One of the feature classes at the Wandin Park International Horse Trials in Victoria is the Young Event Horse class. Nikki Ferguson will be competing her young horse EA Titanium (Ducky) and she has shared with us the story of reaching this point, including the dramatic first journey through bushfire for Ducky to reach his new home
It was that time – time to go shopping for a new addition to our family. After some wise words from my instructor, we set off on an adventure to look for a new horse.
The adventure took us a long way – from the Mornington Peninsula and up the Hume Highway. After driving for two and half hours we arrived at what only can be described as a supermarket for horses – The Equine Affair Warmblood Stud. Superb!
When we stepped out of the car I was in awe of all the nice horses to choose from, but one caught my eye straight away. I had never owned a Warmblood, nor had I ever seen myself owning a grey horse, but when I my eye alighted on this gangly grey gelding, I knew he was the one.
As soon as I watched him being ridden I fell in love and kept telling my partner he was amazing! Then it was finally my time to ride him.
My partner said “He will go a nice black” which made me laugh. (He’s enthusiastic, but inexperienced). And as I mounted up I knew this big eared, big headed grey was the one.
I rode a few more very nice and talented horses but nothing could compare to my version of a Ferrari. That’s how we made the decision to buy our first Warmblood. A timid and scared grey, who was gangly and big eared, but just had something special about him.
When we went back to pick up our new horse, it was a blistering hot day of 42 degrees. But it was the only day we could go, so we made the trek with plenty of water on board. We arrived back at The Equine Affair and after an hour and a half we finally managed to get my new friend on board the float, plus a companion for the trek.
It was all very scary for our timid grey, who we had by now named Ducky. He’d had minimal handling and had only been broken in a few weeks before being asked to step into a daunting float.
As we drove off, we thought the worst was over but we were yet to feel the heat. Little did we know as we set off down the highway, what was in store for us on the trip back.
Our old Pajero soon started to overheat from the extreme weather, so we had to go with the windows down and the heaters blaring to stop the car from overheating. With two very scared babies in the back, we suddenly saw some smoke, but it looked far away and not a concern for us so we kept on going.
But we soon started to see the smoke get closer and closer to us. Then there were flames on the side of the road, which alarmingly, soon spread across to the same side of the road we were on. We had run into a bush fire on the main highway with no way to go back and no exits in sight! No fire service had arrived so the flames were advancing unchecked.
As you can imagine, we were less than calm! With the car overheating, young horses that were already scared, thick smoke billowing about us and the flames rising higher, feeling the shear heat baking us, we were on the verge of panic. But we knew there was nothing for it but to drive on through it or otherwise face disaster.
Lucky for us the horses stayed calm and our trusty old Pajero carried us through the thick smoke and flames unscathed.
Getting back was a relief but our timid Ducky was scared of us and just about everything he saw in his new home and I’m sure the perils of the trip back didn’t help. Having only seen the green fields of The Equine Affair all four years of his life, he was very overwhelmed by the experience of turning up to a new property.
After spending a lot of time on the ground with him getting his trust, we could finally start catching him without a bucket of feed and could take the headstall off. As a true testament to his breeding, I must say he has a very sensible brain even though he is timid and a little scared of everything.
I have had Ducky for three months now and he has never ceased to amaze me with his willingness and very loving attitude. Some people adore him for his looks and some people say they see why we call him Ducky!
He is a very talented and exciting young horse who I believe is going to go places. It is now only one day before Ducky’s debut into the big EA world of eventing and we are heading to the Wandin Horse Trials to show him off in the Young Event Horse class.
Even though we’ve had a less than perfect preparation, it seems we’re headed off to the big smoke once more. Wish us luck!
