ggy, however the mist soon gave way to a beautiful sunny day, much to the delight of all the hard working team at Glen Haven Park. Our big day had arrived - the Glen Haven Park Open Day!By 9.30am most of the distinguished guests were enjoying a light morning tea, after their journey to Kilcoy and taking in the ravishing scenery ... and we certainly did have distinguished guests visiting us on this important day!
Amongst our very important visitors were members
of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (including Mr Ng Ser Miang the Chairman and Mr Goh Kee Nguan the CEO), Mr Chris Hodson 2nd Vice President FEI, Mr Russell Withers Executive Member Australian Olympic Committee, Mr Franz Venhaus CEO Equestrian Australia, Dr Melanie Chew President Equestrian Federation Singapore and many other important people including Queensland and Local Government Officials.The off
icial tour of Glen Haven Park commenced with a showjumping demonstration on our full size showjumping arena, complete with the beautiful new jumps. Paula commentated the jumping display, explaining to the visitors what the horses and riders were doing and clarifying the finer points of showjumping for the fascinated spectators. Olivia, Emma and Tom rode 15 different Singapore Youth Olympic Games horses over a 1.20m course and thrilled our visitors with 
their skill and talent. All horses - who were immaculately turned out and fully plaited - jumped beautifully and were a credit to their riders/trainers. The crowd showed their appreciation at the end of each round with a burst of applause and were even able to pat and have their photo taken with some of the horses.After the jumping display it was time to visit the stables and meet more of the horses. The Singapore horses are very friendly and love to socialise. They were certainly thrilled at having so many admirers! There were plenty of photo opportunities, with everyone getting up close and
personal and meeting the real life Singapore horses, who to most people had only been names on paper prior to this day.After meeting the horses, our visitors gathered for a demonstration by attending vets Dr Julian Wilmore and Dr Paul Hatten. Julian and Paul demonstrated inserting a microchip (all the Singapore horses are microchipped) and how to take a leg xray with a portable xray machine. Paul then explained and demonstrated the process he follows when carrying out the vet inspections each month. This gave everyone present an insight into how seriously horse health care is taken here at Glen Haven Park.
Following the vets' demonstration, our multi-talented rider/trainer, Tom Sedger (who is also a Master Farrier) gave a hot shoeing display and explained the practicalities behind horse shoeing, as well as showing the many different types of horse shoes he makes, depending on each particular horse's needs. To top off Tom's display, some of our visitors were given a horse shoe of their own to take home, as a memento of their day at Glen Haven Park!
Everyone was very impressed with the automated horse walker and some fascinated guests were also given a tour of the horse trucks, so they could see first hand how the horses travel to shows. For our visitors who had not previously had any experience with horses, the day was full of wonders!
All too soon the farm tour was over and it was time for a very well deserved lunch at the Glen Haven Park homestead, where conversation was lively, discussing all that had been seen during the visit. After lunch and some very flattering speeches, Mr Ng Ser Miang, Chairman of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee, on behalf of SYOGOC, presented Paula with a beautiful plaque, which declared that Glen Haven Park is the Official Equestrian Training Farm for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Thank you to all who attended the Open Day and we hope you enjoyed the opportunity to see Glen Haven Park, meet the dedicated team and, of course, the horses who will be such an important part of the Youth Olympic Games in August.
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