“Finally!” was the thought running through Heath Ryan’s mind after riding Flame to win the E Banc Trade Adelaide International CCI**** on Nov. 2-5 in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Flame’s one of those horses who I’ve always known was going to be a superstar, but we’ve always had an excuse why he doesn’t win,” Ryan said.

“I thought he was going to be on the Australian team for sure for the World Equestrian Games [Germany] this year. I had the most amazing cross-country round on him at our final trial in Melbourne, but I had a silly run-out, just a glance-off. He jumped a beautiful round, and he was going to be the only horse under the time, but the glance-off ruined it, and made it a rubbish round.”

But it all came together at Adelaide, as Ryan and Flame led from the dressage to the very end. Their stellar dressage test scored a 46.2. “He did a super test–I didn’t want to breathe out when I breathed in. It was on the edge, but it was a great test,” Ryan said. “He’s awesome in the dressage, or has the potential to be, but he’s a real Thoroughbred, and he’s hot, so you’ve got to ride him just right.”

Ryan is one of the personalities of the Australian equestrian scene, recognized as a mover and shaker and whatever he does is done with flair. There have been times when describing Ryan as flamboyant would be an understatement.

This has made him very popular with the spectators. After clearing the bank in the water, where he had a spectacular fall from another horse two years ago, Ryan gave a big wave to the crowd and received a longer and louder applause than any other rider.

And, for once, Flame put the silly mistakes behind him and was foot-perfect around Adelaide. “He did an awesome cross-country. Adelaide’s a really difficult course for making the time, because it loops back on itself all the time because it’s in the middle of the city, in the park. But nothing can run time down like that horse, and he’s an exquisite jumper. He came in 8 seconds under the time. I was very on-guard about that innocent glance-off. I had to make sure that didn’t happen. But he jumped the most magnificent round,” Ryan said.

As the leading combination, they were the last to enter the show jumping arena with a buffer of three rails. The suspense only increased when it looked like Flame’s bad luck was rearing its ugly head again, and the first and third jumps fell.

“[The rails] made me really mad, because it spoiled what, at long last, was going to be the most amazing performance,” said Ryan. “He can win all the classes at a show jumping show–he’s an awesome jumper. But he gets tight and tense. We went in there and he saw the big crowd and got tight, and I just didn’t manage it properly. After the rails came down, he settled down and away he goes, and he jumps like a megastar. I didn’t quite get that right, but he still won very convincingly.”


On A Roll
The win was not only a confirmation to Ryan of the faith he’s had in this horse through the years of bad luck, but also a glint of hope for a big international future for Flame, 12.

“He’s on a roll right now. [The 2008 Bejing Olympics] is a little far off, but I wouldn’t mind rocking on over to [the Rolex Kentucky CCI****] next spring. Adelaide is as big a show as we have, so next year, I think I might go to Badminton [CCI**** (England)] or Kentucky, and use that as a lead-in to Bejing. I don’t know–I’m still toying with that,” said Ryan.

They’re big plans for a diminutive ex-race horse. Ryan’s friend, Vicky Brydon, a trainer and FEI judge, got Flame off the track for her children, but he turned out to be too green. She persuaded Ryan to buy him. Ryan knew the chestnut had a spark of talent, but it took a while to really uncover it.

“When I got him, he had a terrible Thoroughbred trot–he couldn’t move at all. In the early part of his career, he had the worst paces in the world, but I just kept at it. I knew if I could get him to engage, he’d improve. And when he did engage, I thought, ‘Holy hell, does he move now!’ He’s amazing.”

But it’s over fences that Flame’s real fire shows. “I’ve never ridden anything like him out hunting. He’s basically scanning the horizon the whole time, and when he sees a fence, he locks onto it. But he doesn’t rush–he basically stalks the fence,” Ryan said.

“And when he lands, he’s always looking for a related line, or the next fence. It’s pretty freaky. You can gallop into a fence on a light contact, and he just hunts down the fence.”

In 2004, Ryan had the Athens Olympics in his sights with Flame, but bad luck intervened again. “I thought he was going to be red-hot and in form for that, but he came up with a hole in his tendon. He never went lame or had any swelling, but it was there on the scan. He had 18 months off, and at the end of the day, it turns out the hole had always been there–it wasn’t a damaged tendon. It took me 18 months with the horse in limbo, trying to heal something that was just him,” Ryan said.

Flame came back into action in 2005 and placed second in both the Melbourne, Victoria CIC-W*** and Warwick, Queensland CIC-W*** events. Earlier this year he placed 10th in the Albury, New South Wales CIC*** and fourth in the Sydney, New South Wales CCI*** contests.

And this year, the one run-out kept them off the WEG team. “That’s his story–he’s going to be a star, but I’ve had a good story every time for why he hasn’t been a mega-star yet,” Ryan said.

But after Adelaide, he has high hopes. “I seem to have managed to pull it together and get past all the stupid excuses that have riddled his career.”

Ryan takes full responsibility for Flame’s frustrating record. “The big question is whether I’m good enough to extract what he’s capable of. He’s a top-of-the-range horse, and in the past, I’ve buggered up, in one way or another. It’s as simple as that–if I’m good enough to ride him, then he’s absolutely sensational,” he said.


Tenth Anniversary
Ryan, from Lochinvar in New South Wales, has been involved in eventing at a high level for many years as a competitor and an Olympic team coach. He competed in the first Adelaide International Horse Trials held at CCI*** level in 1997, so his victory in the 10th anniversary of the event was appropriate.

Second place went to another rider from New South Wales, Stuart Tinney riding Vettori. They finished fifth last year. They finished the dressage in fifth place, moving into to fourth after cross-country. A precise, clear show jumping round put them into the second position.

Emily Anker on Balmoral Cavalier placed third. Anker, from East Melbourne in Victoria, finished 18th at this year’s Rolex Kentucky CCI**** and 16th in last year’s Adelaide CCI****. Anker and Balmoral Cavalier were eighth after the dressage, second following the cross-country and one rail down in the show jumping saw them finish third.

Since last year’s track had worked well, course designer Mike Etherington-Smith kept much the same route with only a few alterations to the obstacles. While the changes were not big, riders needed to be aware of many technical traps.

With at least another year to get new horses ready to aim for the Olympics, many of Australia’s experienced riders took the opportunity to compete in the CCI** and CIC** classes.

In the CCI**, the first four placings were filled by Rose, Will Enzinger, Wendy Schaeffer and Olivia Bunn–all experienced interna-tional veterans.

In this division, the dressage and show jumping phases took on a greater importance than usual. Of the first 17 placings, the highest cross-country penalty was 5.2 time penalties, but only four horses went clear in the show jumping.

Prior to the start of this year’s Adelaide event the local media highlighted the fact that although this was the 10th Adelaide International Horse Trial, it could be the last. The South Australian State Government has withdrawn its funding from the event, and finding the funding for the event may not be possible in the future.

This certainly gave the event plenty of exposure and alerted even those who know very little about horse sports to the fact that a major world-class event could be lost to the state. South Australians are never happy about the possibility of losing major sporting fixtures to the bigger eastern states.

During the end of event presentations, David Lindh, chairman of the Adelaide Horse Trials Management, announced that during the event there had been discussions with potential sponsors and state and federal government representatives, and that the Adelaide Horse Trials would continue.


Peter Gower