I am 24 years old and have been involved in the equestrian way of life since day dock. Since being placed on a pony at the age of 3 I was hooked for life and never look back, much to my parents later financial regret I imagine. My father was a very successful show jumper both here in New Zealand and in the UK and my mother also grew up surrounded by horses. With 3 older brothers I always had plenty of ponies passed down to me over the pony club years but my real show jumping competition career started to heat up at about 13 with my very own pony, pride and joy, Waimanu Latoya. Although my father never had much faith in her abilities, I was in love and brought her on from a 5 year old to pony Grand Prix with some scattered success and she prepared me for my horse of a lifetime, Briten. I began to ride Briten in Junior Riders in my 14th year and was selected to be in the NZ team for the FEI Children’s qualifier competition, open to ages 12-14. This led me to be selected to compete in Colombia in a International children's competition they were holding there. A fellow kiwi, Courtney Myers, and myself went over to represent NZ and had the time of our lives. My first horse drawn was less than ideal and after they redrew me a new stallion I was out of the running for the main final but managed to win the Farewell final which was a massive thrill and the entire experience was incredible. On returning home I was more inspired than ever and I started to move up through the grades. I won my first young rider at the start of my 15year old season and was successful at young rider and Grand Prix throughout the season. At the end of the season Dad proposed we take two horses to England to compete over the English summer (NZ winter) and obviously it wasn't an opportunity I was going to turn down at any rate. So in April, at age 16, I headed over to a base in the UK where my father had based himself 20 years earlier with his own show jumpers. I was lucky enough to compete in England, France, Belgium and Holland for four months and got several prizes here and there but the experience I gained was unimaginable. We learnt a lot of lessons as we were overwhelmed with the selection of shows available to us and over competed the horses, which eventually meant they burnt out. This was a huge lesson but all part of the trip. After a very sad goodbye to the horses I returned home in August in the hope of finding a new horse to continue competing in NZ. However nothing seemed to compare to Briten and dad surprised me with the news that he was shipping him home in October. My other horse, Wild South, was to stay in England to be sold. Although we had a slow start to the season due to Briten recovering from his jet lag it was my best season yet with the confidence and experience I had picked up in Europe. In January we won the intermediate FEI challenge, winning me a place in the FEI final in Chile the following year aged 18. This was followed by also winning the Young Rider of the year title. In the years that followed I spent many winters training in Europe and the UK and usually based myself with a well-known English showjumping family, the Whitakers. From 18 to 22 I traveled a lot whilst also furthering my worldwide equestrian knowledge in Showjumping as well as polo that is a keen interest of mine. I also trained and continue to train the Pony Club Showjumping teams and take on horses for schooling as well as currently bringing on a team of young horses myself, with one very exciting 5year old prospect. Like any equestrian, my passion for horses never left me so my days continue to revolve around them and always will. Luckily through some amazing opportunities I have had I have got to travel and ride incredible horses all over the world in so many different disciplines.