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Taking a team of teenage girls overseas for competition is often fraught with problems. Team managers have to hope they get along well, will act as a team, and that any parent that accompanies the youngsters will behave.
I am really happy to say the four girls I took to Nelson in the South Island of New Zealand were everything you would hope. Katherine Climas, Amy Cleland, Isabella Wright and Ingrid Williamson behaved well, looked the part, were very supportive of each other and competed exceptionally well.
The first of the overseas challenges came at Barastoc earlier this year and happened because I met Judith Hay, a GP dressage rider and coach when I judged a couple of years back at Auckland. We both have an strong interest in young riders, and when Judith found I ran the Barastoc Showmanship Championships we decided that she should find young riders and bring them over to ride with ours in a Team Challenge.
They came, saw and
conquered, and we have an invitation to take a team to Kumeu show in
the New Zealand North Island in March.
With all this happening, Michelle O’Connor, ex Pat Victorian , well versed in competing at Barastoc now living in a glorious part of the South Island and knows me well, contacted me and said “hey! What about us?!….”Well nothing is impossible, so I approached Katherine, Isabella and Ingrid’s parents to see if we could form another team and compete at Nelson Show.
We liaised a lot – thank goodness for email, about flights,hire cars, motels and what to wear as a team and armed with caps and shirts provided by Roger Hyland form Jodhpurs Direct we headed off. Nelson has to be one of the loveliest parts of the world. Huge Mountains drift right down to the ocean, and as far into the distance as you can see, snow in late November can still be seen on the faraway ones…The Nelson kids had their own selection trials on the Friday with some very capable youngsters, Nicola Butt, Dee Hetzel, Rhiannon Lawrence and Amy Hardcastle
Each of our girls rode very well, and were supportive of each other, parents were happy to be part of it, but left me to my job of sorting the kids out through the four phases of the competition. Ingrid hadn’t done the in hand section before, but has a natural talent for it. Her bay horse was the perfect sort of mount for this type of class. Amy and Isabella struck trouble when the Wood chopping started right next to that ring and wound up leading helicopters rather than show horses as the two horse found it all a bit too much to be expected to stand with that noise, but they managed.
Amy’s big grey horse, who doubles as a police horse/jumper/show hunter in his other life knew just what was needed when it came to jumping and flat work and Katherine was pleased when she drew a lovely coloured horse, who was totally unflappable. The jumping phase over traditional show hunter fences was interesting.
These are popular tests in NZ and test a rider because they don’t get to walk the course prior. Riders have to study the plan and work out their striding and distances, and the fences are not numbered, so everything is done from the plan.
Our four girls had no trouble, as they are all jumping competitors on this side of the water. and I was really pleased with the way they rode. We won the test, and very much look forward to the Nelson crew visiting Barastoc in February.
Isabella was very taken with her borrowed mount Jessica Rabbit, a pretty Thoroughbred , and the mare’s rider, 14-year-old Alice Hamer is going to come over to Barastoc and have a ride on one of Isabella’s horses in whatever classes she can.
The Tasmanian kids will come to Barastoc as well, so the “Trans Tasman” will really be a three-way competition in February.
I hope it’s as happy an event as the New Zealand one was.. and I hope we get back there next year. Thank you Michelle O’Connor and Sandy Hamer for the hard work you put in getting it started. Thankyou to those who trusted us with their horses, thanks to the girls for being the perfect team and to the parents, you were also the perfect parents.
Fran Cleland |
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Overseas
travel to compete on a team can be a little overwhelming, but it
does kids a lot of good, widening their horizons, polishing their
people skills, and giving them some wonderful memories and
friendships.
I
really liked the 14 year olds, who didn’t this year make it to the
top four, but give them a year and watch out. The horses were drawn
after their class, and we were pretty lucky with ours, all nice
horses that allowed the girls to concentrate on the job at hand.
We
have been offered the use of some nice horses for them and they ARE
very nice young riders, and the experience of competing in a
Showmanship competition will have taught them a lot about what’s
needed.