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EQUESTRIAN VICTORIA
NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 6 | 2019

With our focus on consolidation and building for the future, I wanted to share with you some of the activities we are undertaking, and resources we are investing in over the next year, as well as reflect on some of our recent achievements.

I continue to support our Board which is leading several important projects across the organisation and as always, it is a great honour when I get to spend time with our members at different events and gatherings.  We have such a passionate and dedicated equestrian community here in Victoria and I look forward to continuing the work we have started and providing value to our membership.

Matthew Brown | CEO 

YOUR SPORT YOUR VOICE

📷: One Eyed Frog Photography

We believe that to continually improve the services and support we offer to our community we need to first understand what it is our community wants, needs, dreams of and values.

To do this, we will shortly be conducting an extensive, three-phased, stakeholder engagement to

1. firstly, listen to you, then
2. review what you said and finally
3. provide key themes, priorities and recommendations so that Equestrian Victoria can implement improvements in areas such as communications, events and membership management.

I encourage you to get involved in this process at every opportunity, so that your voice helps to inform the future activities or our sport.  More information will be available in the coming months.

AROUND THE STABLES

📷: Lucy Moreton Photography

INTERSCHOOLS

Developing the Interschools program is a key focus for EV over the next three years.  With financial support from both the Victorian Equestrian Interschools Series (VEIS) and Sport & Recreation Victoria (SRV), we have already started to implement recommendations from the 2018/19 review of the structure and delivery of our Interschools program. 

These recommendations include realignment of the administrative structure, additional resourcing, creating a digital strategy to better connect members, affiliating with School Sport Victoria and other improvements.

JUMPING

Together with Jumping Victoria, we are working to bring the Show Jumping community greater competition experiences and opportunities.  Linking to EV’s Strategic Plan 2019-2022 Sports Development Pillar, and responding to the findings of our Jumping research (already published to members), a range of Strategic Initiatives have been developed with Jumping Victoria Chair, Clint Rose and his team. These initiatives will be the focus of the JV Committee and fall under three priority areas:

1. More Officials, More Training
2. Harnessing the Use of Technology
3. Supporting Our People to Live their Equestrian Dream

DRESSAGE

The Dressage committee, led by Julia Battams, has been developing its strategic direction. One exciting development is that the State Championships have been rebranded back to the “Dressage Festival” to honour the discipline's history and really celebrate all things dressage.

At the same time the DV Development Squad has been reinvigorated and had its first clinic in early August at Werribee. Further information regarding the DV Development Squad can be found on our website: Pryde's EasiFeed Victorian Dressage Development Squad 

SHOW HORSE

There have been some recent changes within the Show Horse Committee with Mitch Fox handing the reins over to Peter Heagney in June 2019. I am sure those of you that know Mitch, will be well aware of his commitment to the discipline and he leaves  Show Horse in a great position. Thank you very much for your service Mitch!

Peter has hit the ground running and is firmly focussed on continuing the great work that has preceded him and continuing support for the clinics and events that are enjoyed by the Show Horse membership. One such initiative the committee aims to continue, is providing the great opportunity for young people to gain access to quality coaching, at heavily subsidised rates, through the Show Horse clinic programme.

Another exciting development, and one that looks to the future, is the establishment of a Show Horse “Junior Committee” made possible due to the passion of our younger members during the Equestrian Victoria Young Rider Weekend – it’s great to see tomorrow's leaders getting engaged today!

EVENTING

Janet Houghton and team continue to be focused on development squads with record numbers registering in 2019. Already 2 squads have been run with additional squads scheduled for September, November and January.

At the same time the Horse Trials 2019/2020 Eventing Calendar is underway, having already opened with Mildura Horse Trials and with the Spring Horse Trials in early September. Check the EV website for further event information.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

One of the greatest strengths of the equestrian community is the camaraderie that is shown, enjoyed and built upon at the various events throughout the year. 

