2017 Victorian Youth Championships

The 2017 Victorian Youth Dressage Championships, to be held at Boneo Park 13 - 15 January, is delighted to announce that their naming rights sponsor is Ellanbrae Park, a select performance horse stud based at Macedon in Victoria.   Stud Director Carolyn Welsh outlines their breeding ,philosophy “Our goal is to put on the ground in Australia for Australian young riders, horses that are as good as those that can be found in Europe.  We believe our young riders have what it takes to become competitive with the rest of the world and we aim to breed the horses to get them there.  Bringing horses over from Europe is very expensive, but we believe with the right mares and using the best stallions in the world, we can breed horses as good, and we can certainly offer horses better raising conditions here than are available in Europe.”
Event Director Donna Desmet welcomes Ellanbrae Park’s support and says “Ellanbrae have been involved with the Championships in previous years and have generously agreed to raise their level of sponsorship in 2017. Their breeding program aims to produce horses well suited to our talented young riders”.

The announcement of the new date and venue for the Championships has created a lot of interest around the country.  The event will  be held over three days and prior to the Boneo Classic, an international dressage and jumping event scheduled on 19 - 22 January 2017.  Boneo Park is a world class equestrian facility set amongst tranquil wetlands and just minutes from beaches and all the other attractions of  the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. 

Young riders up to 25 years of age will have the opportunity to compete in tests from Preliminary level to Grand Prix. Encouragement Participation Preliminary and Novice championships for those wanting to take part in a major Championships without necessarily having the performances at the higher levels will also prove popular.

Young riders are encouraged to look at competing at the two events and enjoy some family holiday fun in between.  

Ellanbrae Park are also looking forward to a direct involvement in the event with young rider Charlie Welsh competing on the imported W Esther de Jeu who forms part of the quality band of mares at Ellanbrae.  Charlie is also hopeful that she can compete on two of the other well bred young mares that Ellanbrae Park are collecting for their breeding program. “We aim to breed a relatively small number of high quality foals each year utilising both embryo transfer technology and international frozen semen stallions” says Carolyn of their program.

Ellanbrae also offer agistment and raising on a fixed cost / full care basis for Ellanbrae bred young stock as well as full care stabled agistment for riders seeking the very best of care for their horses.  Their facilities are top class and they are open to host clinics with local, interstate and international coaches.  More information can be found about their breeding program on their website www.ellanbrae.com and also the magnificent mares and their offspring.

Event and Media enquiries can be directed to Jan Smith  [email protected]   0417 527412

 More information can be found on Facebook and also our website (currently under construction but available soon) www.vydc.com.au

 Photo:  Charlie Welsh, Morgan Duell, Tayla Desmet at the 2016 Victorian Youth Dressage Championships