At the age of 5, I sat on a horse for the first time at the Darwin Showgrounds and I’ve been hooked ever since. My first pony was Pilgrim who came into my life when I was 8 years old, and gave me my first introduction into Pony Club and formal riding training. I sept some time in Asia, the UK and USA being a working pupil and receiving instruction from many amazing instructors such as Christopher Bartle, and General Baron von Blixen-Fineke Jr, the British Eventing coach.  I returned to Australia and obtained my Equestrian Australian Nation Coaching Certificate as a NCAS Level 1 General Coachin 1999, and haven’t stopped coaching since.

To date, I have trained and competed many talented and not so talented horses to Tasmanian State Championships levels to achieve multiple State Championship and Reserve Championship Titles.

Currently I am training and competing three very different horses, two of which are qualified for the 2024 State Dressage Championships.

Playin in Gold – aka “Elliot” is a palomino Quarter Horse, built like a rugby player but is adapting to dressage. He is cool, calm and collected, no fuss character but suppleness is not his forte!

Feldale Ana – aka “Arni” is the warmblood princess, who has all the physical talent and plenty of chestnut mare attitude at times. She coped very well at her first State Championships in 2023, and placed 3rd overall with it being only her third competition ever! She is now achieving consistent scores at Novice and is training Elimentary ready for this year!

Buzzy Bee – a palomino Arabian Warmblood gelding, has the looks, plenty of fancy moves and no idea what he’s got coming his way in the future! He is a sweet natured horse who loves attention but is very easily distracted. I can’t wait to see where we can get too this year.

Fiona was the classic ‘’horsemad but horseless’’ kid. She spent every waking moment thinking and dreaming about horses, but only got to ride at fortnightly riding school lessons. Fiona rode school horses and borrowed horses until the age of 21, when she got her first fulltime job (as a vet nurse) and bought her first horse.

Since then Fiona has made up for lost time and currently has 7 horses (parents, let this be a lesson to you about what happens when you deny your child a pony!). She competes in dressage, show jumping, eventing and showing and enjoys training horses from scratch. Fiona currently has the wonderful Linbil White Cloud who is a local celebrity in her own right and is widely known as ‘’the Queen’’.

Fiona has a strong interest in animal welfare and particularly ethical training and riding. She likes to let her horses choose their preferred discipline and tries to enhance their inherent strengths through progressive, positive training. Fiona is looking forward to starting two young horses (one a half brother to Cloud) over the next few years. The rest of her paddocks are full of retirees enjoying their lives as paddock ornaments.

Oh, and she also likes to dress up.

My name is Sophie McNeill, I am 16 years old and living the life of horses. As far back as I can remember I have wanted a horse. As a kid I begged for a pony and for a long time my dad put up a fight. I went to lesson after lesson proving that I was worthy of a pony of my own. The years went by and miraculously, one day about five years ago my dad caved. My mum went and got a horse for herself which not many months later became mine.

Chase is a 15.2hh, Tb x Qh, chestnut Gelding, together Chase and I compete grade 2 (95cm) eventing representing Derwent Pony Club and the Derwent valley. I have owned Chase since he was 5 years old, he came to me as a very green horse having not done much since he was broken in as a 4-year-old, we worked hard for 5 years to grow to where we are now. Our journey together began with countless hours of flat work learning how to become a connected team as Chase was my first ever horse, I had so much to learn and Chase has taught me so much. So many tears, so many smiles and so many hours of hard work our eventing journey finally began in 2020. We were both still very green, but I had a dream for us, so we worked and grew together to where we are now. I am looking forward to what the future holds for us and exited to take on the challenge of next season.

Halla started showing interest in endurance at 9. Strapping for her mum at competitions. Then wanting to learn more she started pencilling for the tpr's and vets.

In her first season Halla & Buffy successfully completed 7x40km. This earned her Intermediate Rider if the year 2019.

Last season Halla stepped up to 80km competitions. In doing this she also stepped up to an Arab (Mickey). She completed 3x80km's qualifying herself and Mickey. She again stepped up to another horse (Shimmer). Halla and Shimmer then campaigned towards Tas State Championships. Unfortunately through no fault is their own they had to retire at 80km's. This was still enough to earn her Tas Junior Rider of the year 2020.

This season Halla and Shimmer have pushed themselves aiming for Distance Horse & Rider. So far they have successfully completed 9 x 80kms and 1x120km (100% completion) with only State Champs left on the calendar.

So far Halla and Shimmer have together clocked up 1080km with no vet outs. Care of her horse and successful completions is what Halla is striving for, not the individual win.

Georga has been riding ever since she could walk. She started her riding career on a Shetland pony named Sophie, who typically left her on the ground in search for more grass. You could say Georga’s determination started early. After going through pony club, Georga was lucky enough to be given a job by Olympian Sonja Johnson as a riding groom which saw her move from Tasmania to Western Australian for 2 years once she had finished collage. In her time with Sonja, she produced young horses and competed up to 2* eventing. Georga was able to groom for Sonja at both Melbourne and Sydney 3-day events and at 5* level at Adelaide. Georga also went to Europe as Sonja’s groom as part of the Australian Squad in preparation for the Rio Olympics.

After two years of working away Georga returned home to Tasmania with a Thoroughbred which had been purchased for her to continue competing, his name is Parkiarrup Graphite (aka Graph). Georga and Graph have been competed at 2* level eventing and are aiming for Melbourne 3-day event 2022. Georga has her sights set high and if all goes to plan, will attend Adelaide 3-day event in the 3*. Georga also has a young warmblood mare who she is retraining and hopes to have her out eventing in the near future.

Georga also dedicates a lot of her time giving back to the sport and is currently the Southern Tasmanian Eventing Association (STEA) president. In the future Georga hopes to earn her course designers ticket to be able to help develop new and existing ross-country courses in the state.