EAST Kurrajong teenager Lucie Aldridge was part of a four-person team that won a jumping event at the Royal Easter Show.
It was quite an entrance to the show for Aldridge and the team from area one, including the Hawkesbury’s Michelle Niass and Tayla Turner, because none of them had ever competed at the Royal Easter Show before.
They won the Area Pony Club Showjumping Team of Four, for riders 12 years and under-17 years.
Aldridge said it was a surreal feeling knowing her team had won.
“We weren't sure at the end that we had won until they announced it and everyone was going really crazy,” she said.
“After the first round, we started last so we knew we were in first place.
“We had a couple of jumps down [in the second round] and there was only a few points between us and the team that came second so we couldn’t be certain we’d won.”
Aldridge said she would compete at the Hawkesbury Show this year, which would be the third time she had competed there.
The 16-year-old, who attends school in Dural, said she did not have much of a life outside riding horses.
“I get up in the mornings before school and ride and then I am back on it again after school,” she said.
“I started riding when I was about eight. I started riding when competitively when I was about 10.”
Aldridge said the thing she enjoyed most about jumping was the fact that she trained her own horses.
“I like training the horses and then going out and competing and having results and knowing that you improved the horse,” she said.
“It wasn't just a horse made for you and you just jumped on a rode it.”
Aldridge said she rode Ollie Olae, a seven-year-old warmblood cross thoroughbred, at the Royal Easter Show.
“My horse is really young so it is pretty amazing for him to even go to the Royal,” she said.
“He can get a bit scared but he was really good. I ride him pretty much everyday and my coach, Colleen Brook, helps me with a lot too.”
In the pony club section of the show, the Hawkesbury had a lot of success at the Royal Easter Show.
Londonderry’s Sarah Olsen won the pony club rider 15 years and under-17 class and was reserve champion pony club rider for under-17.
In zone pony club, North Richmond Pony Club (NRPC) won the Zone Pony Club Team of Four, for riders under-13 competition, with Maraylya Pony Club (MPC) coming second.
NRPC also won several other categories: it won the Zone Pony Club Team of Four, for riders 13 years under-17yrs; won the David John Whitford Perpetual Trophy; won the Jenko Perpetual Cup.
NRPC came second in Zone Pony Club Pairs, for riders under 13 years and was beaten by MPC and came second in the Zone Pony Club Pairs, for Riders 13years and under-17 years.
NRPC came second and MPC came third in the Zone Pony Club Pairs, for riders 13 years and under-17 years.