| St Ives South |
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| SAHCA COMBINED STATE RUN Kangaroo Island Hunt Club proudly hosted the 13th annual SAHCA Combined State Run on the June long weekend. We started our planning many months ago ensuring the weekend activities ran smoothly. Thursday saw the committee ‘meet and greet’ many ‘overseas’ visitors at their makeshift camping grounds at the back of the Parndana oval and shearing shed. Once settled we took off to finalise last minute details in readiness for Friday’s Invitation Hunt at ‘Lyndhurst’, Jan and Nathan Trethewey’s beautiful farm. Fourteen guest riders and many carloads of spectators joined Master Tony Blight and 11 regular KI hunters over this great course. Nathan had kindly spent hours or work getting ready. It’s not just getting a course organised, there are also sheds to clean, wood to get for fires, sheep/cattle to feed and shift, check the course hours before the run, and numerous little tasks everybody does before the hunt. Well done to both Trethewey families. Richard riding Zephyr found the same fence jump (as the opening hunt) rather imposing and the new strainer post in need of replacement. This large log also had visitors holding on tight. Stirrup Cup was held in the hideaway clearing, guests were amazed at such a beautiful setting with campfire blazing, hitching rails and a hut complete with bar top. Once again the waterlily jump gave spectators great camera footage and many hunters a magnificent jump. One visitor actually landed on the back rail leaving his hoofprint etched into the wood forever. Back to the sheds for formalities. Salisbury Hunt Club master Polly Bounds received the Crooked Horseshoe for her fine form blowing the hunting horn, what a sound! Spectator’s Choice wheel went to Salisbury president Barry Cronk for getting the best view of the jumps (he was videoing though for us). Friday evening saw 80 plus people gather at Parndana Hotel for an informal meal. Saturday was a leisurely day before meeting at the Parndana Sports Club for our formal dinner, where 120 people attended for a two course meal was prepared by the Sports Club. KI Hunt Club president KIHC Robert Benney spoke about the club’s history and highlighted some of our successful achievements. The KIHC as we know was reformed in 1974 with Robert Coombe our only member to have ridden in the original hunt, at two years of age. In the late 70’s attendances were recorded of 36 regular hunters, 70 members, 51 of these riding members. Our first two life members Jeff Jolly and Rodger Borgmeyer were inducted in 1983 followed by Suzanne Trethewey, then Ralph Florance, Richard Trethewey, Rose Benney and Lyn Coombe. Our seven patrons are Ralph and Kaye Florance, Eddie (dec) and Anne Nitschke, Dudley and Marge Roberts and Rodger Borgmeyer all whom have been involved in our club since the early years. KIHC has had 13 Masters: Peter Turner, Allan Florance, Bill Roper, Ian Roberts, Colin Tremaine, Bob Engelhardt, Tony Blight, Bridget Burns, Carmen Joseph, Rodger Borgmeyer (12 years) and Suzanne, Nathan and Richard Trethewey (10 years between them). KIHC has had 12 Presidents: Jeff Jolly, Ralph Florance, Richard Trethewey, George Barrett, Ian Roberts, Bob Engelhardt, Rodger Borgmeyer, Robert and Lyn Coombe, Tim Burns and Robert Benney (seven years). Robert then introduced Ms Trudi Claxton from the Eyre Peninsula Hunt Club as our guest speaker who spoke of her family’s long-term involvement in hunting. With formalities over, the ‘River Rats’ played for everybody’s enjoyment. Sunday morning dawned bright and clear in readiness for our 2008 Combined State Hunt Run. At 9.30 the convoy left the campgrounds to hunt at St Ives, one of Sue and Richard’s magnificent courses; 47 beautifully attired riders presented themselves to Master Tony Blight. Mr John Fernandez kindly accepted the invitation to open our hunt. Mr Fernandez has been around horses all his young life. His father Brian was instrumental in starting the KI Pony Club, helped re-form the KI Hunt Club and was a founding member of the Clare Hunt Club. John presented the Club with some very old interesting photos of Brian’s hunting days. As a boy, John and his family lived on the neighbouring farm to where we held the State Run and the creek where the official ceremony took place was called Fernandez Creek – a fitting coincidence. What a picturesque sight of black and red coats, horses of all colours riding atop the hills or down in the valley amongst the tall trees. Kaz Ujvari (Fleurieu HC) was the first victim to hit the turf, saddle tightened, he remounted and continued on. The winding trail and tight turns over jumps claimed Janie Fisher (Murray Bridge) when ‘Bundy’ side stepped – they caught up at the first Stirrup Cup. Stirrup Cup One was a spectacular sight as tables laden with a delicious selection of cold delights was complemented by the barbecues ablaze with prawns, chicken and more. Large capped fences, large fallen logs and large spreads were the feature of the second leg and no mishaps to mention. The large race double is always a pleasure for spectators and great for the video. The riders gathered and jumped in pairs, threes and fours. Richard had many a sleepless night in preparing a course of such magnitude for this hunt. So much ‘behind the scenes’ work to get done paid off with every person appreciative of the landowners making a farm available. Over the 34 years, we have hunted on 28 different properties from all parts of the island and now have only eight remaining, three being Trethewey farms. The second Stirrup Cup saw ‘Tucka on the Run’ and ground crew produce BECS (bacon, egg, cheese sandwiches) from inside the mobile cooking area. Matt and Bec on barbecues, Robert and Isobel on ovens, Tessa, Razz, Lyn and Rose on production line saw 134 BECS made and eaten by our guests. A representative of each visiting club attending the State Hunt gave a brief outline of their club and thanked our club for the invitation to join them. The last leg of our journey saw cars park on a hill top and watch the hunt progress towards them; a truly magnificent sight. Unfortunately a double jump (two jumps a stride apart) saw Stuart Bartlett (Murray Bridge) on ‘Timmy’ take a hard fall, stopped only by the second log. Ambulance crew in attendance were quickly on the scene, checked him over declaring him safe to continue, slightly bruised and battered. Our only regret was the video wasn’t filming and a rerun wasn’t an option. Our last jump ‘Sponsor’s Jump’ each club’s members jump together. This was repeated several times much to the enjoyment of spectators and riders alike. Salisbury had nine riders to squeeze in and our club jumped in two sections to fill everyone in. Horses tied to floats, President Robert did the formalities, ‘Crooked Horseshoe’ award to Kaz for his dismount and ‘Spectator’s Choice’ wheel to Robert Coombe for his leadership of the car followers. Master and Landowner thanked, we made our way back to the camp grounds for a BBQ and refreshments to complete a truly magnificent hunt. Lots of Caps, Badges and Commemorative Port were purchased as a memento of a fabulous weekend of activities. KI Hunt Club would like to thank the many valued sponsors for their generous support of this weekend. Next hunt is dawn at Vivonne Heights, starting at D and A Florance’s homestead. Phone 85593263 or 85594240. Hip Flask |
Kangaroo Island
Hunt Club Inc.
