A spectacular day at Showfields, Hampton Downs.The weather was perfect and the atmosphere relaxed and friendly as always.

Results:

Manuka Magni: Prelim 1.1  58.18%, Prelim 1.3  65.38%

Manuka Meilekke: Prelim 1.1  62.27%, Prelim 1.3  60.00%

Manuka Southern Cross: Novice 2.2  62.05%, Novice 2.4  63.85%

Arriving at 9am with two young Moschinno horses Manuka Magni (Beema)and Manuka Meilekke (Indy) both just 5 years old, we settled in for a long day ahead.

Manuka Southern Cross arrived seperately with Pippa Dearing having spent the night with his favourite miniature horse friend “Tiny”. He soon got underway and was first up for the day in Novice 2.4 winning this class on a score of 63.85% and coming second in his 2.1 Novice test on 62.50%. This is Southerns first true dressage only test. Pippa also rides Southern at Horse Trials. We are thinking of changing his name to “One Cool Dude” as he was so calm and chilled out all day long.

Photo to come

Manuka Mielekke (Indy) was unbelievable. In her five years she has only ever been off the property twice and never to an event with lots of other horses, trucks and people milling around. she has never seen a dressage arena before. Pippa has been lightly schooling her after she was started late last year. Her first test Prelim 1.1 she scored 62.27% and in her Prelim 1.3 she scored 60.00%. When we arrived we had to move her to Pippa’s truck where she buddied up with another complete stranger. Her attitude was amazing and she enjoyed the atmosphere and behaved impeccably all day.

Cecilia Karlsson rode Manuka Magni for his first ever competition outing. He scored very well and finished 5th in Prelim 1.3 with 65.38%. In his Prelim 1.1 test he finished with a score of 58.18%. He loved the atmosphere and improved markedly between the two tests.  Judges comments on both tests were hugely encouraging. Now that Cecilia and Beema have had their first competition outing they will be back under the tutelage of Bill Noble for their ongoing development.  He will move up the grades as he matures and we have decided that this horse is not going to rushed and we will take our time with his development.

In summary as breeders we were very proud and felt privileged that we could take three horses out to an event and all do well. They all have a similar terrific attutude to work and competition atmosphere, which is a testament to their sire “Moschinno”. This demonstrates to us that the programme of education that we follow at Manuka Sport Horses is proof that it is important to allow young warmblood horses to mature in their own time. This in turn gives longevity to their competition careers.

Thanks to Sonja (photo) our visitor/rider from Germany who has been with us for a short time this year. The horses will miss you and especially “Sugar Pie”. Sonja came to us from Germany where she is a rider and is also finishing her masters degree in population studies at University in Hamburg. She is an asset to any business  - always reliable, trustworthy and great company. We wish you all the very best for the future and a safe trip home.

E haere ra

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