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An update on Amy Graham
Caroline Graham is home from Europe and has given us an update on Amy. After arriving in Arezzo Italy to temperatures minus zero Amy spent two weeks acclimatising before commencing competitions. She was soon to find that there would be many differences including one day jumping in the snow...that was certainly something not done in Australia. The most significant difference was simply the sheer size of everything about the competitions. There were so many horses, people and riders. The arenas are all very large and manicured with many fixed open water fences as well as banks, hedges, lakes and trees. In addition there is normally more than 1 course built on the arena at a time, thus making a daunting spectacle for a horse. The other major difference is in the technicality of tracks, size and length. In even 2 and 3 star Grand Prix the courses are often greater than 500m in length with up to 17 jumping efforts. Every jump is built to maximum height and width from fence one with all oxers very square.... the welcoming rising oxer is never seen. After a rocky start to her trip (Transatlantic spent the first 3 weeks lame with a foot abscess and Amy became quite ill with tonsillitis) both Amy and the horses settled in well. It is certainly a mind shift in how competitions are approached when firstly the rider must qualify for the Grand Prix (normally from 100,s of starters, and then the GP still has 90 odd competitors. To finish a competition with a double clear round may still result in a place only in the top 20 or so. A very credible 4 or 8 fault round can see you placed at 50 out of 100 !!!. It certainly raises the bar, with riders very quickly realising they must ride faster, but still be accurate and clear over the technical courses. Our short trip away has left me with an enormous respect for Edwina Alexander and her achievements. She has rightfully earned her way into the elite top 10 of the world and is a fiercely competitive rider. She is already proving to be a role model for Amy and willingly provides suggestions and support. In her time at Arezzo Amy was excited to walk the course and then watch one of the legs of the Global Champions Tour. This is the most prestigious professional showjumping competition in the world and is the highest ranking at 5 star so equivalent with World Championships and Olympics. The series runs in 9 exciting locations being Arezzo-Italy, Hamburg-Germany, Monte Carlo-Monaco, Rio Di Janeiro-Brazil, Doha-Qatar, Valencia- Spain, Cannes-France, Estoril- Portugal and Valkenswaard- Netherlands. The tour is the brainchild of former Olympic medalist Jan Tops who wanted to create a competition showcasing the speed, grace and power of elite showjumping in absolutely stunning settings around the world. The competitors and horses earn the right to compete in the tour based on reaching the top 30 in world ranking. Amy now has several new aims and competing in the Global Champions Tour is one of them. After leaving Arezzo Amy and the horses travelled to Lummen in Belgium for the next competitions. It is an amazing site to see thousands of temporary stables simply “rise” in the paddock over an afternoon. When fully assembled the stable blocks cover acres and acres and provide total under cover housing for all horses in a fully security guarded enclosure. The jumping surfaces are all professionaly maintained and Amy’s horses certainly responded to perfect surfaces. Unfortunately the sport is not big enough in Australia to have many locations where we are not at risk of hard surfaces through lack of water or a muddy mess if the venue has too much rain. In Europe the surfaces are raked and rolled several times throughout every class and then are thoroughly repaired in the evening for a fresh start the next day. Such consistency of surfaces allows the horses and riders to become very confident and so courses can be built wide and high with riders galloping big tracks. During her competitions in Italy as well as Belgium, Amy has consistently ridden good rounds in the 1.40m- 1.50m levels. As she is attending only international shows she has the opportunity to jump 4 tracks every weekend that are equivalent to Australian World Cups. This means that she is rapidly gaining competition experience so is becoming more confident over bigger tracks. The fact that Amy settled into the European competitions so quickly is testament to Michelle Strapp and the work she has done with Amy related to rideability, flatwork and preparation. Mark and I flew home a few days ago, but Amy has decided to remain in Europe indefinitely. We have sourced a truck for her to use and she will compete in competitions throughout the European summer in Belgium, Nederlands, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain. At this stage she will be based at Stal Tops near Valkenswaard in the Nederlands. We have contacted the carrier IRT to fly over Prada, thus giving Amy 3 horses to compete in the 1.35m-1.55m classes. The remaining horses (and the truck!) will be sold to help finance the whole programme. Amy now has the challenge of needing to consistently rank in the top 20 in Grand Prix that are eligible for Rolex World ranking points. She aims to be in the top 300 in the world by the end of the year so that she is able to more easily secure entries for 3 and 4 star competitions. She is also aiming to gain her Certificate of Competency so that she is eligible to compete in Olympic selection series competitions. We all feel that we are on a steep learning curve and are grateful for the help that has been provided. I certainly know that I have a new appreciation of people in our EFA office. Michelle Battams is forever patient as we try and work out which events we would like to go to. Michelle must complete Amys entries through the NF and it is difficult to know which events Amy will be accepted for. My solution for this is to ask for entries to everything then work out which ones we actually attend after we have been accepted!!. An easy approach for me when Michelle does the work!! After the summer circuit Amy will fly home to Australia for a week (in November) to visit friends and family. She will then return for the European indoor winter circuit.
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