2023 Wrap up
This has been such a busy, varied and interesting year, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed coaching at home at Ellis Brook, as well as lots of private lessons in the Swan Valley, and lots of coaching at many of WA’s best Dressage and Riding Clubs.
Over the winter months I put 7 Webinars together for coaches and other horselovers, on Training Green Horses, Pirouettes, Training over Poles, Understanding more about Bits, Training using Leg Yield, Lungeing and Training Lengthened to Extended Paces. The interest and the feedback from people from every state in Australia was fantastic, so once daylight saving is finished, I’ll definitely be delivering new Webinars!
Online judging seems to have really taken off this year. I judged close to a 100 tests from all corners of the world for the VIRTUS Global Challenge, and was thrilled when the Australian Team not only qualified, but travelled over, and won Gold Medals in Vichy, France! I also judged online tests for the PC Nationals, many thanks to Annette Patey for writing for me for 3 afternoons of judging! Later in the year PC Australia asked me to judge their inaugural online dressage competition for newcomers between Australia & other countries. In each online series, there were some very exciting combinations. Online dressage is such a terrific way for riders to overcome the tyranny of distance as they hone their dressage craft.
After talking to PC WA, Ruth Hanssen approached me about training dressage judges for PC NT. The NT candidates’ unquenchable enthusiasm more than made up for their comparatively smaller numbers! They wanted more, so we extended the original 3 Zoom sessions into 5 sessions, then I flew up to Darwin for the practical judging, and we had a great time working with Darwin riders and judges!
At the start of the year, Pony Club (PC) WA asked me to train PC Dressage Judges for PC dressage competitions. There was so much interest that we ran 2 evening Zoom sessions per topic. The final program included 6 theory evenings with judging practice, a written paper, a practical judging assessment and the opportunity to do supplementaries for those who needed a bit more practice. PCWA now has a good list of PC Dressage Judges, and have asked me to run the course again in 2024, which I’m really looking forward to as it was so much fun working with all the candidates.
Protocol Days & Poles Clinics at Coranda Estate have also been a lot of fun this year, and we’ll be running more early in 2024, entries are on Nominate.
I’ve been lucky enough to judge in 5 states this year - the ‘pink’ NSW State Dressage Championships was a huge and wonderful event where I judged lots of Freestyle, as well as from Prelim to GP, Para, as well as Inter I, Medium Tour, Grand Prix, GP Special, and GP Freestyle at SIEC, thank you to Jo Gunn and Karen Lever for your amazing organising skills, and to Sarah Hodson for travelling over with me and being a superstar writer at all levels! Boneo Park National Dressage Championships was another highlight, as was catching up with fabulous friends like Ness Lines and dear Hamish in NT, and enjoying some sunshine in winter judging for PC NT & for Darwin Dressage Club. My long weekend in South Australia was in superb weather, coaching the SA High Performance Dressage Squad, presenting a Judges’ Seminar, and judging at Strathalbyn for Adelaide Hills Dressage Club, while working with upgrading judges. Thank you to Lorraine Wohling and Heather Bunnell for your wonderful hospitality! I’m looking forward to being back at Cromwell Park for Dressage SA several times again in 2024.
I’ve had a bit more time to write equestrian articles this year, since I chose to no longer be a full time Tutor at Uni. Sandy Hannan at Hoofbeats has always been great to work with, and she has called on me a few times. Because I do a lot of research, I do find they take quite a lot of time, but the end result is always rewarding.
Max and I are training hard at home, and have competed lightly when we can fit competitions in! We’ve had the help of top riders like Jayden Brown and Robert Schmerglatt at some great clinics, and Max and I have finally ventured into Intermediate I territory this year. We were thrilled to achieve a Personal Best of 66.447% Indoors at SEC at Swan River Dressage’s October Championships at the SEC, all the more so because this is his ‘bête noire’ venue, and when the wind was wild, he’d been very tense at SEC in a SDR competition there earlier in the year. Thank you to Veronica Steward and Zoe Harrison for the marks and comments for our PB test, and to Barbara Carle and my amazing husband John for your help on the day!
Organising our 2 boutique dressage events at Karinya Park with our fantastic Dressage in the Grove Committee has again kept some of our committee very very busy in the lead up – we are very lucky to hold them in a beautiful venue, and our goal is always to make them eco-friendly as well as super horse and rider friendly events with very experienced judges, and as well as Prep- Grand Prix Classes, to offer an FEI Young Horse Qualifier at each October event. Congratulations to all of the Young Horse and Pony Winners from 2023, in particular to Overall Champion Young Dressage Horse Glenhill Venezio ridden by Taylah Heath and Champion Young Dressage Pony Tiimli Enthusiast ridden by Lyla Valuri! We were lucky enough to bring Veronica Steward over from Victoria as our Guest Judge, and we hope to bring a Guest Judge over for our October event again next year.
Another project I’ve really enjoyed this year is working with trainee EA Coaches, to help them with their Coaching Assessments, using my knowledge and experience from training & competing many horses over many years, judging for 35 years, and teaching adults & coaching riders for even longer! Really looking forward to doing more of this in 2024.
