United States Eventing Association

Southern Pines to Sydney: Prepping for the First Aussie Three-Day

As I am packing and making sure I am not forgetting anything for the 3-day next week, I am reminded of the differences between Australia and the US. If I have posted some of this before in an earlier blog, just bear with me!

Aside from the differences in horse care and management, namely, that the horses all live out and are fed a diet of mainly chopped hay and vitamins, with no grain, there are a number of differences in terms, etc.

The first difference I encountered was when I was attempting to get a "float" (trailer). They don’t make them here with tack rooms! Most people have 3 or 4 horse angle load (slant load) bumper pull trailers that they pull with an SUV. There are hardly any straight loads, and none of them have tack rooms in the front! If you are a pro, you go up to a horsebox because a 250 truck here cost $125,000 for an older used one! Seriously!! Fuel is about $5 per gallon here as well, so running those big trucks is a small fortune.

So I ended up custom ordering a 2-horse straight load bumper pull with a tack room in the front. And I won’t tell you how much it was because I will start crying.....

Secondly, I went around to the local tack shops to replace most of the thing I didn’t bring over. Well, EVERYTHING is at least twice as expensive, if not 3 times!Again with the crying....

There are many things here that I just can’t get....like buckets! People here just put a flexible tub in the corner of their horses "yard" at events (not shows because that is what the hackies do!) and fill it with water. They don’t hang buckets. Well, I am sure Spike will either dump or put his feet in a tub, so I have been on the quest to find some sort of bucket. The Australian equivalent of Home Depot didn’t have anything, but I did finally find two buckets for mopping at the local dollar store. So I am sort of content.

I will say that the Aussies are very good at after care of their horses. There were tons of ice boots and wrapping after cross-country at the last event, although the materials used for wrapping are quite different from the US..not sure what it is yet.

Andrea has been tirelessly trying to help me convert to Aussie appropriate terms, and we have made up a translation list, so I will post it for you below. Overall, just think of Aussies as more laidback Brits. I mean that is in the nicest way possible...my kind of people!!

Here you go:

Plaiting= braiding
float= trailer
show jumping= stadium
event= show
agistment= boarding (as in boarding your horse somewhere)
rug= blanket
ute= truck
buggie smugglers= men’s speedos
ankle biter= small child
brekky= breakfast
esky= cooler (like to put drinks in at events)
barbie= barbecue, but NOT a grill...those are different
bikkie= a cookie
bogan= a slack, lazy poor person that wears their house slippers out in public
daggy= dorky or nerdy
chook= a chicken
chuck a sickie= to call in sick to work and take the day off
a shandy= something to do with beer, but I am not sure what!
thongs= flip flops
whinge= to whine

Whew....now you can see why I stand out like a sore thumb and have NO idea what anyone is talking about!

Christan Trainor, previously based in North Carolina, is an upper-level rider and trainer who relocated near Sydney, Australia for several months of training with her up-and-coming event horse All Purpose Brown (“Spike”) to try her hand at Aussie eventing. Her greatest riding accomplishments include being long-listed for the 2000 US Olympic Eventing Team with her Advanced horse, Ticket to Ride, and competing the beloved Theodore O’Connor to the Advanced level. Keep up with Christan and Spike on her blog!