The Inter Pacific Rally 2007
On Tuesday the 17th July Josh Sozou, Amy Holland, Ayla McIntyre, our coach ,Anthea Sutherland, chaperone,
Sue Dekaste and I, left Sydney on what was to be an exciting and rewarding adventure of a lifetime.
Things became interesting when we reached Los Angeles. Upon arriving at our departure gate for the Chicago
flight, we discovered that the person at the ticket desk had not printed tickets for Anthea and Josh. By the time
they had rushed back to retrieve their tickets our plane had left with Ayla, Amy, Sue and myself on board.
Anthea and Josh were to spend the next eight hours sitting in LA airport The rest of the team arrived in
Washington at 10pm only to find that we only had 2 bags out of our eight. One was mine and the other belonged
to Josh who was still sitting in Los Angeles airport!
Dee Cook ,who was organised the Washington leg of our tour, met us at the airport and little after midnight I
was collected by my hosts ,the Murphy-Brace family . Kaitlyn Enns, who was a member of the Canadian team
,was also hosted by this warm and generous family.
Early Wednesday morning saw us boarding a bus for our tour of Washington DC. Anthea and Josh had still not
managed to catch up with us , having arrived at 4am and then spent to morning in the airport waiting for the rest
of the bags. The tour of DC was brief but enjoyable and we stopped at the Smithsonian museum where we spent
an hour before heading to the Capitol Building for a tour. We did see many attractions such as the Lincoln
memorial, the White House and the Pentagon from the bus window. The tour of the Capitol Building was
fantastic however jetlag set in and there were a few people fighting off sleep on the bus ride home. The
afternoon was spent in a huge shopping mall and from there we went to Appleby’s restaurant and had our first
taste of American food.
On Thursday we went to a very beautiful property, Waredaca Farm, for the horse selection and Dressage phase
of the horse trials. The lack of horses meant that Australia was only able to draw three horses for our four riders.
One of the horses reared continuously so we returned it to the owner and we were then left with two horses. Our
second horse was lame, however it’s owner was a vet and she tended to his needs. Australia had drawn a rather
small pony which was immediately allotted to me. His name was Keep It Together or KIT. He was only 13hh
and had a rather cute, large white face and two blue eyes. It initially looked as though Amy and I were going to
have to share Kit, however a horse was lent at the last minute and Amy rode her. The USA team also gave up a
horse and Australia then had a full team. This particular competition is run as a scramble team, even though the
horses had been drawn for countries not teams. I was on a team with Ching Tung from Hong Kong, Murray
Riches from New Zealand and Lexi Wilkstrom from USA whilst our coach was Julie Semple, from Canada.
Ching had the most difficult horse of our team but managed very well. I was 7th after dressage with a score of
37.0. The showjumping and cross country phases were held the next day so we all had an early start cleaning
boxes and re-walking the courses. Ching had a rail in showjumping and Murray had a refusal in showjumping,
but everyone was clear on cross country and the team finished in second place. The Kangaroo cup was a
wonderful opportunity to become acquainted with everyone from the other four countries . Anthea calculated
that if the Australians had been riding as a team, we would have won by a considerable margin. During evening
,after the event, we went to a very enjoyable pool party held at one of the host family’s homes.
On Saturday all the Inter Pacific riders went to Loc Moy horse trials to fence judge. I found it confusing, as all
the grades are different from those in Australia. For example Novice level is the lowest level and Preliminary is
the highest level before Intermediate. We watched Leslie Law, who was riding a younger horse but he
unfortunately fell off at the water jump, sustaining 3 broken ribs. There were many falls on the course and we
had to frequently hold the course. It was interesting to see how a one day event was run when they could only
have 2 grades per day due to the huge number of entries. My host family very kindly left us with the most
enormous cake to eat for afternoon tea as it was my birthday. I was very spoilt as I ended up having three
birthday cakes and a lemon meringue pie!
On Sunday we departed Maryland and our host families and boarded the bus for a very long trip to Bethany
College. We had two days at Bethany and spent the time swimming, playing rugby and other games. We were
taken on a tour of the college founder’s house, which was built in 1764 and then went for a tour of Bethany
College’s Equestrian centre.
Late on Tuesday afternoon we arrived at the University of Kentucky dorms and after unpacking, we went
straight to Kentucky Horse Park for the Opening ceremony of the US PC national championships.
Australia was the first country to march in, behind the discipline representatives of the USA. It was a fantastic
feeling marching into the colosseum, which was absolutely packed and everyone was cheering and clapping as
we marched a lap. The other Inter Pacific countries followed us ; then came the International games teams,
followed by international Quiz, then all the USA regions marched in at which stage there were over 1,300
competitors involved in the ceremony.
