Wandin Park Horse Trials, held in the Yarra Valley area of Victoria, has been running for the past 32 years with two events per year. In the past Wandin has provided the venue for the Australian Open Championships and the Trans Tasman event but these days the pressure is off to run such high prestige events.
“Although we are not running those ‘Olympic’ type of events we still aim to run a high quality event where riders enjoy not only a weekend of good riding but a good social weekend as well,” says John, owner of Wandin Park and father of successful eventing rider, Emily.
“When I married my wife Angela I knew she was horsey so she had a corner of the property to ‘play’ with her horses and it kind of grew from there. I have always had more to do with the non-profitable side of the business like the running of events,” John laughs. “I do a lot of work on the course, both on the design and building front but Ewan Kellet is our official course designer … and we make sure he does plenty of work too!”
The 320 acre Wandin Park property is divided between Little Wandin where there is a training level cross country course and ‘Big Wandin’ where the course is built for pre novice to 3*. “Both courses have great viewing area’s for spectators as you can stand on the hill and see most of the course, which is a real bonus. The ground is undulating with large flat areas and the course runs mainly on grass and this year we had some good early rain so we’ve had some great grass growth and the going should be perfect.”
At the November 2011 event the tractors were required to help competitors leave!
During it’s long history Wandin has only once had to abandon ship due to the weather. “In the past few years we have made several changes to the course and built lots of new portable fences many of which we planned to use last year at our November event. But it rained so much that we weren’t able to run over the new fences. So at the event this weekend riders will get the chance to jump those fences. One of the major changes we made was to the quarry complex but I’m not going to tell you much about it for just now … let’s get the competitors to see what they think of it when they arrive in a couple of days time.”
As well as new fences the riders are sure to appreciate the work that has gone into improving the grass arena, which is used for the dressage. “The arena got quite damaged last year so we have re-sanded through the grass which has made the surface great to ride on. We have also expanded the all weather surface used for the show jumping, making it big enough for the warm up area as well as the course itself.”
Wandin has long been known for the social aspect of their event and this year sounds as if it will be every bit as good as usual, with a cocktail party on Friday night and a barbeque on Saturday night. “We decorate the whole place with lots of lights,” explains John. “We have marquees set up next to the wool shed and at the cocktail party we have lots of food and wine from various countries for everyone to try. The band plays in the wool shed and the dance floor is all set up for a great night.”
Angela Anker not only hosts a great cocktail party but helps with the presentations too!
So what can riders expect this weekend? Well if the weather gods are kind the going on all the surfaces and tracks should be fantastic. The riders will get the chance to test themselves over many un-jumped fences and cool themselves down as they jump through a spray of water over the ‘Chandon’ bottle. The only down side is that competitor numbers are down this year compared to previous years. “Normally we would be running around 350 competitors but this year I think we are on about 230, which is quite a difference. I think we may have ended up with too many events running within a week of each other here in Victoria and that’s beginning to have an impact.”
Undaunted the small committee are looking forward a great weekend of eventing and I almost forgot to mention the dog obedience class that keeps the dogs entertained and then there’s the Shetland Grand National…
Head to Wandin this weekend and check out the action for yourself or follow it here at An Eventful Life
