horses

Val de Vie Estate hosted the Infiniti 4 Nations Polo Invitational Polo Tournament on the 20^thApril 2013 and the event has been described as a great success. With Infiniti as the head sponsor, the invitational teams included Nigeria, Pakistan, Holland and South Africa.

The event ended the polo season on a high note and highlighted how the sport has enjoyed phenomenal growth and recognition in the past year. Alec Combrink, Infiniti Cape Town’s Dealer Principle, observed that "Infiniti Cape Town is proud to be part of the Infiniti 4 Nations Polo event at Val de Vie and feels that the event is a wonderful opportunity to expose potential customers to our luxurious brand."

Mr Combrink opened the Plate Final, which saw Nigeria taking on Holland in a fast paced match and Nigeria winning 6-4.  Several of the competing ponies were supplied by Val De Vie Polo Club and were in top sporting condition.

South Africa played against Pakistan in an exhilarating Final Match in which Pakistan won 5-2. The winning team was awarded the glittering trophy by Michele Stuurman from Carrol Boyes along with generous prizes from Rudy Project, Polo SA, Val de Vie Wines, Polo World and asparkly Cap Classique from GM & Ahrens.

The tournament was commentated byMr.Gavin Kanigowski from Cape Town Polo Club and kept guests on the edge of their seats and up to speed with the rules of the sport. Olympic medallist and Val de Vie Estate Marketing Director, Ryk Neethling was MC of the event, while Val de Vie Events coordinated all the elements of the day. Chic, corporate-inspired decor with shades of black and white set the scene for guests to enjoy the polo, relax and network. Gentleman guests, not to mention some curious ladies, were treated to get a feel of driving some of the elegant Infiniti cars on display.

Charl du Plessis was named as the Most Valued Polo Player, while the Best Playing Polo Pony prize went to Bubbles, who is owned by Mr. Martin Venter and ridden by Mr. Lance Anderson. The day ended with three cheers saluting the polo ponies' valorous play and guests enjoyed the rest of the evening celebrating in the Polo Club Restaurant and Pavilion.

We're proud to introduce Val de Vie Estates’s new Equestrian Manager, Kelly Tamarind Mathias. Whether you'd like to learn from the best or stable you horses in world-class facilities, Val de Vie's stable and livery facilities are in a league of their own.

We have the beautiful backdrop of the Simonsberg mountains on our outrides, top quality polo fields, a 90 x 90 grass exercise field, a sand training track and three sand lunging rings with brand new jumping equipment including planks, trays and fillers. The estate also provides 24-hour supervision and full grooming and livery services at the stables. To top it off, horses and ponies enjoy grazing on large open grass paddocks.

Please do not hesitate to contact Kelly should you require any additional information: kelly.mathias@valdevie.co.za

It's time for the Polo Season to be back in action, and Tehri Fergusson, our Equestrian Manager & Polo Administrator, can't wait! Here's what she has to say about preparations for this exciting time:

"The relief of warm sunny days after one of the wettest Winters I have ever experienced is always the best medicine to start willing on the arrival of Summer in the Boland!

Fitness and health are the number one order of the day. With all the Polo ponies back into their fitness regime, one never gets tired of watching the beauty and power of a Polo pony exercising on the track in the early morning sun. The sound of their powerful legs eating up the track while their keen eyes and ears are always pointing forward, as if they know the Polo season is on the horizon!

Polo players are sorting out their equipment that has been lying dormant for so many months, cleaning and polishing their boots and knee pads in eager anticipation of the forthcoming season. The Blackberry Pink Polo Event on 27 October is one of the major highlights on the Events calendar, and is sure to be filled with amazing polo action and skill as the Polo players show tremendous determination and team work with both their Equine and fellow Players on the field.

The sound of the mighty thoroughbred’s powerful lungs sucking up the air like a Formula One racing car with their absolute strength and ability, galloping down the polo field, will be on the mind of every Polo player as the Season commences. Polo is not just a sport – it’s a lifestyle!"

The 2011–2012 Polo Season has been a frantically busy and successful one, including six 0 and 2 Goal Tournaments and chukkas being played four times a week! These Low Goal Tournaments were very well supported by visiting teams and we were thrilled to host Olifantskoop from the West Coast, Maremmana from Hermanus and Cape Town Polo Club from Melkbos.

