 Latest News form Caitlyn, Jan 2013.
November saw the North East Zone of Pony Club Victoria hold their dressage championships at Kergunyah. Unfortunately I was the only entry in A Grade, despite having no competition I came out happy with some high percentages after Folly had a break.
My application to attend NSW Pony Club State Camp for dressage was successful. This meant that I stayed at SIEC for six days at the start of January. Our instructor was Caroline Earl and we received two lessons each day. Despite the hot weather and very early starts it was a very valuable experience.
NSW Pony Club held their 2013 State Dressage Championships at Equex at Wagga Wagga on the 19th and 20th of January. I was in the 17 and under 25 years age group, we did the Elementary 3B test on the Saturday and I was sitting 5th after this test (even after having changes in both counter canters). Sunday saw us do the 3C test, after a very accurate test we came in 4th. This put us in a three way tie for Reserve Champion overall, unfortunately we ended up 4th on a count back.
Bye for now
Caitlyn
Introducing Caitlyn
I am Caitlyn Hiskins, have just turned 18 (YAY!) and have just started a Bachelor of Pharmacy at the Wagga Wagga campus of Charles Sturt University. I have always lived in Rutherglen, Victoria so my life is changing a lot at the moment. The one thing that keeps me on the straight and narrow are my horses.
Caitlyn's update Oct 2012.
Can't believe my first year of uni is already over. Has been a bit of a quiet year so far, in March I attended an awards ceremony held at the Commercial Club Albury, for the Norske Skog Young Achievers Award. Overall it was a fantastic experience including and interview, being filmed while riding and the worst part another interview on stage in front of everybody! I was nominated for this award for my achievements in 2011. Unfortunately I was not chosen as the most successful, as most nominees have had success overseas (I don't think they realise the logistics associated with travelling horses) but gained very valuable public speaking experience as well as meeting Sharelle McMahon.
September saw Rodrigo Matos come to Australia from the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art. Once we overcame the language barrier it was one of my most valuable lessons.
Earlier this month Geoffery Butler of Unique Sporthorses again came to Australia from Holland. This was my second group of lessons with Geoff and he saw improvement in both me and my horse which is always promising to hear!
Will hopefully have some more exciting competition news in my next update.
My parents were the mean ones that said I couldn’t have a horse. Looking back on it now I am so grateful that they didn’t. I first started riding in kindergarten when I was 3 or 4 with my friend Sheila Smith and her mum Robyn. Then in the early years of primary school I started to ride at Chiltern Valley with Carol Lappin and I was here for over 10 years.
The start of high school in 2006 saw the start of competition riding as my second mum Ann Killeen took me on board. Everything she has taught me is invaluable and I cannot repay her for that. Lots of things have changed since then. I started riding a 13.2hh Welsh pony. After progressing through many of Ann’s horses and ponies she bought a 3-year-old Arabian Warmblood mare, known as Folly. From the first day that I saw her I just wanted to ride her. She went out for about 12 months in an attempt to mature while I rode the best schoolmaster who taught me to appreciate educated horses so much!
Folly’s education was taken pretty slowly for a 4-year-old as I was learning all about green horses at the same time as educating her. We started off with a bit of everything – dressage, showing, showjumping, eventing and trail riding. I loved eventing and that is all I wanted to do because dressage and showing were BORING!!!
 I began dressage lessons with Sandy Rosenbrock and showjumping lessons with Jenny Sheppard. The most consistent high results have always been in dressage. I have had many wins in local EFA dressage competitions as I have progressed from Preliminary to Elementary. I rode for Zone 20 at the NSW Pony Club State Dressage in 2010 at the Albury Wodonga Equestrian Centre getting a 5th in the first test and 6th in the second test putting me 4th overall.
This has seen mainly mum get more and more involved in my riding as 2011 was a huge year. It started of with NSW Pony Club State Dressage at Clarendon, Sydney. I was 18th in my test on the first day but Folly obviously settled in after being there for 2 nights to win the second test and overall being Reserve Champions. Next was State Interschool’s held at Werribee where I entered in the Elementary Dressage section placing 1st and 2nd and being Reserve Champion but even more exciting was that I had qualified for the Victorian team at the National Interschool Championships. Much to my amazement my application was also accepted to represent NSW Pony Club at their National Championships.
This is all happening as I am supposed to be focused on my VCE. Anyway I still decide to attend both championships in the September school holidays, just before exams. We were in Werribee for 7 nights for Pony Club Nationals where it flooded and we rode in swimming pools. Folly is more a fine weather princess than a mermaid. We placed 17th and 12th coming 14th out of the top 34 riders in Australia.
We went home and then returned to Werribee 2 days later for the National Interschool Championships. She worked much better getting a 1st and 3rd. This was my greatest achievement being announced as the National Champion of the Elementary Dressage section! Finally Dad has turned the corner and is proud of what I have achieved with my riding and loves feeding them with me.
My most recent event was riding for NSW at the Victorian Pony Club State Dressage Championships where I was the only rider from NSW. I placed 4th in both test and that made me Champion Grade 1 dressage rider. My competition schedule is supposed to slow down for a little while I settle into uni but I will do something about that.
That’s it for now…
Caitlyn
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