“Each time it was postponed we had to change our COVID-19 plan and with the outbreak in Shepparton, there was a great responsibility for us to not be any danger to the local population,” she said.
The first competitions went ahead on November 1 and 7 and the final competition was held on December 6.
“The third competition was relaxed slightly for us, we got to have another part of the Tatura Park open, which went beautifully,” Mrs Terry said.
“I limited it to 50 riders and we had a few socially distanced spectators, we took our responsibility very seriously.”Mrs Terry organised the competitions to be held over six weeks, with dressage and show horse events running this year.“We thought we’d help out our show community by running a very small show after the dressage,” she said.“We ran our banner class, which is the Standardbred Derby, in the evening which used an outside arena, it’s the second year we’ve done it.”
Mrs Terry said livestreaming brought a lot more interest to this year's event.
“The riders were absolutely wonderful and just took my phone and interviewed everybody, it was a very inclusive and informative event.”
The event had 14 competitions for dressage, six show horse classes and the Standardbred Derby. The first Show Horse Supreme was won by Mitch Fox with Liberty of London.The Standardbred Derby winner was Jodi Dobson with Mighty Boy Lombo, owned by Becky McGee.
Toolamba local Melanie Ford was a standout in dressage, winning three of the championships on offer with Buckwell Park Delusion, Buckwell Park Impact and Gorserella Let’s Be Frank.
Emmalee Weston of Kilmore won the preliminary championship with Holland Bend Danseur.
“The competitors were a superior quality and the scores were well above the average we’ve had in past years; everyone has been training well during lockdown,” Mrs Terry said.