Over the winter months I put 7 Webinars together for coaches and other horselovers, on Training Green Horses, Pirouettes, Training over Poles, Understanding more about Bits, Training using Leg Yield, Lungeing and Training Lengthened to Extended Paces. The interest and the feedback from people from every state in Australia was fantastic, so once daylight saving is finished, I’ll definitely be delivering new Webinars!
Online judging seems to have really taken off this year. I judged close to a 100 tests from all corners of the world for the VIRTUS Global Challenge, and was thrilled when the Australian Team not only qualified, but travelled over, and won Gold Medals in Vichy, France! I also judged online tests for the PC Nationals, many thanks to Annette Patey for writing for me for 3 afternoons of judging! Later in the year PC Australia asked me to judge their inaugural online dressage competition for newcomers between Australia & other countries. In each online series, there were some very exciting combinations. Online dressage is such a terrific way for riders to overcome the tyranny of distance as they hone their dressage craft.
After talking to PC WA, Ruth Hanssen approached me about training dressage judges for PC NT. The NT candidates’ unquenchable enthusiasm more than made up for their comparatively smaller numbers! They wanted more, so we extended the original 3 Zoom sessions into 5 sessions, then I flew up to Darwin for the practical judging, and we had a great time working with Darwin riders and judges!
At the start of the year, Pony Club (PC) WA asked me to train PC Dressage Judges for PC dressage competitions. There was so much interest that we ran 2 evening Zoom sessions per topic. The final program included 6 theory evenings with judging practice, a written paper, a practical judging assessment and the opportunity to do supplementaries for those who needed a bit more practice. PCWA now has a good list of PC Dressage Judges, and have asked me to run the course again in 2024, which I’m really looking forward to as it was so much fun working with all the candidates.
Protocol Days & Poles Clinics at Coranda Estate have also been a lot of fun this year, and we’ll be running more early in 2024, entries are on Nominate.
I’ve been lucky enough to judge in 5 states this year - the ‘pink’ NSW State Dressage Championships was a huge and wonderful event where I judged lots of Freestyle, as well as from Prelim to GP, Para, as well as Inter I, Medium Tour, Grand Prix, GP Special, and GP Freestyle at SIEC, thank you to Jo Gunn and Karen Lever for your amazing organising skills, and to Sarah Hodson for travelling over with me and being a superstar writer at all levels! Boneo Park National Dressage Championships was another highlight, as was catching up with fabulous friends like Ness Lines and dear Hamish in NT, and enjoying some sunshine in winter judging for PC NT & for Darwin Dressage Club. My long weekend in South Australia was in superb weather, coaching the SA High Performance Dressage Squad, presenting a Judges’ Seminar, and judging at Strathalbyn for Adelaide Hills Dressage Club, while working with upgrading judges. Thank you to Lorraine Wohling and Heather Bunnell for your wonderful hospitality! I’m looking forward to being back at Cromwell Park for Dressage SA several times again in 2024.
I’ve had a bit more time to write equestrian articles this year, since I chose to no longer be a full time Tutor at Uni. Sandy Hannan at Hoofbeats has always been great to work with, and she has called on me a few times. Because I do a lot of research, I do find they take quite a lot of time, but the end result is always rewarding.
Max and I are training hard at home, and have competed lightly when we can fit competitions in! We’ve had the help of top riders like Jayden Brown and Robert Schmerglatt at some great clinics, and Max and I have finally ventured into Intermediate I territory this year. We were thrilled to achieve a Personal Best of 66.447% Indoors at SEC at Swan River Dressage’s October Championships at the SEC, all the more so because this is his ‘bête noire’ venue, and when the wind was wild, he’d been very tense at SEC in a SDR competition there earlier in the year. Thank you to Veronica Steward and Zoe Harrison for the marks and comments for our PB test, and to Barbara Carle and my amazing husband John for your help on the day!
Organising our 2 boutique dressage events at Karinya Park with our fantastic Dressage in the Grove Committee has again kept some of our committee very very busy in the lead up – we are very lucky to hold them in a beautiful venue, and our goal is always to make them eco-friendly as well as super horse and rider friendly events with very experienced judges, and as well as Prep- Grand Prix Classes, to offer an FEI Young Horse Qualifier at each October event. Congratulations to all of the Young Horse and Pony Winners from 2023, in particular to Overall Champion Young Dressage Horse Glenhill Venezio ridden by Taylah Heath and Champion Young Dressage Pony Tiimli Enthusiast ridden by Lyla Valuri! We were lucky enough to bring Veronica Steward over from Victoria as our Guest Judge, and we hope to bring a Guest Judge over for our October event again next year.
Another project I’ve really enjoyed this year is working with trainee EA Coaches, to help them with their Coaching Assessments, using my knowledge and experience from training & competing many horses over many years, judging for 35 years, and teaching adults & coaching riders for even longer! Really looking forward to doing more of this in 2024.
