Happy Matt and Happy Vegemite
Namchok Jantakad is a successful event rider from Thailand who regularly comes over to Australia, basing himself with Natalie Blundell. Before we spoke to Namchok (who we discovered is called Matt for short) we asked Natalie a little bit about her coaching of the Thai riders.
“Matt’s pretty shy but he’s a really nice guy and I enjoy coaching him when he comes over. I became involved with the Thai riders when I was based with Heath (Ryan) at Lochinvar quite a few years ago and since that time I have made quite a few trips to Thailand, coaching the Thai eventing team.”
Matt and Happy Vegemite do their dressage test at Berrima
Photo: Caroline Stinson
Matt talks about his eventing career and how he came to be riding Happy Vegemite
Matt and Happy Vegemite look good here but took a fall a little later
Unfortunately Berrima didn’t prove to be a happy hunting ground for Matt and Happy Vegemite as the pair took a fall in the show jumping. On the cross country course the pair picked up 20 penalties at the first fence but then got going and went clear round the rest of the course.
Matt and Happy Vegemite jump out of the Berrima water
Photo: Caroline Stinson
