Sam and Ricker Ridge Pico Boo in Adelaide
“More and more people are realising that you can compete internationally from here in New Zealand but you still have to go do your time overseas”
In 2016 the 25 year old New Zealand rider Samantha Felton was awarded an Emerging Talent performance Enhancement Grant by High performance Sport New Zealand; she decided to use it by spending time competing in Australia as a stepping stone to a possible UK- based campaign. The aim was primarily to ‘tick the boxes in lots of learning experiences’ but some good results also helped build her confidence
“To go over and realise that we were actually a lot more competitive than we thought we were going to be was a really cool thing to learn’
Sam took two horses to Australia in early October 2016 and competed at Goulburn Horse Trials, the Australian International 3 Day Event and Wallaby Hill.
Sam and Ricker Ridge Pico Boo finished third in both the CCI3* at Goulburn and the CIC3* in Adelaide and, although various problems from a face abscess to lameness, prevented Ricker Ridge Escada performing at his best, he still finished 11th in Adelaide and, on returning to New Zealand, he came second in the CCI3* at Puhinui.
Things didn’t quite turn out as planned at Wallaby Hill but, as Sam points out, things don’t always go to plan in eventing and the whole experience of learning how to push through when times are tough was a valuable one.
Sam’s experience in Australia is a good example of how New Zealand is hoping to help their up and coming riders transition through the Australian competition circuit - listen to our interview with Sarah Dalziell-Clout, Equestrian Sports New Zealand high performance director on that subject here
Pretty cool - third in the CIC3* behind Oliver Townend and Megan Jones!
