Would four young horse-mad women on a tour with a bunch of similar people from other countries have fun? You bet!
The 2017 Pony Club Inter-Pacific rally is being held in Carolina, USA, near Tryon where where the World Equestrian Games are to be held next year. The New Zealand Pony Club has a team involved, and the rally has just got under way.
Nicole Sweney (Franklin Thames Valley), Zoe Gordon (Hawke’s Bay), Rosa Reiger (Auckland) and Jenny Bevege (Waikato) are our team; their coach is Anne Marie Styles and their manager is Louise Ilton.
Nicole, a 20-year-old university student (studying commerce and law) has travelled to Australia before, but never as far as the USA. While she is a bit of a dressage specialist, she also does some eventing, show jumping and show hunter, so her skills in all those areas will no doubt come in handy!
This trip has not only involved Zoe’s first time on a plane, but she also turned 21 in-flight, although with the time difference, she was able to celebrate it properly on reaching the US. Zoe is studying computer systems at EIT in Taradale, and lives just out of Havelock North. She attends Havelock North Pony Club and competes in 1* eventing, level 2 dressage and does show jumping as well.
Rosa is in her second year of a four-year double degree of sports management and business at Auckland University. She’s another who competes in most disciplines, does coaching and has also fitted in a gap year working for Jesse Campbell in the UK.
Jenny is the youngest in the team at 19, but is already in the second year of her Bachelor of Entrepreneurship at Waikato University. Originally from Piopio in the King Country, she too has wide experience at all horse activities available at pony club but now specialises in eventing. Jenny spent a month in the UK in 2014, and found time to groom for Caroline Powell at Barbury Castle three-day!
The manager is Louise Ilton, from Ashhurst. Louise is a highly respected coach and won the NZPCA coach of the year in 2015. She is a teacher at Apiti Primary School.
The team’s coach is Anne-Marie Styles from Clevedon. Anne Marie has had plenty of success in eventing, and is still competing, producing some lovely young horses.
Getting to North Carolina was quite a mission, involving plenty of time in planes and airports. There are teams from USA, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia competing, and so far the tour has involved going to a baseball game, a trip to Walmart and a good day out (including some shopping) in Greenville, one of the closest cities to Tryon and a place where many of the spectators at WEG may well be staying. From the team’s reports, it sounds like an impressive place.
The Kangaroo Cup is the first serious competition, and the teams (mixed from the different countries) have drawn their horses and have had some time to practice. The competition involves dressage and jumping over a derby-like course with both show jumps and cross-country fences.
There is plenty of action and excitement to come over the next few days too, culminating in the Nations Cup (show jumping) in Tryon. The rally is due to finish on July 10.
Inter-Pacific rallies are held every two years. Last year Canada hosted the rally, and the USA won the Nations Cup, with Australia and New Zealand second and third. The next rally will be in Hong Kong in 2019.
A lot of the pony clubbers who’ve represented New Zealand at Inter-Pacific rallies have gone on to do well in equestrian sports. A few notable names include Jody Hartstone, Campbell and Jenny Draper (Jenny was Jenny Inglis then and she and Campbell met on the trip), Dan Jocelyn, and Tom and Christen Lane (who met somewhere else and were in different years!).
Good luck team, and have fun.
