Livi and CARETINO JEWEL during her outstanding round in the Dunstan Horse Feeds Silver Tour Final 1.40m at Takapoto Estate Show Jumping 2021. Right - Oracle (DISTINCTION MSNZ) out for a farm hack. Livi is lucky enough to have the hills to keep the horses fit. a Million. “I had only really done a bit of Pony Club and Showtym camps. She was the best pony in the world and took me to 1.20m and pretty much-winning everything competitively at that height.” A second pony, Just Nuts, followed, and Livi was a force to be reckoned with at 1.15m-1.20m. “One season, I did 14 classes at that height, and I think I won 11 of them between the two ponies,” she says. “I got into show jumping really because of the Wilson sisters and watching them jump their horses. I just love the thrill of it, the adrenaline, giving it your all and knowing your horse is there for you, and you’re there for your horse.” At just 12, Livi got her first hack, Caretino Jewel (Scotty). “The first time I rode him was bareback in the river. He was the devil of the stable, no one liked riding him except Vicki, but we just clicked. The next day I rode him in a snaffle, which was a bit of a risk, and she chucked the jumps up to about 1.20m, and he just popped over them. I thought, I could do this; this could be fun.” When asked how mum felt about this, Bini laughs that it happened to be a weekend she wasn’t there. “By this stage, Livi was very capable, and I got a phone call to say she would be riding him at the Waitemata World Cup Show. Vicki entered Livi in the 1.20m and the Junior Rider, and I trusted her. I knew she would only put Livi on if she had enough common sense.” Not only did it go well, the pair got into the jump-off, but she also rode Vicki’s old World Cup mount, Showtym Cadet (Ollie), for the first time at the same show, winning the Junior Rider. It was about this time the Wilson sisters started to go their separate ways, and the Newsoms purchased both Scotty and Ollie for Livi.
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