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"It was a great feeling of jubilation to be part of the line up for the Fittest Horse workout for the NSW State Championship Ride, held on the first weekend of October. It was especially pleasing to be placed next to Cudglebar Tarquin so that the two barefoot horses were together. That was really special. Sue McLaughlin came 3rd Lightweight and I came 4th Lightweight.

Windeyer is west of Sydney and is in the grip of drought, so dry and the ground is rock hard. It is what you would call hard country, sheep country with a past history of alluvial gold mining. The course was a mixture of baked clay roads with a lot of rock patches, some bitumen and paddocks with a lot of rock. It was all very, very hard and rocky. The completion rate was 57% which isn't surprising as th ground was so concussive. Many vetted out for lameness and many withdrew during the ride. Did I mention rocky?

Some of the tracks resembled dry creek beds and in some places the verge beside the bitumen looked worse than travelling on the road due to the size of the rocks. It was 'peace of mind' knowing that we didn't have to worry about stone bruising.

My horse Omani Mr Sqiggle (Sqig) was booted all round with Easyboot Bares and it was interesting that some people commented that they felt the barefooters had an advantage with the boots compared to the shod horses due to the padding boots give plus no shoes. Of course, any barefooter would know that. Now that we have got through Shahzada and the State Ride, a lot of people are very impressed with the Easyboot Bares/Epics."

- Carol Layton

Carol showed her horse barefoot for BC
and completed the ride with boots.