2008 International Mounted Games Exchange

Training Camp Report

With the 2008 International Mounted Games competition being held in Western Australia, the Australian Team training camp was also held in Perth the week prior to the arrival of the remaining International Riders.

The venue for the training camp was my home in Gidgegannup. All riders would stay with me and my family during the week and Michele would be travelling daily from her house in the Swan Valley to be with the riders bringing lunches and dinner with her.

Our plan for the training camp was to have all riders in WA by the evening of Sunday 6th July. This meant that training could commence on the Monday and run through to the Thursday.

Prior to the arrival of the riders I had arranged for several horses to be loaned to us for the training camp. The experience of the ponies we were using varied from very little experience to seasoned games ponies with many years worth of experience behind them. In addition to this, some of these horses were being used in the both the friendly and international competition. For the duration of the training camp these ponies were also based with us.

The first rider to arrive in Perth was Jess, who flew in from Darwin on the Friday afternoon. Using a borrowed pony Jess was able to participate in a 2 day MGA competition with Stevie for the next 2 days. On the Sunday afternoon, Alistair, Andrew and Katie arrived in Perth. Michele met them at the airport and later Sunday afternoon drove them to Gidgegannup. The first evening all riders were tired - a combination of competing and flying. With quick hellos and friendships reformed all riders were in bed early.

The general plan for each days training was to ride in the morning, have a few hours off and ride again in the afternoon/ evening as we had lights available in the arena to cater for this. This provided us with flexibility within our days, as we could also incorporate shopping and movies etc into the week.

Monday morning saw the riders up relatively early, with loan ponies being fed (during the camp the riders were responsible for feeding/rugging the loan ponies) and rider breakfasts consumed. The training sessions on the Monday were relatively slow. All I wanted from these was a gauge of each rider’s skills and ability, and to gain an understanding on which races riders were best suited to and what would be the best make up of the team for each race.

Our training camp progressed well, with no injuries occurring. All five riders had previously ridden against each other at National PPMG Championship, while 4 riders had recently competed against each other at the National AMGA Pairs Championships. The team quickly reformed friendships that had been made over the past year and they worked well as a team.

One of our training sessions was held at Horsemans Pony Club. Members of this club provided their horses for the training session, which provided the Australian team the opportunity to ride some different horses but also for the pony owners to meet some international riders and watch their ponies perform with them,

The Australian Team also had the opportunity to shop, go bowling, to catch a movie when not training and on the Friday morning we took the opportunity to visit some local sights at Noble Falls and Waylunga National Park, before the riders joined the IMGE Tour and were assigned to their billet families.


2008 International Mounted Games Exchange

Tour & Competition Report

Friday 11th

Saw the arrival of the International teams. Host families and billet arrangements had been organised prior to the team arrivals, but with at 18hr delay in the Canadian team’s arrival, some reorganisation was required to. We had 4 riders staying with us, one from the USA and New Zealand and 2 riders Great Britain.

Saturday 12th

Today, we were at Whiteman Park which is located in the Swan Valley, here the riders had the opportunity, to visit the Wildlife Park and meet native Australian animals, also having free time in the old style village, before returning to their billet family.

Sunday 13th

With several pony club rallies being held in the Hills Zone today it provided our international riders with the opportunity to experience an Australian Pony club rally. The riders staying with us attended the Eastern Hills Horse and Pony Club rally, as we are coaches at this club.

As other billet families also attend this club, there were a total of 8 riders from the IMG tour that attended the rally. The riders were able to observe what we do at our rallies, provide a talk to our club members on what they did to become an International Rep.

During the afternoon sessions that riders were able to ride in both a games lesson with member from the pony club and also compete in a Cushion Polo event.

Eastern Hill Horse and Pony Club also presented the riders with a club polo shirt each.

Monday 14th

A trail ride through Brigadoon had been organised for today. Riders from local pony clubs and our State teams made horses/ponies available for the riders. This was an excellent day and only one of a few which saw fine weather, this trail ride took us through Brigadoon and our State Equestrian Centre where the competition was to be held.

Tuesday 15th

Today was a bus trip to Gingin, approximately one hour north of Perth for educational tour of Gravity and Science Centre and Bush Tucker walk. This was another wet day but we managed to get through the majority of the tour without getting wet.

Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th

All riders, coaches and chaperones travelled by bus to Fairbridge Village, approximately an hour and a half south of Perth.

Fairbridge Farm School was established in 1912 by Kingsley and Ruth Fairbridge as a place where children could learn and develop and be cared for. It is estimated that over 3500 children have passed through the Fairbridge Farm School from 1913 to 1983. Fairbridge was also used during World War II, as a school for Guildford Grammar student, when their school was used as a Military Hospital.

The accommodation was dormitory / old houses, but the village area provided for a vast array of outdoor activities which we participated in during our 3 day stay. The outside activities and team building exercises included high ropes, low ropes, big swing, flying fox, rock climbing and archery. We also had organised night time activities out doors but due to weather conditions we only managed to do one night of them.


