The road from Western Australia to Taupo in New Zealand is a long one but two young riders chosen to represent Australia on the Oceania Championships Young Rider team have had their path smoothed by a fund raising evening that was a lot of fun. Kenya Wilson tells us about it ..............
Kenya Wilson and Shenae Lowings
The time between the announcement of the Young Rider Oceania team and the event taking place in New Zealand was exactly a month, so we knew if we were going to plan a fundraiser to raise some funds to help Shenae Lowings, Emily Gray and myself (who were at this point on the long list) get to New Zealand we had to start early. To be quite honest I thought this was just a way to jinx ourselves. But for us, coming from Western Australia this trip would be an expensive one of approximately $20,000 round trip. Our fundraiser would be held on the 16th of April at the beautiful Stewart’s Restaurant at Brookleigh Estate, only one day after the announcement of the shortlist.
The response by the equine community here in WA was incredible! We had some amazing auction items for our silent auction donated to us including a Kalbarri Beach Resort Week holiday valued at $1100, Ramsay’s Horse travel voucher valued at $1000, 1L of Anitone, homemade quits, a WEG t-shirt signed by Shane Rose and Stuart Tinney, a 10kg Block of Cadbury Chocolate, and the list goes on with over 50 items up for grabs!
In the lead up to the team announcement, sadly Emily Gray broke her collarbone before the WAYER CIC qualifier due to a mishap with a young horse. However Emily was more determined then ever to get back on board and still came to WAYER to support both Shenae and myself. Both Shenae and I completed and were happy with our result. Although still feeling nervous about the announcement of the team we were feeling a bit more confident after our second run of the year. One day out of the team announcement, after Emily had been riding again mostly pain free for a few day, Emily re-broke her collar bone by stretching her arm awkwardly at home. Emily then made the heart-breaking decision to withdraw her application. Shenae and I were both announced on the team the following day which felt like a relief but also that it was all just starting to begin… however we wished Emily was still able to be on with us!
The fundraiser went ahead and the night started off with a buzz! Our fantastic MC for the night, Michael Abbott (above), gave us some insight into the past of WA riders representing Australia on the world stage in eventing such as Oceania Championships, World Equestrian Games, and the Olympics, dropping names such as Sonja Johnson and Clayton Fredricks among many other talented riders sprouting out of our growing eventing community here in WA. Followed by this we had a fashion show put on by Horseland Midland, showing off all their latest winter and competition fashion for all ages. We had a great turn out of over 150 people coming to support our ‘fun(d)raiser’
The support here in WA is overwhelming and we could not thank the WA equine community enough for this. Hopefully our travels from here are successful and we know the WA equine community will be behind every step of the way!
Nikki Harwood (right) of Brookleigh Estate where the party was held with (from left) Di Bawden and Lee Bahnisch
Local eventing identity - Michael Dagostino
Tegan Lush
Robin Huntington and partner Emma Pearson (Southern Stars Saddlery)
