It was an awesome opportunity to be part of the Star Spotter scholarship. I am so thankful to New Zealand Performance Horses and ESNZ for the opportunity. The season didn’t necessarily go as planned but it turned out great in the end, well accept for Convid-19!
My plan was to get my pony, Mafia Man competing at the higher heights in showjumping. It quickly became clear that he preferred to remain at the lower heights. He wasn’t stopping or anything, it was just that his ears were not forward all the time and he didn’t seem happy to be doing it all the time. However, he was really enjoying eventing that my older brother and mentor, Nash had convinced me to give a go. We ended up going to Bruce Forbes Teams Eventing Champs together, which was awesome.
Nash was kind enough to give me the ride on his showjumping hack, Kiwi Buzz. He’s not an easy ride and it was pretty scary at first but with Nash’s help we did great. I placed or won in all but one of my ESNZ showjumping classes. I did my first meter class and placed at Feilding and we even won a blanket at Taihape showjumping!
I was thrilled with my season, even it was very different from what we had planned. I was so thankful to have the help of my mentors Gabby Rennie, Fenella Grisby and Nash Jordan. I really can’t believe how far we came in this season, especially considering that Kiwi Buzz is 29 years old! He is in great health and really seems to love being back out at the shows.
Next season I would like to continue showjumping Buzz and get him to Showjumping Champs. We are currently looking for a pony that I can do the higher heights on.
ESNZ Jumping Team
5 April 2020