So what do you do when you’re living on a farm, and surrounded by horse lovers, but secretly…. well maybe it’s not that much of a secret …
Last time I rode I was terrified!
Scared to buggery of them!
They are rather imposing creatures, and since I was never really introduced to them as a child – when you have no fear – I am pretty intimated by the beasts now!
So what’s the solution to conquering your fears – face them head on!
Or alternatively spend an entire weekend surrounded by them.
This weekend I was treated to … horses, and for someone who is very unappreciative of the sport of dressage what better way to introduce yourself than to see the cream of the crop!
And for face-to-face interaction, how about stewarding a country show??
Friday 30th April
Wakey wakey! Off goes the buzzer at 5.30 am and of corse I roll over straight back to sleep only to awakened by a very excited Rhoo 10 minutes later. You have to literally drag yourself out of bed at that time in Lorne because it is freezing! Artic gear is a necessity! A few cups of coffee later and we bundle into the car for the long drive to Sydney.
Of corse a driving compilation must be made!
We arrived at Hornsby station so that I could hop out and catch the train to central, where the mad old tramp, there’s always one, was singing and growling to everyone on the train!
I managed to escape the old coots gnashes and jumped out and headed to Sidebar, where I preceded to meet up with George, Will and Immy. Cue lots of drinking and photo taking…
Saturday 1st May
Rise and Shine, its 6am!! 7 women and 1 bathroom, not a good mix at all!! Well chaos would be the best description! But once everyone was spruced up, and we managed it within the hour, shower time included, bravo to us! We hopped into the car and made our way to the CDI.
The CDI (Concours de Dressage International) is an international dressage event. Basically the horses dance! For technicalities sake, and because I am not a natural horse speaker, please click here for more information.
But basically it’s beautiful! As soon as the VIP section opened, ‘yes darling’ we settled in to some delicious Danish pastries and great coffee, and Monie explained to me the finer points of dressage. We watched the warm ups in the morning and then went shopping, for horse gear. So no Dad, I did not spend too much money 
Luckily I began to understand the rudiments of dressage just as the evening show was about to begin, so after a mad dash to the toilets to change into our finery, we settled into amazing seats (right behind the judges at C, best seats in the house!) and sat and relaxed back.
It was incredible, and my description won’t do it justice, so here’s a video of the winner of the night…
Sunday 2nd May
After 2 hours sleep, well it was a long drive to the Gunnedah show, and singing away at the tops of our lungs to great music we finally arrived. I was allocated to steward for Rachael Clarke, a very talented horseman herself, as she judged. It was a pretty breezy day, sitting in the sun, giggling away with Rach and quizzing the handsome Farmer Jim who was a fellow steward.
Overall, a fantastically horsey weekend.
Next step… riding one!
