Another gate crasher from UDBB

[ThursdayNext]

Hi. I'm new here and would like to introduce myself.

I too am a refugee from the UDBB and am known both here and there as ThursdayNext. At the moment, I'm a grad student living in the Boston area. I'm 38, single, with one cat and one sometimes sound-often lame Quarter Horse. Mostly I try to keep the horse together with spit and duct tape and baling twine while pretending to do dressage and trail ride. I grew up eventing and riding off-the-track Thoroughbreds on the West Coast but am now on the East Coast, which is a completely different world. I have been riding for 25 years, but I've had the same horse for 10 years. We have been through a lot together and I adore him.

I joke about pretending to do dressage, since it's impossible to progress far with a horse that is struggling with lameness issues, but I am fortunate for the first time in all these years to have access to really wonderful dressage instruction. I have also been able to occasionally ride upper level schoolmasters, which is exciting, since I'm used to riding greenies and "problem" horses. I have a long ways to go, but I'm enjoying the journey.

When I'm not riding, I like to hike, backpack, and kayak. And I'm a bit of a nerd. I don't watch TV, but I'm an avid reader.

Thank you all for your hospitality! I look forward to getting to know everyone.

[ann]

Welcome, ThursdayNext

It's great to have you and the others here, to help balance the predominantly Queensland presence. Just ask if we are incomprehensible in some of our language.

Aren't those lessons that leave you on cloud nine just wonderful? It's what keeps most of us in the sport, I think, when you consider what we put up with most of the time. ;)

I have a friend from another message board (nothing to do with horses) that keeps a horse at a barn in Virginia. It seems to be a very expensive sport in the eastern US.

[ThursdayNext]

Thanks, Ann!

You're right: The Northeastern U.S. is very expensive. I think it's the real estate prices. My board is almost as much as my rent at the moment. Still, it's fun to watch lessons and cheer everyone else on. And then there are those occasional cloud nine lessons too. :) They make everything worth it.

What's it like to keep horses in Australia? Is it a small crowd? Does everyone know each other? We're a bit spread out here.

[ann]

Most people who have horses here keep them at home, although there are what we call agistment properties, which are the equivalent of your barns.

In Queensland, the dressage people are mostly based close to the coast, and we have 33 clubs that conduct official (i.e. grading) events. Most of these clubs and members are clustered here in SE Queensland. We have a State Championships in October, which is basically the end of the main competition season, which start in March. It's too hot between October and March to do much with the horses.

Most years we have a CDI-W, but this year we missed out as we couldn't get a venue and organising committee together to run it. Next year we hope to have one, because it's a bit hard on the local horses having to traipse to Melbourne and Sydney several times a year to qualify.

The biggest peeve we all have is that there is no world-class venue for major events. The local branch of the EFA (our national federation) is in discussion with the State Government, but they keep dragging their heels. There is money set aside to build one (or upgrade an existing facility) but nothing gets done. In the meantime, we try to do it on the cheap at reasonably good but not-quite-good-enough venues.

Most people know each other, and events are pretty friendly places. I usually take photos, and it is usual when one rider is leaving the competition area around an arena and another is entering, to wish each other well. We're not a moneyed area, so most people own their own horses, and train them themselves with weekly lessons from a professional. It's not an environment that really encourages Dressage Queens. Some of the studs have professional riders, of course, but these are often locals anyway.

[Adele]

And you take that, you 1/4 it and you get us dressage people in NZ... where everyone generally knows everyone.... kind of thing & even less professional riders & even less professional trainers/instructors!

[clanter]

The biggest peeve we all have is that there is no world-class venue for major events. The local branch of the EFA (our national federation) is in discussion with the State Government,...

Well we can print ribbons ...how about a Southern Hemisphere Championships ...or better yet would be the First Inter-Gallic Universal Championship... we can send out invites to the other planets

[Adele]

The biggest peeve we all have is that there is no world-class venue for major events. The local branch of the EFA (our national federation) is in discussion with the State Government,...

Well we can print ribbons ...how about a Southern Hemisphere Championships ...or better yet would be the First Inter-Gallic Universal Championship... we can send out invites to the other planets







You talking about your home land their clanter? you reckon they would travel this far?

[clanter]

You talking about your home land their clanter? you reckon they would travel this far?

I think we could drag in a few...

Adele take care on that road trip