We held 3 Exhibition matches during the course of the season, namely the Bentley at the beginning of December, The Veuve Clicquot at the end of February and finally, the innovative and exciting Five Nations Invitational Tournament held at the end of March. The Five Nations was the brain child of Martin Venter who considered the tournament’s viability during the middle of last year with an idea of inviting representatives from Pakistan, England, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Netherlands to compete in an Invitational tournament at Val de Vie. His vision was realized and seven days of exciting polo were played, drawing large and enthusiastic crowds. Val de Vie was delighted to host a visiting side from Pakistan, including the Pakistani Ambassador. The Netherlands were supported by the Dutch Ambassador and his wife on the final Saturday and Fatima Chohan, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, gave a short but inspiring speech about sport and her first introduction to polo at the Tournament. SA were the deserved winners, the winning team comprising of Tom de Bruin (Captain), Kevin Rixon, Martin Venter and Joseph Bron with “Britain” coming a close second.

Educational Chukkas have become a popular and very social part of learning the game of Polo and follow on after polo lessons given by Kevin on either Tuesdays or Thursdays during the season. Anybody who is interested in learning more about the game and how to play it must contact Tehri at the Polo Office for booking lessons with Kevin and joining in the Educational Chukkas – everybody’s welcome!

The Polo Season is sadly drawing to a close as Winter beckons. The last planned match was on 5 May, but it will give the horses a well-deserved rest! The number of new people playing polo and the number of tournaments being played is growing faster in Cape Town than anywhere else in the country and next season’s Fixture List is already in progress… we can’t wait!

PS: To all residents – Diana and I have bought at Val de Vie and are looking forward to meeting as many potential players and spectators as possible!

Student photographer Verity FitzGerald recently visited Val de Vie Estate to photograph our stables and equestrian facilities. We absolutely adore what she has captured in her images - these elegantly composed photographs beautifully depict daily life at the stables. Hailing from Botswana and studying her final year at the Cape Town School of Photography, Verity is specializing in documentary photography.

Click here to visit her blog and find out more about her work.

Val de Vie recently hosted the Five Nations Tournament and we're thrilled at the success of this exciting event. 500 guests, 14 sponsors and a host of happy spectators enjoyed fun-filled, action-packed polo in the beautiful setting of the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley. Five international teams competed in the tournament, which was won by SA Carrol Boyes, followed by and Nikon Great Britain.

With such riveting polo, gorgeous weather and Val de Vie's fine wines flowing, it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of our calendar!

Holiday time is approaching and I am sure everyone can’t wait for the long awaited festive season the lies ahead of us.
The polo club will be closed from the 19 December and will re-open on the 4 January.

The ponies are going to enjoy a mid season break, which will give them time to re charge those batteries, put on a bit of condition and get them ready for the busy polo that awaits them next year.

We have had a great season so far, the polo and skill that has been exceptional and we are expecting a number of overseas visitors in the new year.

We have sadly said goodbye to a very important Val De Vie personality, Toffee. He was a very precious and dear little chap. He has moved to a big farm in Stellenbosch, with huge lush fields that would be the dream of any pony, to be a companion to another horse. We are also sadly saying goodbye to a very special polo pony, Angel, who has been with us since July 2011. She has unfortunately become blind in her one eye and can’t play polo anymore. She will be going back to Natal to retire on a farm with her previous owners.

We have had a number of new ponies arriving at Val De Vie over the past couple of months. We also welcomed Jason Drew s three ponies, Whistler, Charlie and Hunk at the beginning of October, Gavin Watson’s two ponies, Fernanda and Pepita that arrived at the beginning of November and we welcomed Joseph Bronn s three polo ponies that arrived on the 6 December all the way from Natal. Girlie, BMW and Jura stepped out of the truck late Tuesday afternoon and settled into the Val De Vie way of life as if they had been here before.

The Bentley Polo was held on Friday 25 November, with all the top polo players from around the province coming together to display their talents and skill on the polo field. This was truly a chart topper of an event with the prestigious Bentleys everywhere added in the mixture with exceptional polo, what more could you ask for?

Val De Vie was very proud to sponsor a Championship class at the South African Dressage Championships that were held in Stellenbosch from the 14 till the 20 November. We have a number of talented Dressage riders from Val De Vie that will start competing in shows next year such as Karen Dormehl on her young horses Kontikki and Frosty Kiss, Stacey de Villiers on her horse Dallas and Michelle Evert riding her new polo pony, True Rhythm. Hopefully all of these riders will be competing at the next SA Dressage Championships and we can offer as much support to them along the way as possible.

That’s all from us at the Polo club for now, wishing you all the best for the holidays!

