This year presented us with some very extreme weather systems, affecting all states at some stage or another! It was a challenging time over winter to continue to offer events and sponsorship, so the committee came up with something a little bit different- and we were thrilled with how well received it was!!
It was decided that we needed to have some friendly competition between the states, and that is how the Battle of the States was originally created. But then the question of how?? Virtual dressage competitions seemed to gain a lot of traction during Covid, and it seems that they might be here to stay, so we decided that is what we would do!
We had so many entries for the dressage, covering Preparatory through to Elementary; and they were some incredible tests. Reading comments from our amazing judge, Liz Tollarzo in WA (who donated her time I might add), we have some very promising dressage horses within our Friesian Warmblood ranks. She also commented on how much fun it appeared so many of the riders were having which is always so incredible to hear. In addition to our Battle competition, we wanted to give something to our family/junior members so we also opened a category (that did not contribute to the State scores) with a specially designed test for our riders 12 years and under. This was sponsored by Kelly Thomas Productions.
Our results were:
Congratulations to all our members, as every State with members registered, ended up being represented! But ultimately, one State managed to take home the goods, winning the highest average score. Well done to:
It has been asked if we will run a similar competition next year; the committee have taken the feedback and suggestions on board so stay tuned for annoucements in 2023!