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‘Where Tomorrow’s Champions Are
Made’ is the motto of the Australian
Sports Pony Registry Inc and our
annual Victorian Pony Challenge held
on the 1st and 2nd August commenced
with classes true to our motto, the
4 and 5 year old Young Ponies. While
numbers in the classes were not
large, the willingness of riders and
owners to present their youngsters
in these classes bodes well for the
future. Accredited judges Chris
Sievers and Moya Jess assessed the
ponies for the important attributes
of correctness of movement and
training according to the training
scale.
Ponies in the 4 year old Material
class are scored for their walk,
trot, canter, general impression and
conformation. The first group to
work was the New Forest Pony
stallion, River Valley Sultan (Kapeta
Faro/River Valley Picnic) owned by
Hipwell Bros. and trained by Liz
Alexander, the Riding Pony gelding
View Bank Barista (Wedgenock
Coffeepot/Viewbank Bijou) owned and
ridden by Nirelle Somerville and the
part Arabian pinto mare Raven Lodge
Aura (Raven Lodge Born Brave/Goldluma
Allure) owned and ridden by Lisa
Hocking. With a few hiccups from a
couple of them near the scary judges
table, the riders handled their
mounts well. Following the ridden
test, the ponies returned for the
conformation judging.
The second group was the Welsh
D/Thoroughbred cross mare, Murrong
Skyla (Barnon Mikardo/Murrong
Rosey’s Daughter) owned and ridden
by Lauren Britton and the Riding
Pony mare Halcyon Scandal (Royalwood
Scallywag/Springfield Sonata) owned
and ridden by Rebecca Richards.
This class was kindly sponsored by
Stallions at Stud, the winner
Murrong Skyla was presented with a
beautiful trophy rug and rosette in
the SAS colours of black and gold, a
prize that I am sure they will
treasure in the years to come. This
mare showed great potential with
impressive forward movement. |
