Pursuing her dream: Katja Weimann wants to represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
BARRIE COLLINS \ DEREK O'LEARY
Katja Weimann is shooting for the stars – three stars. When she competes against other top horses and riders at the Melbourne International Three Day Event on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, she hopes to ride her 11-year-old thoroughbred, BP Gallantry, to victory in the elite three-star competition, adding to wins in the two-star competition last year and 2009’s one-star competition.
The Melbourne Three Day Event, at Werribee Park June 10-13, is one of the highest levels of competition, just one level below four-star competitions such as the Olympic Games and the World Equestrian Games.
Katja, who was named Victorian Eventers Association’s Rider of the Year in 2009 and 2010, says she is “ a bit of an outside chance”.
“But you have to be in it to win it,” she says.
This year the Melbourne International Three Day Event is the first opportunity for riders to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
At 28, Katja is no novice, but she will be up against the stars of the sport – riders such as Stuart Tinney, a member of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games gold medal-winning team and Megan Jones and Shane Rose, who were in the silver-medal winning team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Katja will also ride her home-bred horses BP Cosmopolitan in the two-star competition and BP Valentina in the one-star competition.
Competing at the Melbourne Three Day event is something she works towards all year.
Three-day eventing has three distinct phases, starting with dressage, where horse and rider are marked on style and elegance. The next day they gallop over a cross-country course of varying terrain and obstacles including brush fences, solid fences and water jumps. Some fences can be as high as 1.2 metres and as wide as 2.2 metres. This is a test of the horse’s fitness, stamina and boldness, a term used to describe the horse’s willingness to jump. On the third day, the show jumping is all about precision and control. Just a light tap of a hoof can send a rail flying and cost the rider a top finish.
Katja, who lives with her family at Dewhurst in the Dandenongs, has completed a degree in animal science and management at the University of Melbourne.
After years of competing, she takes each day as it comes and knows the challenges of her sport.
“The hardest part is finding a horse that’s good at all three phases,” says Katja.
“Then you have to communicate with the horse and develop a partnership with it. I really enjoy all three phases but, in the end, it’s the thrill of riding the cross-country that keeps you coming back,” she says.
Katja says her family have given her huge support. Her father accompanies her to competitions, making yards for the horses and helping feed and water them. She began riding as a five-year-old at pony club and did a bit of everything until she got hooked on eventing. What started as a hobby became a full-time job and she is now breeding horses, which she finds one of the most rewarding aspects of the sport.
“I love seeing the young horses which we have bred and broken in go up the grades,” Katja says.
A “normal” day starts at 6am to feed the horses, ride them, including fitness work, cross-country schooling as well as teaching up-and-coming riders.
“To do well at the highest level you have to do it full time. I love being with the horses, I love being outdoors, so it was not a hard decision to make, plus I couldn’t see myself working nine to five.”
To compete at the Melbourne International Three Day Event costs more than $1000, including stabling and camping. Then there are the vet and farrier bills, saddlery and other equipment.
Katja does not come from a “horsey” family – her father has sat on a horse only once and her mother started riding as a adult. Katja’s goal is to represent Australia at the Olympic Games and the World Equestrian Games.
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Additional reporting by Jeremy Harris
Shane Rose, 37, silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, winner of the Melbourne International Three Day Event in 1998.
Like other top-level riders, Shane’s main ambition is to get on the team to help Australia win gold at next year’s London Olympics.
“The most challenging thing in eventing is beating everyone else,” he says.
“Most people become event riders for the challenge of the cross-country, it’s a huge adrenalin rush when you know you’ve jumped a horse well.”
Shane has had his fair share of ups and downs. He was kicked in the face by a horse and suffered from thyroid cancer, but bounced back to produce the best cross-country performance in the world at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
He estimates it costs between $15,000 and $20,000 a year to campaign a horse at the top level and meets his expenses through sponsorship and breaking-in and pre-training race horses.
“The Melbourne Three Day Event has been running for 54 years, it is a great three-star event and I am really looking forward to it,” he says.
Shane will ride APH Moritz and Taurus, aged 8, in the three-star competition.
Megan Jones, 34, silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, winner of the Melbourne International Three Day Event in 2005, 2008 and 2009.
Megan runs Kirby Park Stud in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. Working 14-hour days, she starts at 5am, taking her team of horses to the beach to gallop, before returning to Kirby Park to teach young riders until 7pm.
Sponsorship, teaching, training, selling and agisting horses help meet expenses.
“People think we have lots of cash, but most people in our sport struggle or just get by,” she says.
“The Melbourne event has a great atmosphere, everything is really close and we love coming here. I am expecting the cross-country to be even more challenging this year than in previous years.”
Megan will ride Kirby Park Allofasudden, a 10-year-old thoroughbred, in the three-star competition, and Westbury Park Irish Grove, an eight-year-old Irish Sport Horse, in the two-star competition.