2024 has been my first full year living back in Australia, and my first in Sydney. I have LOVED it. A tough couple of years preceded this, no different I am sure to most people on the planet right now. It feels good to know that the decisions and steps that we took in 2023 have delivered results we hoped for, and hopefully 2024 has built again for me towards 2025.
Not having a horse of my own here to fuss over and progress with has been harder than I expected, and I am chronic for having high expectations! The bonus is that I have been able to sink my teeth into some of my clients’ beautiful horses, who have improved and developed in exciting ways! It has also been a memorable year in that my wonderful partner (finally!) asked me to spend the rest of our lives together and proposed to me on our 7th anniversary! I can’t wait for 2025 and tying that knot!
On a professional level, I love where my business and I are sitting. The joys of working with riders and their horses and seeing both grow in confidence and ability is a pure joy for me, and this has happened for many of my clients this year. On top of that, and perhaps even more so, instilling some pride and progress in clients and their riding has been so rewarding.
I have tried to find a balance in training the horses myself, whilst keeping their riders in the saddle as much as possible. This means that I can help guide horses forwards in their training, and give riders an understanding of what they are aiming for. It has given way to softer, improved feelings on board, and built some all-important confidence for riders to trust their abilities!
Myself, and my business, are small cogs in the huge wheelhouse that is the dressage industry in Australia and the world. A wheelhouse that has had a very turbulent year…! From the aftermath of the Operation X documentary on Helgstrand in Denmark, the waves of horse abuse allegations seeem to have poured through this year. It almost seemed to culminated in the shock dismissal of Charlotte from Paris after her alleged abuse video aired. Thankfully, we were treated to a beautiful display of riding that was clearly trying to demonstrate as much softness and quality as possible. Regardless, our sport seems sat at a crossroads leading in to 2025, with its very existence at the Olympics pulled in to question. Hopefully we find some positive steps forwards this year, not just bullying.
There is plenty to look forward to for this year, and plenty to hope we can leave behind in 2024. Our Australian team did us so proud, and as Jayden Brown pointed out on Facebook, our 3 team riders had all produced their horses to GP level. Something that could not be said for other teams, like for example the United States, and something that is a significant sign of the high quality horsemanship this country holds. I hope that he brings back the wealth of knowledge that he has gathered from England, and Australia can use the next 7 years to gather some momentum for 2028, with 2032 being the huge target to take our moment.
I have 2 exciting projects on the horizon, one of which hopefully gets me back down the centreline, the other being something far further out of my comfort zone. Hopefully I can tick them both off by the end of the year!
What do we want to see by the end of 2025, so that we are not all sitting in a sport that is tearing itself down from the inside, threatening its own existence at the Olympics, and creating vicious abusive and even legal repercussions to our fellow horsemen and women?
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