Dust Me Off & Indiana Knuckey | Polished Pair Prepare for Melbourne International 3DE.
Dust Me Off and Indiana Knuckey are the latest talented off the track combination to be sponsored for their Melbourne Three Day International Event campaign.
Dust Me Off, a 2011 gelding by Trade Fair, trained with Paul Tapper across is 69 starts for four wins, one second and five thirds. He retired in 2018.
Then 15-year-old Indiana was looking for another Trade Fair progeny to follow in the footsteps of Trader Joe (Hoosier). After speaking to Linda Brenzi, it was suggested she meet Dust Me Off, who had been exposed to various environments and even jumped by his trainer. Indiana recalls how rideable the gelding was from the beginning.
“He’s a busybody who enjoys learning, so it has been fun teaching him. He really makes you laugh when he gets up to mischief.” Says Indiana.
Dust Me Off, affectionately known as Jax, quickly adapted to the pony club environment. It didn’t take long for Indiana to work out that he had a bold, brave and very cheeky attitude. Within five months of retiring from racing Jax competed in the 80cm class at the Wallangara PC ODE, winning and taking home a rug. Straight out of the gate, he set expectations high.
The pair soon knuckled down and put in work under jumping coach Nellandra Henry. 2019 was mostly spent at pony club, a few jumping events and some 80cm eventing starts. In July 2020 Jax had his first 95cm eventing start. They soon turned their focus to improving their dressage score with Wendy Cumming.
With this solid foundation, and after working on getting Jax feeling right they made their 2* debut at Murray CCN last year. They have since tackled the 2* course at South West Horse Trials, placing second overall and Best Performed Off the Track Horse. They have recently returned to the Murray Regional Equestrian Centre to revisit the 2* course, placing fifth.
Jax and Indiana will be travelling across the Nullarbor on 27 May to compete in the Off the Track^ 2*-L class at Melbourne International Three Day Event. The event, held at Werribee Park National Equestrian Centre starts 8 June and concludes 12 June.
We wish Jax and Indiana all the best of luck in Victoria!
^This class is open for all breeds.