Tehri

The Western Province Show Jumping Championships where held at Glenellen Farm in Hout Bay over the weekend of the 25, 26 and 27 November. There where riders from all over the country that travelled the 1000km + to compete for the title, Western Province Adult Show Jumping Champion. The riders who compete in the big championship class are tested over fences that can get up to 1.40m high, over a course of 12 plus jumps ranging from water jumps to a triple combination with one stride in between. Jumping those heights is the ultimate test between every horse/rider combination. The final result was in first place Jeanne Engela and Liam Stevens in second place.

Tehri travelled through to the Championships on the Saturday morning with her horse, Alfonso. It was their first show together as a team and they competed in the 90cm class. Tehri was very pleased with her talented young horse, being his first time in that arena, he did not put a foot/hoof wrong.

We are looking forward to an exciting new year in 2012 with all our competitive riders, we will be sure to keep you updated with all the show results.

Three of our young and talented riders competed in the Interschools Team Championships at the Evergreen Stables over the weekend of the 24 and 25 September. Tristene Joubert, Jaydee Joubert, Bronwyn Haasbroek and Erin Pape made Val De Vie very proud with their turn out, skill and overall results at the show. On the Saturday, Tristene and Jaydee competed in the Dressage classes scoring over 53% for their tests. This is a very good score considering that Jaydee is a National Polo Cross Player and Wild Cat, her horse is in fact a Polo Cross/Polo Pony.

On the Sunday, Erin competed in the 50cm Individual Competition, but unfortunately took a pole in the Jump off. Then she showed us all what she is made of and produced the most beautiful clear round in the Team Championship Class on her pony, Leo. Erin s team (Bridge House) ended up coming second overall. Tristene competed in the 60cm individual and produced a brilliant double clear but was not fast enough in the jump off to be in the top 4 places. We were very happy with her result, as it was also her first outing with her new horse, Edo. Jaydee competed in the individual 60cm competition and had a cracking round and ended up receiving third place. In the team event, Jaydee’s team (Girls High) ended up winning the 60cm Team Championship!

We would like to congratulate the Val De Vie Riders! We are very proud of you.

On Saturday 10 September, Karen Dormehl and her beautiful warm blood gelding, Kontiki, left Val De Vie early in the morning to set out for Kintiki’s first showing show (Kontiki is only four years old). We were very proud when we learnt that Kontiki came first in two of his classes on the weekend. He competed in the Milnerton Riding Club Spring Festival in the Best Walk and Best Trot categories. He was up against a large group of older and more experienced horses but managed to prove that he was the champion at the end of the day. Well done to Karen Dormehl, proud owner of Kontiki. It is very exciting and we can't wait to see him back in the show ring.

Val de Vie was the venue for Top Billing's Spring Men's fashion shoot. We absolutely love the coral accents in the outfits - very chic!

As the start to the new polo season is on the horizon, we are getting ready for what should be the best, most exciting polo season Val De Vie has see yet. With the growing numbers of people wanting to become members of the Val de Vie polo club every week, and our stables at full capacity, we are all very excited and can’t wait for the season to start in October.

I thought I would share a little information about what we, the Polo Club and Stable personal have been up to all winter. With the end of Polo Season at the beginning of 2011, the polo ponies have all had a well, long deserved rest. They have had the opportunity to re charge their batteries, relax, get as fat as possible and as furry as possible. The grooms and Polo Team have been keeping a close eye on them, making sure they get sufficient feed, love and attention.

The horses have been kept to a very structured schedule, being creatures of habit, they do not adjust to drastic changes very well. So we have to make sure that they get their feed at specific times in the morning and afternoon. Horses mainly get two meals a day . With drastic cases with horses either being drastically under weight, or at times of excess pressure and hard work, they can get up to 4 meals a day. The stomach structure is such that they need to have sufficient grazing all day long. Without this grazing, the stomach acids can cause serious damage which can lead to serious medical complications and stomach alsers. With the lack of grazing down at the sand paddock, we supplement the horses grazing with a product called oat hay.

We have also had a few more livery clients joining us over these past months, I would like to welcome them. Karen Lewis who has just recently purchased her new Polo Pony Angel. Stacey and Kaylee, they came to us from Franschoek with their three beautiful warm blood mares, Star Bucks, Dallas and Moet. Stacey is also a qualified Equine Physiotherapist, so if you are interested in having her look at your horse please feel free to contact me for more information. Tessa Moxon who also moved from Franschoek with her Polo Ponies and young warm blood mare that she will be training as a dressage horse. The Anderson Family, Anuchka, Albert and Sharron and their lovely ponies Trixi and Leo. Anuchka has represented South Africa in Show Jumping up in Johannesberg. Candice Starke who will be with us at the end of the month with her two very talented show jumpers Just London and Chase. Candice was competing in the 1.45m show jumping classes last year. We are very excited to have such top quality horses and riders at our yard. I am sure that the Val De Vie flag will be flying high at many of the big horse shows locally and nationwide in the months to come.

