me & my hobby
Pony club
Equestrian Margie Kehoe tells us about her love for her horse Buzz, Beas River eventing and brilliant gymkhanas. Introduce yourself to us… My name is Margie Kehoe, I’m twelve years old, I study at the Australian International School and I LOVE horse riding. Why horses? I’ve always loved animals and so about three years ago my mum suggested that I go on a holiday camp at the Clearwater Bay riding stables (Clearwater Bay Equestrian and Education Centre, CEEC). I enjoyed the camp so much that I asked mum to sign me up at every opportunity to go holiday camps after that. What do you enjoy about it? When I ride I get “into the zone”. I feel very calm and focused, I go with the flow and it’s a place where homework doesn’t exist. I feel at my happiest when I’m riding my horse, Buzz, in the big paddock at CEEC. He loves jumping as much as I do. Where do you ride? I still ride at the CEEC. Actually it’s not very close to home, the government stables in Pok Fu Lam would be a lot closer, but once I had fallen in love with all the horses at CEEC it was very hard to consider moving stables. I occasionally ride at Lo Wu Saddle Club for inter-school competitions and recently at Lei Yue Mun Riding School for an inter-club competition in the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s (HKJC) Children’s Cup Challenge. Do you have a favourite horse? I now have a horse on livery at the CEEC. He is a ten year old off-the-track thoroughbred who has been re-educated for the type of riding we do at the riding school. His stable name is Buzz and his racing name was Watch First. Buzz originally came from New Zealand and he stands 16 hands in height - which means 16 x 4”, so 64” from the ground to the top of his withers. What level is your riding at? The focus of my lessons is dressage and jumping as this is what I do in competition. Jumping is my favourite out of the two - I can
now jump a round of 70cm. In dressage we learn a test and we need to memorise it and practise. The test often involves stages of walk, trot and canter. It has taken a lot of practice to get to this level.
I feel at my happiest when I’m riding Buzz in the big paddock at Clearwater Bay.
How often do you ride? Two or three times a week, but I would ride every day if I could. I mostly ride in group lessons and occasionally have a private lesson when there is something specific I want to work on.
and I only reward Buzz when I think he’s done his best. Have you ever fallen off? Yes, many times! Too many to count. When I was first starting, falling off a horse came as a shock and was a big setback for my confidence. My riding instructors were great as they understood my feelings and were patient with me until my confidence returned. Is it a tough sport? There is much more to riding than you might think. Every move the horse makes is directed by the rider and to an onlooker this is not obvious. When we ride in competition at other stables we are assigned a horse out of a draw. This can be a challenge as I won’t know what makes this horse “tick”; every horse is different. What are your goals? I would love to eventually compete in cross country riding at Beas River.
What is your biggest achievement so far? When my CEEC team took first place in the school stage of the HKJC Children’s Cup Challenge at Lei Yue Mun Riding School. We couldn’t believe we had won, and the rosette was the biggest I’ve ever seen. What sort of equipment do you need? Tack can be super expensive, but the CEEC provides everything I need to ride. Recently I received my own stirrups for my birthday - I love them as the footplate is very grippy. I know that the length is adjusted for me so I don’t waste any time fiddling with stirrup length at the beginning of lessons. The other thing you need is treats. I try to remember to bring carrots and always have horse pellets in my bag. I’m a bit strict Buzz and Margie.
50 expat-parent.com