Only two weeks to go until the 11th of July when the Connemara Pony Showcase is on again at the National Equestrian Centre at Werribee!
It will be a great day, lots of pure- and partbred Connemara’s having fun doing 6 bar jumping, showing in-hand, hunter classes, dressage and a grand parade. Come along and have some fun looking at all the different ponies, old and young from very experienced to young unstarted horses. It will be a great day to take the family and have some lunch. Cleo will be there and some of the other ponies you will have met when you come for lessons, Breege, Sterling and Dream all will be there!

Mia and her pony went to Werribee today for the Ballarat Grammar School Interschool Championship in dressage. Mia came first in her first test and second in her second test. With this result she also became overall Champion on the day! And that at her second competition with her pony, very well done!!

Emily rode at the same competition but a couple of levels up in the Elementary. Only the second ride at this level and managed to come 6th in the first test and 3rd in her second test. She managed to keep her head cool even though the day before in her lesson she had had a meltdown over the travers and renvers she needed to show in the test.

Emily did her first elementary dressage test at Glenbrae Equestrian Centre on the weekend and managed to ride Dudley to a very good fifth place! Very well done Emily. Keep up the good work!

Emily and her Thoroughbred “My Dudley” had a great week at the “Hamag Young Rider Festival” at the National Equestrian Centre at Werribee this week.
On Wednesday in the Thoroughbred classes she came 7th in the Novice test. The next day, Thursday, she came 6th in her first test even though Dudley had a little shy during the test and then went on to place 3rd in her second test of the day.
To top it all off their three person team got first place overall in the preliminary/novice/elementary teams competition.
A very good result!

I have made a new page on the website: “In the mail”
If you would like your name on the “world wide web” please feel free to write something about Yggdrasil and I’ll put it up. Photo’s welcome as well!

It has been months of preparation, for some it was the float-loading that was the problem for others the canter and others again it was just the general idea that was nearly too much but last weekend all the preparation paid off!
Friday afternoon we floated Cash to Jack’s Run for a clinic with John Chatterton. We had been working for weeks on getting Cash to be happy going in and out of the float and not scared at the change of footing as he backed out of the float (he has had a floating accident) and he was a gentleman.
Then Sunday morning came bright and sunny and it was time to get ready for Kyneton and District Adult Riding Club dressage competition. Five Yggdrasil riders had entered, I took Louis and Fred (on of my riders horses) up to Kyneton.
Louis took it all in his stride, calm and interested, he stood in a yard and supervised the plaiting of the other horses, the saddling and the lunging that was going on around the warm-up area.
It was a long day but worth it! Everybody achieved what they set out to do (and sometimes even more!) For Evelyn it was a first start at a higher level and aiming to be with the top 10 riders out of a large field, Hayley aimed to get there without chickening out and do better than the last time and even though Fred jumped around and shied during the test she was able to keep everything together and finish her test in good style. Carolyn managed to make Kip look like a lovely and quiet adult riding club mount (even managed to get a remark on her test he needed to be more forward) and that for a horse that came with no brakes and “interesting” canter transitions. Ingrid did her first ever dressage test, she educated Sassy herself and managed to win a first and third and get a reserve champion ribbon (even though I did not turn up in time to call her first test as the other ring was running late and she had to do her test without a caller!). Melanie’s test I could unfortunately only see from the distance as I was calling a test in the other arena at the time but Virgil looked more forward and organised than the last time I saw them do a test.
Great to see everybody helping each other and being supportive!
Everybody, Well Done!!

Hullabaloo under saddle

It took a while to find a wide enough saddle but here she is on her first ride at her new home. Ridden by one of my students who will help me to further educate her.

A Big thank you to Christa and Trevor of Monahan Connemara Stud!
Monahan Stud is a lovely quiet stud in Gnarwarre about 20 kilometers west of Geelong. Christa and Trevor have kindly agreed to let Monahan Hullabaloo come and join the Yggdrasil team.
Today we went to pick up Hullabaloo, a lovely 10 year old grey Connemara mare. She will need some time to settle in and find her place and then I am sure she will make a lovely school pony.
She was a little apprehensive about getting on the float but halfway through the journey she decided that that hay net dangling in front of her nose was just too nice not to eat and she settled! At her new home she got a nice cool hose down as she was a bit sweaty and a clean cotton rug before we showed her her new paddock. She was not too taken by her new clean rug so decided to have a nice roll and make it look a little less white!
Come along to meet Hullabaloo and make sure to bring a carrot!

The possibilities are only curbed by your imagination!