CONTINUED >>
Bush to Beach Images
Above: Morgan Wagner and
her borrowed Australian
Stock Horse Tex 1st in Ease
of Handling and the Cow
Trial and 4th in Dressage
and Speed to take home the
Reserve Championship
Debutante W title at the
Stroud Cup.
Below: Mark Mason, one of
Australia’s most advanced
WE riders, showing his
winning style during the
Stroud Cup’s Cow Trial on
Prospect, his Australian
Stock Horse.
Bush to Beach Images
Zealand WE aficionados
provided classes. The courses
included sessions on rider
position (using a life-size horse
‘simulator’ to help pinpoint and
improve issues related to
balance and rhythm) as well as
in-hand exercises to improve
horse/human communication,
dressage fundamentals and
fine-tuning of the obstacles and
strategies for planning one’s
path in both Ease of Handling
and Speed. One of the most
popular classes was the Cattle
Handling course, taught by
expert cattleman and horseman
Warren Pogonoski.
Each evening, the group
gathered for laughter and
sharing of knowledge over food,
with a lecture based on
information from Judge
seminars the first night, a “Mad
Hatter Cocktail Party” the
second night, and an 80’s night
at the local pub to finish out the
Camp.
After three days of WE Camp,
the group shifted focus slightly
to a two-day, four-phase
Working Equitation
competition, with one set of
classes co-judged by
Californian Nicole Chastain
Price and Australian Nadine
O’Sullivan, from Victoria and the
other set of classes co-judged
by Kim Peterson and Muriel
Plater (dressage judges
officiated over the WE Dressage
sections, as is commonly done
in Australian WE competitions).
When the dust settled, US rider
Morgan Wagner, riding Tex, an
Australian Stock Horse loaned
to her by Mark and Jenny Mason,
emerged as Reserve Champion
at the Debutante W level (the
equivalent of Intermediate A in
the United States). Morgan and
Tex took 1st place in Ease of
Handling and also had the
fastest time in the Cow Trial,
contributing to a first-place
Team Victory in the Cow Trial
with teammates Julie Alonzo,
Mark Mason, and Michele Jones,
and Reserve Champion Four-
Phase Team for the group.
The 2018 Aussie WE Camp and
Stroud Cup marked the second
concerted effort to connect
active WE enthusiasts from
North America and Australia
(the first took place at the WE
United National Championships
in September of 2017). The
forging of international
friendships will continue this
July, when a number of
Australians and Canadians, as
well as a New Zealander, join
their WE friends (both
established and not-yet-
formed) from all over the United