We were always going to write this article about Katie Laurie before the year finished, but think it is fitting that we post it today, so we can take this opportunity to wish Kate’s dad, Jeff McVean, all the very best for his birthday!
Perhaps we should have written the article about him, but instead it is about Katie as this is the last full year she plans to spend in New Zealand. Katie, Jackson and their two children are preparing to move to Australia permanently, and while we will be sad to see Katie move away, we will be following her endeavours over there closely. You can read all about her decision to move in the very popular exclusive article on her Australian plans.
Katie has had a good year in many ways. Not only did she celebrate her 30th birthday in May, but in early July she and Jackson welcomed their second child, Royce, to the world. Grace was delighted to greet her little brother, and grandparents Jeff and Vicki were also tickled pink to have their first grandson after a lovely run of four fillies. Katie certainly timed both her pregnancies well, as in both cases she was able to finish the jumping season, riding at the Horse of the Year show before nesting in the winter. We caught up with her about baby matters when she had just announced her second pregnancy, and asked if this great timing was planned. “No, it just happened,” she smiled. She went on to say that she has been lucky with her pregnancies, not suffering morning sickness with either. “At the end of the day, I get a lot more tired than normal. By 5 or 6 o’clock at night, oh, I am so tired. I don’t get cravings, just chocolate – I want more chocolate all the time!”
Katie notched up some good wins in February, March and April, including at the Horse of the Year show where she won Lady Rider of the Year on Dunstan Springfield. It was her fifth Lady Rider title! She also won Speed Horse of the Year on Dunstan Carlo and had many other prizes with her good team. She cleaned up earlier at the Nationals in Christchurch, including great results on Dunstan Casebrook Lomond, Dunstan Lucca, Dunstan On the Point Eve, Dunstan On the Point Sandy, Dunstan Dorothy and Dunstan De Boss. Full results from the Nationals are in the article on this link.
Katie started the spring with a roar, winning the first Grand Prix of the season at Pukahu show. Some of her wins include the Gisborne show’s Grand Prix on Dunstan Casebrooke Lomond, the Grand Prix at the Fiber Fresh Grand Prix Jumping Show at Woodhill Sands with Dunstan Lucca, and another one in October at Woodhill Sands on Dunstan On the Point Eve as well as the Grand Prix at APL Showjumping Waikato Festival of Jumping at Mystery Creek on Dunstan Casebrooke Lomond in November.
Katie followed our coverage of the Olympics very closely and was one of the few to pick her dad’s good mate, Nick Skelton, to win the gold medal on Big Star, which he duly delivered for her…
There were some sad times for Katie and her team though, as Flower Power, one of the great mares in their breeding programme, passed on in May. She was the dam of many of Katie’s jumpers, as well as being the winner of many titles herself with Jeff riding. Her progeny include Dunstan Dorothy and Delilah, both of whom were sold to Australia, as well as Delta and of course the very successful Delphi.
Katie also shared her knowledge with NZH&P followers in other articles on our website. The warm up tips article was very popular as was our First & Last article on Dunstan Springfield.
Katie will be competing in the rest of the New Zealand jumping season, and we look forward to seeing her at the World Cup Final at Woodhill Sands on the 14-15th January, and at other events, especially the Horse of the Year Show in Hastings 7-12 March.
We wish you all the best for your Christmas, Katie and family!
We hope you enjoy this selection of our favourite photos of Katie and some of the team, including owners, family and horses!