To that end, I am especially delighted to reiterate our announcement from the recent Equestrian Victoria Awards night and advise that the support provided by the Racing Victoria Off the Track Program has been increased and extended. The program now includes an additional 11 Jumping specific events, in addition to a suite of other Equestrian Victoria events across all disciplines throughout the year. This is a tremendous development for our organisation and our members.

Events continue to be a strong focus for the organisation – in conjunction with our commitment to building a schedule that supports our membership.  As we look to align aspects of our event calendar, we have, with the support of the Jumping Committee, moved the Jumping Victoria State Titles towards the end of the “season”. The event has now been scheduled in late March 2020 and book-ended by the 2020 Dressage and Jumping with the Stars and the EV Interschool State Championships.

Equestrian Victoria is also hosting the Dressage Amateur Owner Rider (AOR) Championships in September and this will be the first time Victoria has hosted the event. The event is being held at Boneo Park and promises to be a great event under the guidance of Lizzy Schirmer and the Victorian AOR Committee.

EQUESTRIAN'S NIGHT OF NIGHTS

The annual EV Awards were held on the 20th July, at the stunning Bourke Street RACV Club, where 360 of our equestrian community members turned out in style.  So much style was there in fact, that a selection of our photos made it into the social pages of the Herald Sun.

Congratulations to all nominees, winners and everyone who took part in the night.  A huge thank you to our event sponsors and everyone who supported the awards. Check out the EV Facebook page for all the action.

FACEBOOK ALBUMS

At the 2019 Equestrian Victoria Awards, we were privileged to induct William McLellan 'Mac' Greaves into the Equestrian Victoria Hall of Fame.  The award was presented to Sue Greaves, Mac's daughter, and introduced by Peter Heagney.

📷: L to R Our winners: Show Horse - Ava Halloran, Dressage - Amy Bachmann, Eventing - Ella Smith and Jumping - Emily Stirling

Young Rider of the Year – The Riders' Perspective

What's it like to be a part of the Young Rider of the Year awards? Four of our finalists write about their experience.

DEVELOPMENT AT WERRIBEE PARK

Further to the announcement late last year about the $500,000 Community Sport Infrastructure (CSI) funding from Sport Australia to redevelop the jumping arenas at Werribee Park, we are pleased to confirm that we are working closely with a dedicated Development Committee to move the project forward, while keeping the development consistent with the facility Master Plan work we have recently reported on. Rest assured we will keep you informed every step of the way.

CE & SSTA 2019 COURSE

The CE & SSTA 2019 Course was held on 22-23 July at WPNEC and was facilitated by Darryl Durnham (Optimum Edge) and our Victorian Coach Educator, Susan Chandler.

Day 1 was a practical day and we thank all of the demo riders that attended and participated in Intro & Level 1 Horse Management, Riding.

Day 2, Darryl Durham – Coach and Officiating Education Specialist from Optimum Edge, discussed how to assess, the different styles of assessing and tools for assessing.

After a short presentation, coaches were asked to do a self-reflection. Strategies were then discussed on how best to improve, followed by Group work and an overview on Presenting and Assessing.

Thanks to all of the Coaching Committee in Victoria for making it possible for this course to go ahead.

CURRENT SQUAD MEMBERS ANNOUNCED

Squad members for the 2019/2020 Squads have been announced.

VOLUNTEERS AT TOKYO

Volunteers have always been the life blood of Eventing simply because we cannot run an event without them. We are lucky in Victoria that we have a willing workforce that helps us out at all our Horse Trials both big and small.

Sixteen Victorians are taking it to the next level by heading to Tokyo to help out with the Tokyo 2020 Test Event. The volunteers include members of the Victorian Eventing Committee, MI3DE, Camperdown, Candlebark, Ballarat & Geelong Horse Trials. We are looking forward to gaining some firsthand knowledge of the Equestrian Venues for next year.

Stay tuned for a full report!

SHOW HORSE HAPPENINGS

Show Horse Victoria has conducted 2 of its 3 winter clinics with the third to be held this Sunday, August 18. 