I would also like to welcome Erin and Marilyn Young. Erin has recently joined us from another stable yard in Cape Town, she is leasing a lovely pony from the Anderson Family, Leo. Erin is a very talented and gutsy rider and we can t wait for her to start competing and going to shows on her lovely pony.

The Polo Ponies have also just received their second African Horse Sickness Vaccination. We vaccinate the horses once a year during the “off season” . The purpose of this vaccination is to strengthen the horses immunity against this deadly viral disease which kills thousands of horses around South Africa every year. The vaccination consists of 2 injections 3 weeks apart. There are two types of AHS ( African Horse Sickness) that the horses can contract, Dunkop and Dikkop. I have inserted some additional information with regards to AHS below.

WHAT IS AFRICAN HORSE SICKNESS?
African horse sickness (AHS) is a highly infectious non-contagious, vector born viral disease affecting all species of Equidae. It is classified as an Orbivirus of the Reoviridae family of which there are 9 serotypes. All serotypes (1-9) are distributed throughout South Africa, although there is a variation in their temporal distribution. It is endemic to (occurs naturally on) the African continent, and is characterised by respiratory and circulatory damage, accompanied by fever and loss of appetite.

Host and Vector
Animals affected are, all breeds of horses (mortality rate of 70-90%), mules and donkeys. Wild life Equine species (Zebras) are resistant to the disease. The vector host, Culicoides midge, spreads AHS virus.

How do horses contract the disease?
AHS does not spread directly from one horse to another, but is transmitted by the Culicoides midge, which becomes infected when feeding on other infected equidae. It occurs mostly in the warm, rainy season when midges are plentiful, and disappears after frost, when the midges die. Most animals become infected in the period associated with sunset and sunrise, when the midges are most active.

Symptoms
The disease manifests in three ways, namely the lung form, the heart form and the mixed form. The lung (dunkop) form is characterised in the following manner:

• very high fever (up to 41 degrees).
• difficulty in breathing, with mouth open and head hanging down.
• frothy discharge may pour from the nose.
• sudden onset of death.
• very high death rate (90%).

The heart (dikkop) form is characterised in the following manner:

• fever, followed by swelling of the head and eyes.
• in severe cases, the entire head swells (“dikkop”).
• loss of ability to swallow and possible colic symptoms may occur.
• terminal signs include bleeding (of pinpoint size) in the membranes of the mouth and eyes.
• Slower onset of death, occurring 4 to 8 days after the fever has started.
• Lower death rate (50%).

The Polo Ponies will start exercising in September so they can lose their winter “fat layer” and get into shape for Polo Season that starts in October. I am sure many of the Polo Players will also be exercising to rid themselves of the excess “winter warmth layers” that have accumulated over the past couple of months. The horses exercise program will consist mainly of walking for the first couple of days around the track located around the stick n ball field and then we will gradually increase the exercise speed and distance as the weeks go by, so the Ponies will be sleek, fit galloping machines come polo season. As for the Polo Players, we have the gym and Mieke! There are many exciting events, tournaments and family days planned so be sure to keep a close eye on the Events calendar. Polo lessons and educational chukkas with Kevin Rixon will also start in October.

Tehri

Here are some great photos from the Educational Chukkas we hosted on 14 April 2011.

Val De Vie Red: Rolf Thielen, George Mumba, Gavin Kanigowski, Tessa Moxon
Val De Vie Blue: Jessica Henrich, Karen Lewis, Kevin Rixon, Gavin Watson
Referee: Roy Rixon

The Val De Vie Cape Town Cup will be held at the Val De Vie Estate this week. We have some of South Africas top players joining us for the 6 goal tournament.

The days and times are as follows:

Wednesday: 02 March 2011

Cape Town Polo Club vs. Val De Vie Polo Club at 4pm
Lanquedoc vs. Maremmana at 5h30pm

Thursday: 03 March 2011

Val De Vie Polo Club vs. Maremmana at 2pm
Cape Town Polo Club vs. Lanquedoc at 4pm

Saturday : 05 March 2011

Maremmana vs. Cape Town Polo Club 9am
Val De Vie vs. Lanquedoc 11h30am

Sunday : 06 March 2011

Team 3 vs. Team 4 at 9am
Team 1 vs. Team 2 at 12am

Please note that these times are subject to change due to extreme weather conditions.

Tonight at 645pm on Goodhope FM we have an interview with Clive Peddle - you can listen in via streaming on www.goodhopefm.co.za