A tour of Keenland racetrack to watch the horses being breezed was scheduled for Wednesday morning ,
however the quiz people cancelled the games riders’ bus so they had to take our bus to avoid missing their
appointment at Kentucky Horse Park. This meant that by the time the bus had come back to get the IPR riders,
the horses had finished working at Keenland. We were still able to have a tour, which was very interesting, but
it was disappointing not to see the horses working. The afternoon was spent at Kentucky Horse Park, watching
the competitions, shopping and seeing all the information activities such as the Hall of Champions and the
Parade of Breeds. That evening all the international games riders and the Inter Pacific riders enjoyed a river boat
cruise down the Ohio River with Kentucky on one side of the river and Indiana on the other side. After a
delicious meal we returned to the dorms.
On Thursday we were fortunate enough to be given a tour of Kentucky Equine Research, which is the world’s
largest Equine research company. A young horse was placed on the treadmill to show us how some of their
research is carried out. All the horses on the current nutrition trial were all turned out with full muzzles on so
they couldn’t eat the grass, of which there was a lot. It must have been very frustrating for them. We then had
another opportunity to spend time at KHP during the afternoon.
On Friday Morning we headed out to KHP for the horse draw and riding trials. Australia drew Miss Prissy an
11yo 16hh Chestnut mare, Aruba Magic, a 25yo 16.3hh grey gelding, Jamestown, a 16.2hh chestnut gelding and
Lickety Split a 20yo, 16.1hh bay thoroughbred gelding. Ayla rode Lickety Split, Josh had Aruba Magic, Amy
chose Jamestown and I was given Miss Prissy. We quickly realised that we had to ride all the horses forwards.
Priss was quite well educated and with a light seat, light hand and lots of leg, went well.
Amy was the first Australian rider to go and jumped the first clear round of the day as the two riders before her
had both been eliminated at fence 1. Josh was the next Australian rider. I think Aruba was possibly past his best
competition days as Josh collected 21 faults in the first round. Aruba just struggled to get his knees out of the
way. Ayla was next to go and Lickety split was rather green, however Ayla did a fantastic job with only 3 rails
down. His owners commented at the end of his round that this was the biggest height he had ever jumped. I
went out on Prissy ,who knew her job, but she gave me a scare at fence four when I heard her whack it.
Fortunately it stayed in place and she then became rather keen and had a very big jump into the double, cut out a
stride and took off early. I then managed to gather her together to complete my round cleanly.
In the second round., Amy had a rather unlucky rail. Alya had worked out Lickety Split and finished with two
rails. Josh realised that if he counter cantered, Aruba wasn’t jumping off his arthritic knee and he was much
cleaner Whilst it was a lot of hard work for Josh, he only had four rails. Prissy rose to the occasion with a much
tidier round and again clean. There were only three competitors who jumped 2 clear rounds, so I felt an
enormous sense of achievement, with a lot of thanks going to my horse.
New Zealand won the Nations Cup , Australia was second. Canada placed third, Hong Kong fourth with USA
fifth. One of the highlights of the entire trip was cantering the victory lap in the Rolex arena, which is the arena
where the 4* eventing showjumping is held .
We cooled the horses down and returned them to their owners just as it began to pour with rain. I was very
grateful to Jasmine ,who lent Prissy to me. It was a wonderful experience and she was a lovely horse. The world
is certainly a small place as Jasmine informed me that Peter Atkins who is a Tasmanian, now living in the USA ,
broke Prissy in.
The international games final was held in the colosseum, that evening, so we watched Australia come a
creditable 3rd whilst we ate dinner.
It was very late by the time we arrived back to the dorms. Both the Canadian and Hong Kong teams had 6am
flights the following day, so we spent the rest of the evening packing and saying our good-byes.
Our final day was spent at the Fayette mall, before heading to the airport to catch our very long flight home. By
the time we arrived in Sydney, tired and happy, we realised that we hadn’t caught a single plane that hadn’t
been delayed.
I had a fantastic time and I am very grateful for the opportunity that was given to me. I made so many new
friends from all corners of the globe. I would like to sincerely thank all the following companies, individuals
and pony clubs who gave me financial assistance : Tasmanian Alkaloids, Serve-Ag, Roberts Devonport , The
Northern Midlands Council , PCAT, Northern Zone PCAT, TPRC games riders, Birrallee Pony Club, Circular
Head Pony Club, Fern Park Pony Club, Huntingfield Pony Club, Huon & District Pony & Riding Club, Inglis
Pony Club, Kentish Pony Club, Leven Pony Club, Mersey Valley Pony Club , Monmouth Pony & Riding Club,
Monica Murfett, and Lynn Johnson
I would like to thank my own pony club ,Tasmanian Pony & Riding Club ,who have nurtured my riding and
given me so much support and encouragement over the last 11 years. I would highly recommend that anyone
who is eligible to apply for the Inter Pacific Rally, do so. The next host for this event is Hong Kong and it would
be wonderful to see another Tasmanian able to share the experience.
Freyr Colvin