Saturday 19th

This morning we had the opportunity to make Boomerangs at Fairbridge prior to boarding a bus to the Murray Horse and Pony Club grounds. Here the riders assisted in setting up the arena for the following days friendly comp, before having dinner which was a sheep on the spit organise by some of the WA games sub committee. After dinner the riders met their new host families from this area.

Sunday 20th

Today was the friendly competition; the format for the comp was 5 mixed teams consisting of 1 rider from each country, with one coach assigned per team. During the previous 3 days at Fairbridge I had also matched riders to the horses being lent for this competition. In addition to this local riders and owners of the borrowed ponies were also able to participate. At the conclusion of the competition we were transported back to the Swan Valley where new host families awaited. This time I was to host 4 riders and 1 chaperone.

Monday 21st

Today was a free day for the tour. Each country was able to do what they wanted and met their host families back in the Swan Valley that evening. The Australian team ventured over to the coast and explored around Sorrento Marina, had some shopping time at Whitfords, before returning to their billet families. During this time I was also organising the teams of ponies for the completion and program.

Tuesday 22nd

Our tour today took us to a local Camel Farm in the hills of Perth. Here we were able to ride the camels through the State Forrest and along the Bibbulmun Track. When we were not camel riding we took the opportunity to teach the other countries how to play cricket.

Wednesday 23rd

A Ferry trip down the Swan River to Fremantle was the activity for today. Included in this was a hop on hop off bus tour of Fremantle, which incorporated some free time for shopping and doing your own thing.

Thursday 24th

This morning started of with a free day in Perth for shopping. We arrived at the Burswood Casino early in the morning to catch the city tram into to Perth to view the sights. Unfortunately we missed the bus and instead walked into Perth. At the end of the day every one was extremely tired and welcomed the sight of our new accommodation at the River Retreat in the Swan Valley. The facilities here were fantastic, with each country having their own cabins for accommodation.

Friday 25th

On Friday morning we walked across drive way from River Retreat to Super Golf (a golf course where you use bigger balls and sticks and have much shorter fairways) for a 9 hole mixed team competition. In the spirit of friendly comps there was no winner but everyone had great fun. Our lunch was a sit down meal at the same facility.

Upon our return to River Retreat the official games gear inspection occurred, followed by the managers meeting at Bob and Michele’s place. The meeting went well and we were soon heading back to River Retreat to get back to get ready for the official dinner at the Vines Resort in the Swan Valley

Saturday 26th

Competition day…………and fine weather!! Despite the rain that had fallen during the week the competition ground was fairly good with just one lane a bit wet – this of course the Aussie team got for the Hurdle Race.

The competition was well run with no hiccups and despite taking it a bit slower due to the temperature we were still finished earlier that expected. At the completion of the competition the parents were invited back to River Retreat for a pizza dinner and general farewells as the USA team were leaving before 5am the following morning.


Final Results

Sunday 27th

It was an early start this morning with the USA team departing for the airport before 5am. As the remaining teams were leaving at various times in the afternoon/evening, the luggage was taken to Bob and Michele’s place for storage while the teams were ferried to the Midland train station, where they were able to travel to the city for a free day. The Aussie riders – Andrew and Jess were picked up from River Retreat by their parents at approximately 9am. At 1pm I took Alistair, Katie and her Dad to the airport with Stevie to see them off.

Pre arrange pick up times were made with the remaining teams so that they could be transported back to the airport with their luggage for their return flight home. At 5pm I took the New Zealand team back to the airport and saw them off on their flight home, before heading home and leaving Bob and Michele to take the remaining teams back to the airport as I had to start work at 6 am on Monday morning.

Summary

The 2008 International Mounted Games is without a doubt the hardest competition that I have been involved with.

Many months worth of work had gone into preparing for this one weekend in July, with the hope that the competition could run smoothly be equally enjoyable for the spectators while providing a good even competition for the riders.

Being part of the organising committee and the Australian Coach meant that a lot of time on tour was actually spent making sure everything had been organised correctly and that the tour and event ran smoothly. The pressure experienced during the tour was immense as I was also responsible for the gear arena party and putting ponies into teams for the competition. My biggest fear was that a pony might get injured during the competition which is never a pleasant experience and that this could dampen the spirit of the IMGE.

Thankfully everything ran to plan. The competition produced some fantastic riding, the ponies were well looked after by the riders and the Australian Team finished in 2nd place - 1point behind Great Britain.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank both PCA and PCAWA, for the support that they provided for the competition and also the members of the Australian Team. Being the coach of the Australian Team was a truly rewarding experience, both from a coaching perspective where my skills have increased further, but also from seeing how the Australian Team worked together to go with in 1 point of winning the IMGE competition

Sean Corbin

2008 Australian IMGE Coach