Horse of the Year Contender
Georgia Allison Words & photos by Cathy Dee
Georgia Allison is no stranger to the world of equine competition, having ridden her first show at the age of 4 and completed her first One Day Event at the tender age of 5. This year she will be taking 2 horses to Hawkes Bay to compete at the ‘Horse of the Year’. ‘Hokey Pokey’ (pictured), is a 9 year old Gypsy Cob (John Brodie) X Thoroughbred who will be competing in Show Hunter, Dressage and the show classes, and ‘Paintball’, a 10 year old crossbred, who will be in the show hunter and show jumping. “Jumping would have to be my favourite thing to do, but with that comes a lot of schooling”. Georgia says she puts in at least 2 hours a day during the week, all day in the weekends with most of the work being schooling and hacking out. “I don’t jump much at all, except at the competitions, unless they are young or inexperienced”. Horse of the Year encompasses many disciplines from Lead rein classes, Grand Prix dressage, show jumping, to 4 star eventing. I ask her how long it takes to ready a horse for competition like Horse of the Year, “That depends how good you want to be! Personally, I’d be putting at least a good six months into a horse before taking it, but it depends on what level you’re competing as to whether it’s more or less”. Spills usually come with the sport, but Georgia says the worst fall she has had was when a pony took fright, spun around and fell on top of her. Fortunately, she walked away relatively unscathed with just a sprained ankle to show for it. She says she’s had much worse from being kicked, while working on the ground. Riding at this level requires huge discipline and love of the sport and watching Georgia ride, you can see her dedication is really paying off. “I am a perfectionist with OCD tendencies,” she says, “I love everything to be done a certain way”. Any tips for young up and coming riders? “Practice, practice, practice! Work hard and make sure you are really confident at the level you’re doing”. We’ll be following Georgia at Horse of the Year and wish her all the best with both horses.
HORSE RIDING
• Lessons and trekking
• Over 80 well-schooled horses available or BYO • Preparation for certificates • Dressage, Show Jumping & Cross Country • Weekend courses • School holiday courses • Full livery service available “We now offer Payment Plans through Ezypay that allow you to make small regular payments for your horse riding”
Kowhai Residential School of Riding Ltd 711 Island Road, Oxford Ph: 03 312 4309 www.kowhai.co.nz RIGHT : Georgia pictured riding Hokey Pokey
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