InFocus

Sometimes it is not that easy to get straight back on the horse again.  As a young girl, like many others, Tyla Myburgh, dreamed of owning a beautiful grey pony that may or may not have had a horn sticking out between its ears. Tyla begged and pleaded with her parents but the answer was always an emphatic, stern, no.

Undeterred, Tyla at age 6, who had never even ridden a pony, was already planning her Olympic debut.  It was only when her family took a trip home to South Africa that a chance arose for Tyla to have her first ever ride on a beautiful grey named Melody.  Somehow on their return to New Zealand, Tyla had convinced her parents to allow....

"I was five years old when I saw a sign ‘pony rides for 50 cents’. I can still recall being hoisted up onto that pony and the light travelling through my body. It was bliss. And I was hooked. My parents were immigrants. They travelled here to escape the war and real hardship. They had their own trauma and were consequently very strict and secretive. They hid their problems. Nobody wanted to be judged. Anxiety and depression could be seen as bad behaviour. The hypocrisy normalised a way of being and I always felt that I was wrong. There’s been alcohol and eating disorders and mental instability. I only just told my parents about the sexual abuse.

The day may come when after a lifetime of competitive riding you happily announce, "I will never ride in an arena again!" © iSpyHorses 

The man behind a philosophy that could well be carved in stone at every pony club. Franz Mairinger (1915-1978) the former famous Spanish Riding School Instructor, who was the official trainer for the Equestrian Federation of Australia and coached the team for six Olympics, had a very simple philosophy when it came to children. It was to teach them to love their ponies, to ride forward and to have fun. His belief was that if they loved their ponies, the children would learn to look after them properly. If they were taught to ride forward, that provided the foundation for anything that was to come in the future of their riding, and if they had fun, they would....

"He's twenty now and I've owned him since he was born. I was just a kid when I was given his mother. I was washing her down after a long ride over the farm and I noticed she had a really big udder. But I was only twelve and it meant nothing to me. The next day I went to catch her, and this guy only a few hours old came out from under the trees to meet me. The mare had foaled with a cover on as well. Thankfully everything was fine. He's been the most amazing horse and his mother is still going. She's along the road teaching a young girl how to ride." © iSpyHorses  Photo credit:Unique Moments

Hi, my name is Maddisyn and I’ve been riding for eleven years. I grew up around horses and mainly had one horse for most of my riding experience, Boston. However last year he was out due to cancer and I didn’t plan on giving up riding after him.  My mum knew I wanted to start eventing and competing again but it was very difficult for us because she was a single mother working two jobs so we couldn’t really afford another horse who would be capable of doing hardcore eventing. So, at first my mum bought a young horse for me named Jess who was quite problematic.  I wasn’t experienced enough to handle her.  We ended up selling her on after a few....

LAND ROVER HORSE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Samantha Carrington riding Colours of Lansing are the winners of THE FARMLANDS PONY OF THE YEAR 2020 

Photo Credit & Copyright Trewey’s Photography  www.ispyhorses.com

It was an Aussie trifecta in the Gold Tour Final on the last day of another hugely successful Takapoto Estate Show Jumping. Twenty-four of the very best combinations from both sides of the Tasman tackled a beautiful and rather challenging Michel Ismalun (France) designed course. Seven combinations were clear – Australians Izzabella Stone aboard the Kiwi bred Lincoln MVNZ, Amanda Madigan on Diamond B Vivienne, Kate Hinschen with Finch Farm Cadel, Paul Brent and his lovely stallion Fontaine Blue VDL and Amber Fuller on CP Aretino. Sarah West (Matamata) aboard Oaks Centurian and Oliver Croucher (Cambridge) on Waitangi Surf were the only Kiwis clear in the opener, with Nakeysha....