Linda Smink reports from the 2018 Australian National Dressage Championships
2018 Australian National Dressage Championships
Judy, Clearview Francesca and myself headed off to Boneo Park Equestrian Centre on the 11th October 2018 to compete in the Australian National Dressage Championships. Clearview Francesca is relatively new to competitions but we knew she would handle this with the mature attitude that she has. We set sail with Francesca all prepped and ready to travel over on the Spirit. Francesca travelled like a dream and arrived at Boneo Park full of energy. Having the opportunity to secure Francesca in a small paddock ensured us that Francesca would be comfortable at this event. Arriving early allowed us all to settle in and ease into the huge competition that was about to happen.
Francesca had plenty of time to become familiar with her surroundings and I was looking forward to competing in the Novice and Elementary in the coming days. We had a great team atmosphere from fellow Tasmanian competitors and everyone pitched in to assist anyone who needed help.
I competed in the Novice tests on the Thursday with pleasing results. Francesca performed well both in the warm-up arena and in the competition arena with some lovely work. She handled the atmosphere with ease and the wet going on the arenas were no drama to her.
Elementary on the Saturday produced more pleasing results. Francesca stepped up for the challenge and performed two great tests. The going was extremely wet on the Saturday and Francesca had a slight hiccup in the second test as she was becoming a little tired. Extremely stoked with my results on the Saturday as she is very new to this level and we were up against some beautiful and professional horse and rider combinations.
This experience has been amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Francesca has proven herself to be a mature, young horse who has the ability to go a long way with further education to become stronger in her work. This experience has inspired me to work harder and to continue to improve.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to represent the State in such a big competition and I hope to continue to represent the State, improving on my performance each time.
Linda Smink