Young Horse and Young Pony Qualifiers
Really proud to be part of the fantastic Dressage in the Grove Committee which just finished its second very successful event at Karinya Park for 2022, including official Young Horse and Young Pony Qualifiers for the Australian Young Horse Dressage Championships as well as Young Horse Feature classes for those who were not quite ready for the challenging FEI YH Tests for each age.
WA has only 2 official Young Horse Judges, Hannie Byrne and myself, and we always enjoy working as a team to give our YH writer our marks and comments. Congratulations to all the placegetters in all of the classes, in particular, congratulations to Champion Young Horse - BML Symphony ridden by
Kjersti Grov, and to Champion Young Pony - Kingstown Marksman ridden by Kerry Dyjak, both ladies did a sterling job, presenting confident and correct training of their horse/pony.
WA has only 2 official Young Horse Judges, Hannie Byrne and myself, and we always enjoy working as a team to give our YH writer our marks and comments. Congratulations to all the placegetters in all of the classes, in particular, congratulations to Champion Young Horse - BML Symphony ridden by
Kjersti Grov, and to Champion Young Pony - Kingstown Marksman ridden by Kerry Dyjak, both ladies did a sterling job, presenting confident and correct training of their horse/pony.
Welcome to Ellis Brook Training Centre
Photo by Vicki Photos
- Ellis Brook Training Centre is very well set up for all Equestrian Australia disciplines
- EA NCAS Level 2 Dressage Coach & NCAS Level 1 General Coach
- FEI 4* International PE Dressage Judge and National A Grand Prix Dressage Judge – has judged in 8 countries at many international events
- Worked with leading international trainers
- EA & FEI Dressage horses trained to success
- Official Eventers, Show Horses and Showjumpers trained and competed to success
- Coaches in 4 states around Australia
- A wealth of experience in all EA disciplines
- Safety a priority at all times
Wendy Barker
- EA NCAS Level 2 Dressage Coach & NCAS Level 1 General Coach
- FEI 4* International PE Dressage Judge and National A Grand Prix Dressage Judge – has judged in 8 countries at many international events
- Worked with leading international trainers
- EA & FEI Dressage horses trained to success
- Official Eventers, Show Horses and Showjumpers trained and competed to success
- Coaches in 4 states around Australia
- A wealth of experience in all EA disciplines
- Safety a priority at all times
Wendy Barker
Congratulations to Ellis Brook Lorenzo who has been selected onto the
EWA State Dressage Squad again for 2013!
Lorenzo is one of a small number of Australian-bred horses to be selected, while most horses on the Senior Squad are imported horses. Lorenzo was Prix St Georges Dressage Horse of the Year in 2012, and has also been successful in Intermediate I competitions recently. He has Gold Dressage Performance Medals in Medium and Advanced Levels, and a Silver FEI Performance Medal. He has been on the EWA High Performance Squad since 2010, and was EWA Hi Point Leaderboard Winner, and Narbethong Leaderboard Winner in 2009. ‘Lorenzo was a green, and pretty complicated 6 year old when we bought him, so he didn’t start to compete until he was a 7 year old, we feel he has achieved a lot, because he was quite a challenge as a green horse,’ said John Barker.
Ellis Brook News
For the first week of May, Wendy is looking forward to being in Mannheim, Germany for a 4* & 5* FEI Judges’ Clinic. The Clinic will be held alongside the Mannheim Masters CDI3* and CPEDI3* held in concert with the famous Maimarkt (May Fair). Maimarkt is the biggest trade fair in Europe, and is particularly special this year because it is celebrating its 50th anniversary. ‘It will be fantastic to catch up with many friends at the Clinic, and to see the best competitors from around the world vying for places on the podium’ said Wendy. ‘Our sport is changing very rapidly, it is important to go to Europe to keep up with all the latest ideas.’
She heads back to the UK in July to judge at Hartpury CPEDI3* in Gloucestershire, then stays on to judge at Bishop Burton CPEDI2* in Yorkshire. Wendy said, ‘Hartpury is a fabulous event, regarded as the biggest CPEDI3* in the world, attracting a huge number of international competitors, and we hope to see a few Australian riders there, gaining points for Normandy World Equestrian Games. ‘I am looking forward to judging at Bishop Burton again, they made John and myself feel very welcome last time. Bishop Burton is a beautifully appointed venue, constructed as an Olympic preparation venue for international horses competing at the London Olympics.’
She heads back to the UK in July to judge at Hartpury CPEDI3* in Gloucestershire, then stays on to judge at Bishop Burton CPEDI2* in Yorkshire. Wendy said, ‘Hartpury is a fabulous event, regarded as the biggest CPEDI3* in the world, attracting a huge number of international competitors, and we hope to see a few Australian riders there, gaining points for Normandy World Equestrian Games. ‘I am looking forward to judging at Bishop Burton again, they made John and myself feel very welcome last time. Bishop Burton is a beautifully appointed venue, constructed as an Olympic preparation venue for international horses competing at the London Olympics.’
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