and we will be able to ride together once more. I taught middle school in the UK then came to Australia in 1979 after travelling to Canada, Africa {including a spell living in the Sahara desert) and France. After living in the Swan Valley for ten years we built our current house in Gidgegannup in 1992 and have been here ever since. I completed my Certificate in Equine Management and then went on to teach the course at TAFE for several years. I had a couple of horses that I evented in the eighties but to be truthful I was never very good at it - I used to get lost or jump the wrong jump so I am very pleased that my daughter has proved so much better at eventing than I was! I then had a series of dressage horses, which I competed officially to Medium. I trained with Edgar Lichtwark for many years and my favourite horse was The Prinz-a black Oldenberg who I bought as a two year old. Sadly the horse had to be retired at Medium level but is still retiring gracefully in the hills. I currently have a KWPN horse, which I hope to take out this year; from the day he arrived he completely took over the stables and everyone s heart! I gained my NCAS Level one in 1994 and served on the Taskforce and DWA committees. During the early nineties Lance Ludgate and myself wrote the first BEATS Squad programme and after gaining funding from Healthway the squad was initiated and amazingly has run ever since. It will finally be wound up on 1st February as there are new High Performance initiatives coming into place which will serve the needs of young talented riders. I then decided that a change was in order and went back to work fulltime as a teacher at Perth College, which was full on, but a wonderful place to work. My co- curricular duty was running the school equestrian teams but apart from that the horses took a sideline for a while. In 2005 I took study leave to complete my Masters in Education at Murdoch University. Since then I have gradually become more involved in the Equestrian community again and just do relief teaching at Perth College as well as a spell teaching LLN at Marr Mooditj training. I began my judging career in the early nineties and Wanda Nelson was an amazing mentor. I worked my way up until gaining my A level status in I am looking forward to attending the Dressage with Dreams forum with Stephen Clarke and Mary Seefried in Hagen, Germany this April where we should see some amazing combinations. Top left Gill on Hillain Galaxy, Bottom right Gill on Vision

4 PAGE 4 DWA NEWSLETTER Dressage Development Fund New 2015 Funding Initiatives ***Up to $24,000 available*** What is the Dressage Development Fund? The Dressage Development Fund (DDF) supports development of Dressage in WA. The DDF is a levy paid by riders when a horse/pony enters an Equestrian Australia (EA) approved Dressage Event. The amount paid is based on a number of tests entered. For 2015 the DDF levy is $8 for one test and $14 for two or more tests. The DDF levy is collected by the Dressage event organiser when a horse/pony enters their Dressage Event. At the completion of the Dressage event the event organisers transfer the levy monies to Equestrian Western Australia (EWA) along with the Dressage event results where it is then transferred into a DDF levy account. At the beginning of each calendar year the previous year s DDF revenue is used to fund the succeeding year s priority areas. The percentage of DDF money available each year may vary depending on the previous year s DDF collected revenue. Since the DDF s levy inception the main focus has been on club grants for the purpose to build the necessary infrastructure to host Dressage events. DDF grants have purchased new arena surrounds, sound systems, contributed to arena surface upgrades, construction of new judge boxes at the SEC and to assist with interstate Dressage judge coming to WA. For 2015 the DDF grant process will be allocated to the following 6 priority areas. 1. Judge Education and Training ($6,000) A DDF grant of $6,000 is paid annually to the Dressage Judges Taskforce for the training, upgrading and reaccreditation of Dressage Judges in WA. 2. Stephen Clarke FEI 5* Dressage Judge ($2,000) Securing the services of Mr. Stephen Clarke (UK) Dressage judge will greatly benefit the sport of Dressage in WA. Stephen Clarke is the author of books, DVDs and is a current Olympic and WEG judge will share his knowledge with Dressage judges, riders and coaches through an impending visit to WA in November Stephen Clarke s visit will be conducted by the Dressage Judges Taskforce. 3. Dressage Events in WA ($7,000) DDF grants are available for the following 2015 Dressage events. Master Series Final - $2,000 State Dressage Championship -$4,000 National Qualifier for Young Dressage Horse 2 x $ WA Junior/Young Rider Dressage Championships ($2,000) To promote the future growth of Dressage in WA it is important to provide a pathway for our Junior and Young Dressage Riders. The DWA committee propose to partner with a EWA affiliated organisation or similar to host a 2015 WA Junior/Young Rider Dressage Championship by allocating a grant of up to $2,000 for this event. 5. High Performance Pathway to Australian Dressage Championships ($7,000) It is the vision of DWA to have the cream of WA Dressage combinations compete at the Australian Dressage Championships. To fulfill this vision a grant of $1,000 will be offered to Western Australian (WA) Dressage Championship winners to compete in the same year at the Australian Dressage Championships on the proviso they meet the national qualifying criteria, compete at the Australian

