Katie Laurie is thriving in Australia, and loved being part of the large Kiwi contingent at Adelaide. She even said afterwards that she would like to give eventing a go sometime, though she wondered if she could do away with the dressage phase!
But this weekend it was all about show jumping and putting in a good effort for the World Cup competition.
She finished second on Springfield (‘Bart’), and also had a really good two rounds on Eye Catcher, with just one rail down in the first round. It was Eye Catcher’s first World Cup appearance, and Katie was delighted with the nine-year-old mare. “I couldn’t be happier with her. I probably rushed her a bit at the last fence in the first round thinking about the time, but she was really good.”
On Bart, she incurred a time fault in each round. “The time was really tight, I was a bit unlucky in the first round, I was only just over, and I knew in the second round it would have made no difference as long as I only had one more.”
Billy Raymont on Oaks Redwood won the class, recording the only clear round in the first round and repeating the performance in the second round. Katie was 5th on Eye Catcher.
“It’s been a good trip to Adelaide,” Katie said modestly.
Katie hadn’t decided whether or not she would go to the next World Cup competition. “I said to myself I would see how they jumped here this weekend, but they both jumped so well I might go.”
She is loving the show jumping scene in Australia. “It’s such good competition and such good jumping at such a high level that you really have to do your best and I think it improves you by just being here.”
Katie was there to support the eventers where she could, including walking the show jumping with them. She watched the cross-country, going out to see them tackle the difficult combination at fence 8. “I thought that combination was insane,” she said. “I think on TV it wouldn’t look half as hard as it actually was, but the ones who jumped it made it look easy.”
Katie was going to start the long drive home on Sunday evening, but decided to postpone the trip a few hours and join the eventers at a celebration dinner. She has a deadline to be home by, though, as she needs to repack her bag and fly to New Zealand for Equitana!
