Sam Lyle wins the Kevin Dickson memorial trophy and the CNC 2* riding Carson Hill at the Canberra horse trials

Loren Slater, riding her pony Aspen view Firestorm 
Photograph:Fiona Gruen

The friendly organising committee did a brilliant job welcoming over 300 horse and rider combinations. The beautifully presented cross country course designed by Grant Johnson and Ben Smith included  the fabulous new water complex. At all levels the riders needed  to be  accurate and committed, it was clear the x country would  be highly  influential on the final results.

Shane Rose was undaunted and supported by his amazing team,  the Olympian  set out on a mega weekend of competition. His 9 rides kept him busy  in the saddle ,he covered  just over 20 klm of XC and  jumped over 350 both fixed and coloured fences  on the Sunday  alone and won 3 classes at three different levels.

The Adelaide warm up 4* Horseland combined training class saw  superb dressage tests from Shane riding the lovely CP Qualified and Christine Bates on Adelaide Hill, Shane led with a 38.3 penalty test from Christine on 44.3. The final standings after Show jumping remained the same for all 6 riders, Shane was the only rider who  left  all the fences up but had two time, each of the other riders having 4 faults. Taurus, Roses second ride came 3^rd , he had 3 time and 4 in the show jumping and Nat Blundell came 4^th on Algebra having moments of brilliance in her dressage and an unlucky rail in the show jumping.

On Sunday it was all about control, determination and time for  the  x-country phase, the placing’s having a real shake up in the 1* and 2*. The technical and challenging Horseland  CNC 2* saw Sam Lyle and the lovely Carson Hill take top honours jumping clear cross country and show jumping, moving up to win from 8^th after dressage.  Alexandra Wolters-Mannix riding Rassesendon Star be my  love, moved up from 6^th to come 2nd having one  rail show jumping. These two riders were the only cross country  clears, none of the 8 starters made the time and only 4 finished, Hazel Shannon and Clifford came 3^rd  moving up one place after dressage, having a run out x country and show jumping clear. Nat Blundell with Jimmy O Reilly came 4^th moving up from 10^th having also had a stop XC and 1 time show jumping. Sam Lyle also won the Kevin Dickson memorial  trophy winning the class by the biggest margin.

The really tough KNR rubber CNC 1* skinny after the new water complex and a challenging show jumping track built by Brad Longhurst saw a massive shake up in the placing’s. Junior rider Kathleen McGrath and her Shar Amoon EM Su rode a superb clear and under time xc round   and clear show jumping  and  was rewarded by a massive climb from last after dressage  to 5^th. Another local junior Loren Slater and her amazing  pony Aspenview Firestorm took on the challenge in their first 1* and moved up from 20^th to  7^th with an emphatic clear X country and 2.4 time. These two young riders will be ones to keep an eye for the future. Shane took out the top spot on Pumpkin and came 3^rd in the same class on Cage fighter, second went to Phillip Pollen riding the super Highland Lad,  and 4^th for Merran Wallis riding Good Vibes a  super reward for clear and under time  cross country, such a shame about the time penalties in the  otherwise clear show jumping.

The Northrop Consulting engineers Ev A 105cm A and B went to Rebecca Swinton and Over the limit and Shane Rose on Purbeck Diesel respectively.

The Pine Ridge EvA 95cm winners were  junior Georgia Brierly riding Aaranis in  Ev 95cm A and Eva 95cm B  went to Emma Bishop riding CP Issey Miyake winning on her dressage score.

The funky Brew EvA 80 cm went to  Andrew Barnett riding How high Henry finishing on his dressage score. Caleb Lock riding Henry won the Funky brew B

Wallaroo equestrian Jnr EvA 80 cm  saw the top three placing’s remain after the dressage, Justine Blunden taking the honours with the very experienced  Syracuse.

The Main event newcomers EvA  60cm was taken out by local dressage coach Margaret Forster and her locally bred pony Allengreen Medallist. The Wholesale sleeper company newcomers B was won by Chloe Cartwright riding Oaks Othello