Sydney International Horse Trials 2015

The 2015 Sydney International Horse Trials was held on the first weekend of May, in conjunction with the Greater Western Sydney World Cup Show Jumping. It was a very busy event with so much to see and do, but unfortunately due to the weather there were not many public spectators. You could call it four seasons in one hour, every hour!


The first day of competition kicked off the dressage phase for all the eventers, the CIC1* show jumping as well as the young event horse competitions sponsored by Wade Equine Coaches.



The winners of the 4 year old young event horse class was Charlie Brister riding Wychwood Just In Time, with Natalie Blundell and Miss Princess coming in second and Christan Traino on Glenhill Geronimo in third.

Soon following was the 5 year old class which was taken out by Kim Leibowitz on Widgee Total Tribute, Natalie Blundell and Noonamah Valentina in second and Marlene Battedou riding Rouge Damour coming in third.

The last young horse event was the 6 year old class, won by the last rider and horse combination Rachael Lee and Amigo, second was Ashley Adams and Tarraleah Kokoda and Libby Lowery riding KL Columbus coming in third.

Straight after was the announcement of the champion young event horse which was awarded to Rachael Lee and Amigo, congratulations to the Lee family and Tarraleah Park.





The second day of the competition is always the most exciting, cross country! The first class out was the 1* followed by the 3* then 2*. The weather was trying all day with heavy rain followed by sunshine only 5 minutes later. This made it very slippery for the competitors with some of the jumps removed from the course due to safety concerns for the riders and horses. The new coffin jump built especially for the SIHT was one of the obstacles removed.
A heavy dourpour right before the 3* competition did not help but all riders were careful and only one fall of horse and rider occured. Both horse and rider waked away unharmed but the cross country track had to be stopped for almost 10 minutes to repair the jump at which the fall occurred.
At the end of day 2 both the CIC1* and CIC2* competitions were over.  1* was won by Sam Lyle riding Satch Hill and 2* by John Twomey and Highly Recommended.



Day 3 brought no rain and even some sunshine for the end of the eventing competition.

After the jumping phase the winners of the CCI1* were SHaun Dillon riding TS Fantasia with Rosanna Choen and The Investigator coming in second and Teegan Ashby on Ipso Facto in third.

The CCI2* was taken out by Hayley Frielick riding My Happiness, Shane Rose on Purbeck Diesel and Tim Boland and Napoleon taking out third.

The CCI3* was a nail biter right to the last rider, but was won by Libby Lowery and KL Kismet with Makayla Wood and Early Days second and Kirsty Douglas and Cuchavon Crackerjack in third.

Once all the eventing presentations were over the next exciting event started, the celebrity challenge! A favourite among competitors and spectators, the celebrity challenge brings together jockeys, eventers and show jumpers with their horses. Jockeys are given horses to jump a small course while eventers and show jumpers go head-to-head in a race around the arena on "race horses". Or shall we say race ponies?

After a few rounds of heats the winner was James Arkins riding the adorable and quick dark brown pony.




It was certainly a jam-packed weekend full of thrills and spills. Congratulations to all the winners and a huge congratulations to the commitee for organising and running such a huge event. I can't begin to imagine the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes, so thank you very much and hopefully see you all next year!