By Brett Parbery

Since our last update, which concluded after Dressage With Altitude in Orange, I travelled to France for a quick horse shopping trip, we completed the Sydney CDI, did some local competitions at Clarendon, and have done a lot of coaching around Australia. Because of being overseas, I was unable to attend Equestrian NSW’s Awards Night where I won NSW Rider of the Year – but Mel and Jake collected the trophy in fine style. The Farrells’ Aber Hallo 29 was the winner of NSW Horse of the Year and Owners of the Year went to Julie, Jane, Greg and Katharine Farrell.

Jake and Mel collect the NSW Rider of the Year Award © Franz Venhaus

The speedy trip to the south of France was for Julie and I to look at a horse. They drove to the top of the mountains behind Nice and for four days tried out Larenso, a Danish Bred chestnut gelding by Laurino.

One the way home I stopped in at the opening of the Tomkinson Dressage Group, located at Hidden Valley, Victoria to conduct the Master Class to support his long time friend Maree Tomkinson. It was a very successful day of dressage and a great event to be involved in.

A week later myself and the team from Mulawa travelled to Dressage With The Stars in Melbourne, Victoria – where one of the highlights was Mulawa's own MI Sirtainly Sir winning the Four-Year-Old Australian Championship, superbly ridden by Kristian Akehurst.

?After Dressage with the Stars, I travelled quite extensively doing clinics all around the country. For the Sydney CDI at the beginning of May, I rode three horses (DP Weltmieser, PPH Zeppelin and Good As Gold), while his number one student Kate Farrell rode Luxor 118. Kate and Luxor had a fantastic debut to the international dressage world achieving a well deserved fifth place in both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle. The Duddys’ Weltmieser placed 7th in the Grand Prix and 3rd in the Grand Prix Freestyle; Zeppelin, co-owned by myself and Helen Batson, won the Prix St Georges National class and Good As Gold, owned by Carolyn Lieutenant and myself, was the Sydney CDI Small Tour Champion. He was also awarded the John Lieutenant Memorial Trophy which goes to the individual horse/rider combination obtaining the best two official scores. Carolyn was, of course, especially delighted as she presented the trophy on behalf of her late husband John.

Good As Gold winning Small Tour Champion © Franz Venhaus

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SPONSORS AND STAFF

Just before the Sydney CDI we announced our new association with Schockemohle Sports which comprises all horse attire – rugs, bridles, boots, bell boots, saddlecloths, bandages, the lot, together with rider attire and casual clothing. We absolutely love working with the team at Schockemohle Sports. Franz Schockemohle and I have been friends for many years and I feels a strong commitment towards helping Franz promote the brand in Australia. We also would like to welcome on board the Equilibrium Products Therapy range. We have used the products for the past 6 months with fantastic results and have finally decided to officially join forces with this wonderful company.

Back at the stables there have been some staff changes in recent months – Stevie has gone back to W.A. to pursue a career in retail and Hilary, our great right-hand girl, is now doing a beauty therapy course in Sydney. Hilary was always regarded as the super turnout person of the team and hopefully she will assist us from time to time at shows.

So now we welcome Sally Middleton from Dorrigo. I know Sally and her family well and Sally is passionate about becoming a skilled dressage rider. She worked for us when she was much younger and has since spent time in an American dressage yard, and back in Australia at NEGS, Armidale. Sally will now be head groom here in Penrose.

Also just starting with us is Rowan Sheridan who formerly worked for four years under the guidance of Andrew McLean at AEBC (Australian Equine Behaviour Centre) and for a year with Warwick McLean in Germany. Rowan will take on the role as stable rider and will be bringing on his own team of horses for competition under our guidance.

AUSTRALIAN EVENTING

My role as Dressage Advisor to the Australian Eventing Team beefs up again this year as we approach the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France. Australian eventing has taken a positive turn in recent times with Sam Griffiths winning Badminton and Paul Tapner placing fourth; Shane Rose won the Sydney Three Day Event with a world class performance so it would be fair to say that we are looking stronger now for a podium finish in Normandy than we did three months ago.

DRESSAGE TASK FORCE

We had another meeting on Saturday May 31 and things are progressing. This group works wonderfully together in developing direction not only for the sport of Dressage but for the entire Equestrian industry. The Task Force reports directly to the Equestrian Australia Board and offers direction for the sport concentrating predominantly on events – together with how to enhance participation at ground level and how to better show off the sport at the top level.

SPONSORS

Some of my clinics are now being attended by Sales Rep Jess Jackson of Pryde's Easifeed who spends time with the participants and explains the importance of a good feeding plan.

This format is working well. There’s no doubt their feed is first class and they never compromise on quality. The efficacy of another of our sponsor’s products was highlighted in Canberra recently. One of the riders said she would never have been able to bring her horse to the clinic without Technyflex – it’s kept her horse sound for years and he is now twenty. Without the wonderful support of our sponsors, we could never achieve our success of recent times. The wonderful supporters of Parbery Performance Horses include the following;

• Pryde's EasiFeed
• Rodd & Gunn
• Casco
• Technyflex Equine
• Equilibrium Products
• Aitkins Saddlery
• Tuffrock

LOOKING AHEAD

Mel is going into the Intermediate Tour with Eddie Blass’ L’Akteur; Good as Gold goes from the Small Tour, also to the new Intermediate Tour; Weltmieser is Grand Prix and Aber Hallo is back at work. Furstin Friendship was successful in her first two Medium tests and will continue the year at that level. Zeppelin will continue to compete in the Small Tour and will hopefully move to the Intermediate Tour by mid 2015. Che de Jeu will continue to be trained at home with a view of medium start towards the end of the year with his rider Steph McDonald. In the next few months we will get to know Larenso and will take him out at medium level towards the end of the year. And we welcome two new long term owners to our team, Susie Clapton and Glenn Fryer, with two magnificent horses. However, above all our main aim is to keep all of the horses and staff sound, happy and healthy. Thank you very much for taking the time to read our update and until next time, happy riding.