5 DWA NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 Dressage Championships and return to WA within 3 months after the Australian Dressage Championships. Should a WA Dressage Championship winner decline to compete at the Australian Dressage Championships the DDF grant will be offered to the WA reserve champion combination providing they meet the same criteria as stated above. Should a WA Dressage Championship winner not achieve the qualifying scores required to compete at the Australian Dressage Championships the DDF grant will not be allocated. The WA Dressage Champions eligible for a DDF grant to compete at the Australian Dressage Championships include Novice, Elementary, Medium, Advanced, Small Tour, Medium Tour and Large Tour. 6. Dressage WA Administration ($5,500) DWA will continue to administer rider performance medals, specific Dressage awards and make an annual $1,000 payment to Equestrian Australia to host the Australian Dressage Championships. How to apply for a DDF grant Riders or Dressage event organisers who meet the above criteria may apply for a grant post the event by completing the DDF Grant Acquittal Form 2015 which can be found on Dressage Western Australia Committee Members Chair - Gill Botten Vice Chair - Dwight Pedlow Treasurer - Dinah Fleming Finance/Treasury - Dinah Fleming DWA budget management, DDF accounts, purchase orders and payments Issue of Information - Kristy Jarvis Website, blasts etc. Correspondence - Gill Botten/Jo Yacopetti Minutes, Agendas,incoming and outgoing correspondence. Business/Strategic Planning - Dwight Pedlow Sponsorship and Events - Heidi Emery /Rebecca De Vries Including State Championships and Master Series Club Liaison - Bev Leonard Official Liaison - Elaine Greene Judges, Stewards, liaising with other disciplines, national issues. High Performance - Gill Botten EA/EWA - Gill Botten EWA Board and CEO, ADC etc. Riders Representative - Tracy Spackman Includes downgrading applications, Rider s forum etc. Performance Medals/Trophies/Awards - Elaine Greene/Val Mayger DWA Newsletter - Suzanne Simons Handbook - Dinah Fleming Compilation and maintenance Para Equestrian Val Mayger Contact us at

6 PAGE 6 DWA NEWSLETTER Meet dressage rider Chantelle Currey It s been an enormous 2014 for Chantelle and William II as the pair dressage-ed their way to results that neither of them expected. The partnership began in 2013 and quickly went from wins in Advanced classes to wins in Inter 1. With highlights of 2014 including PSG Champion at Swan River Dressage, 3rd in the Inter 1 at the State Dressage Championships (second ever Inter 1 start) and runnerup Small Tour Champion at Henty Dressage. It s going to be an exciting year ahead for Chantelle and William II. Tell us about William II His breeding is Wenkenstern (Hann) x Arabella (Trak) He is a 16 year old black gelding who stands at a gigantic 18hh. His strong points are that he is super reliable and is true gentleman. He s quite a serious horse and is at the top of the pecking order at home. And your experience with a horse that already knew a thing or two - It s been such a big step up to riding a horse that has already done some higher level work. I knew he d provide me a good opportunity to learn but I didn t expect us to click so well together and really become the partnership that we have. Now we are starting to learn things together as we head to the next level. He basically held my hand to get us to FEI level and now together we are stepping up to learn new movements. My dream has always been to get to Grand Prix but realistically I was excited and overwhelmed at the prospect of William getting me to PSG. I never would have believed we would be seriously looking towards Grand Prix together. Short or long-term goals Medium tour in 2015 and then GP in 2016! Your first time in FEI I was very nervous to make the jump to FEI level but it was my dream to do it. All the work that I do and have done, has been to work towards FEI but then getting there was an amazing feeling. It s such a great achievement and so much fun to be so in tune with your horse and there is such a great camaraderie between the riders which is such a comfort because initially it was really really daunting. I guess the thing to remember is that everyone is in the same boat so to speak. Were all working towards the same goal but have different strengths and weaknesses. There s no magic button once you get there either. No matter what level, you re continually needing to work to keep progressing, getting stronger, fitter and more finely tuned. Is it fair to say that your rise to the FEI levels has been quick? - Yes! But I ve been devoted to the work and have been learning as much as I can. I ve trained with Sally Leigh Woods for a year now and she s really helped me bring the best out of William II. Plus the support I get from the other competitors and the chance to learn from them really helps too. I knew there were no shortcuts so am so appreciative of this chance I ve got to learn and am sucking up every bit. Having the support network of my coach plus the other riders is invaluable. Training tips He s such a big horse and that means that I have to pay particular attention to the warm up and cool down and never rush those parts of his workout. My main focus is to work on exercises to strengthen and supple him for each movement rather than drilling the movements themselves. He is also bush ridden regularly and loves the beach.

7 DWA NEWSLETTER PAGE 7 Ideas for dressage in WA I d love to see more atmosphere at shows and really like big two day shows where I get a good opportunity to show William II at his best. Freestyles are always fun and a great opportunity to express yourself the personality of you and your horse. I did a Pro-Am competition at the end of 2014 held by Hills Sports Riding Club. This was a really fun idea and I hope it s better received this year and I encourage more people enter. It was great to meet other riders that you didn t necessarily know well and to be put in a team with them was a nice way to have the opportunity to see how other riders at other levels went. The presentation ceremony was great, being able to canter around with your teammates after being awarded your rosettes. I think more of these type of ideas will bring a bit of enthusiasm and atmosphere to events. It makes it more rewarding for all your hard work.

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