InFocus

iSpyHorses is excited to announce their sponsored team for the Takapoto Team Championship, which will be held at the Takapoto Estate Showjumping event on the 21/2/20 during the Takapoto Estate Show running through from 20th February to the 1st March, 2020.

iSpyHorses’ team of 3 comprises of the high profile, talented, professional show jump riders, Tegan Fitzsimon, Brooke Edgecome (Zander) and Briar Burnett-Grant. These riders were the top 3 overall in last season’s Longines FEI World Cup, and iSpyHorses has high hopes for a great result in the  Takapoto Championship Team’s event. 

Not....

New Zealand’s equine stars of tomorrow have a chance to show their skill at the East Coast Performance Horses National Young Horse Show in Hawke’s Bay this week. The annual event finds champions across the four, five, six and seven-year-old age groups in both showjumping and show hunter, and this year organisers are expecting up to 500 horses at the Hawke’s Bay Showgrounds in Hastings. The show kicks off on Friday (December 13) and runs through to Sunday. Each day the age group classes will be whittled down as horses gather accumulative faults before Sunday’s grand final. As well as championship crowns on the line, there are style prizes in each age....

Williamson Winging Her Way Back to Aussie for WC League Final

  Wendi Williamson is heading back across the Tasman to take on Australia’s best in the FEI World Cup Pacific League Final at the Serata Equine Victorian Dressage Championships next week (December 12-15, 2019). The environmental engineer from Kumeu is no stranger to tackling the top of her sport – in 2017 she and the late Dejavu MH won the Pacific League final and went on to compete at the FEI World Cup final in Nebraska, in the United States. In October she and Don Amour MH were second in the Grand Prix at the Sydney CDI-W and then set an Australian Grand Prix....

Top showjumper, coach and horse trainer, Dani Maurer (28) is well known within the equestrian community, not only for her huge successes but also for her kind and gentle way with horses.  She is based in Kaukapakapa, Auckland, on her parent’s lifestyle property and regularly travels around NZ to one show jumping event after the other. 

Competing with a team of 9, her signature, other than that she is rarely out of the placings, is perhaps that she wears different beautiful riding jackets to match the horse’s colors and consequently is always professionally turned out and looking very classy. 

It was not many months ago at NZ’s....

Up and coming, promising young Event rider, Maddy Crowe (26) has recently returned to NZ after competing successfully in the Australian International 3 Day Event in Adelaide, and the Wallaby Hill International 3 Day Event.   Maddy flew her top horse, Waitangi Pinterest, fondly known as Lush, across the ditch to compete in these two prestigious events. Waitangi Pinterest, a well established, 4* horse, is an 11 y/o, 16.2 hh, TB/Warmblood, sired by Cassiano & out of an Aberlou mare.

“Lush and I have been a team for three and a half years now.   She has the biggest heart and the best temperament.  She is really special and will do anything....

Needing little introduction, Amanda Pottinger (28) is one of New Zealand’s few top-level international eventers.   Amanda’s team of 4 quality horses reside at Kokako Farms in Fernhill, Hawkes Bay.  The property boasts 230 hectares of sheep and beef country, plus all the equestrian facilities you would ever want, including 4 big stables, 8 paddocks and an arena.  Amanda lives nearby in Havelock North.  At Massey University, Amanda gained a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture which she puts to good use working as a Business Analyst for the BELL Group Dairy Farming Company.  Three days a week Amanda goes into work at the dairy farming....

Specialist equestrian photographer, Sophie Simson is well-known, talented and intuitive, proving time and time again through her images that she has a gift for capturing just the right moment.  She’s seen brilliant times of equestrian activities, the worst of times, everything in between and across many different disciplines.

Originally from Masterton, Sophie, 34, has always had the photography bug and she has always loved horses.  These two interests blended well together.  From age 5, Sophie lived with her Grandmother in Christchurch and spent many years going to the racetrack and riding her cousins' ponies.  Sophie recalls being 6 when she....

Not only in New Zealand but also internationally, Olivia Robertson, 24, has enjoyed great success with her show jumpers.  Daughter of the famous former All Black, Duncan Robertson, Olivia attributes her competitive spirit to him.  With a bit of a chuckle, Olivia told us, “Our family motto that I've known from since I can remember, is 'never give up, never give in and never come second.'”

Olivia grew up in Queenstown and began riding at age 7.  Her career began with eventing, but she transitioned to straight show jumping at age 13, when she purchased the Grand Prix pony, Sweet Edition.  The two quickly became a team and....