Combined Measuring day - 100 plus horses were measured at Werribee in July.  Members were able to get measured for SHC and RAS as well as EA.
 
Show Horse Nationals December 2019 at Werribee Park, will be an event not to forget.  Keep your eyes on the website so that you don’t miss out on a ticket.  The social scene will be active this year with the OTT Fashions and Ridden classes competing under lights on the Friday night.
 
Summer Show 2020 is booked and getting busy, with many breeds already booked in.  It is January 11th and 12th and will be a breeds spectacular.  Programs will be posted on the website as they become available.

PRYDE'S EASIFEED VICTORIAN DRESSAGE DEVELOPMENT  SQUAD

Congratulations to those chosen for the 2019/2020 Pryde's EasiFeed Victorian Dressage Development Squad.

National Jumping Rules:

"Horse Competition Licenses must be returned to the relevant State Office at annual renewal time to be validated by the State Office against the database".

JUMPER JUDGE DASHBOARD TRAINING DAY

The Jumper Judge Dashboard Training Day for our affiliated Jump Club Representatives ran on the 27th of July.The informational training seminar saw many of our attendees keen to try out the JJD software at the up and coming competitions.

The training day, in line with the Jumping Victoria Strategic Advisory, contributed towards the evolution of technology and consistency across Victorian jumping events, by providing a simplified entry and scoring system for jump clubs and enabling the capturing of performance data.

WINTER SQUADS

Strathmerton Drilling Junior and Young Rider Squads hosted its final winter squad training weekend before the 2019-20 Jumping season kicks off.  Jumping Victoria would like to thank sponsors Strathmerton Drilling and Black Horse Clothing for supporting this amazing program, providing opportunity for our High Performance and Development riders – not forgetting our Squadettes. 

The program would also not be possible without the expertise and dedication of our fabulous coaches. Thank you to our State coach Brook Dobbin, Development coaches Adam Wootten, Amy Strapp, Adam Prime and Jervaise Prime and Squadettes coaches Cindy Morrison and Emily Hill.

Thank you to the parents who help support this program with special mention to our catering support team Cathy Grant, Jo Hayhoe, Matt Wade, John Pearce and Ed McNair. A special thanks to our Squad photographer Cheryl Heynemann. 

We would also like to thank Geelong SJ Club, Northern Vic SJ Club and Goulburn Valley SJ Club for the generous hire of their equipment.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Jumping Victoria is hosting a Junior and YR Show on the 5th and 6th October. We will host a range of classes including the Trans Tasman Challenge with New Zealand bringing both a Junior and Young Rider team to compete against our State Junior and YR teams. Stay tuned. Program to come out soon.

We welcome Driving Victoria to their first  EV Newsletter.

We congratulate Ruby Lawrence on her win at the recent EV Awards. Ruby was the inaugural Driver of the Year and we were not only thrilled by her win, but also to take part in such a fantastic event.

THE FUTURE

As a committee, we would like to invite any interested parties who would like to complete training/workshops/accreditation for EV Driving as stewards, judges, course designers, officials etc.

We hope to be running these in Victoria in the future. We would also welcome any accredited persons eg Dressage Judges, Vets etc who would like to be part of events
for driving in the future.

You can keep up with what is happening in EV Driving by liking our Facebook Page.

ACTIVE CLUB GRANTS

VicHealth have announced that the next round of VicHealth Active Club Grants are now open.
 
Around $500,000 in funding is available to help grow grassroots women and girls’ sport & social sport programs!

NATIONAL UPDATES & NEWS SNIPPETS

For all the latest news from Equestrian Australia, please visit the EA Website.

Don't miss an event
Check out the EV Live Online Calendar

The EV Website has an Online Calendar to keep you up to date across all disciplines. There's also a handy list of upcoming Major Events conducted by Equestrian Victoria, including links to event websites.

If your Club event is not on the online calendar, please let the appropriate sport coordinator know or email comms@equestrianvictoria.com.au .

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