Amelia ‘Mouse’ Newsome and her lovely chestnut Mr Mexico have come a long way since they teamed up in October and today all that hard work paid off with the Cat C Pony Show Hunter of the Year title.

The 12-year-old from Tauranga is no stranger to success and her very determined little streak sees her achieving more than one would expect for her years. Show hunter is her thing, and she’s previously won the equitation for 12 and under and placed second in the Cat B among other top 10 placings. But even she was surprised by today.

“It is just amazing,” she said. “We were coming second after the first round. I was really nervous for the call back – it was a big class and a lot of the kids were older.” But she needn’t have worried, the combination went in and aced it. “I just made sure I had learnt my course and knew my striding . . . and remembered to have a good forward canter. It is just incredible to win!”

Mr Mexico came from a dressage background. He had gone to Vicki Wilson for schooling and it was her who called the Newsom family to say she had the perfect show hunter horse for Mouse.

“He was very nervous and quite challenging when I first got him so spent six weeks doing liberty with him,” says Mouse, who with Vicki taught the horse to jump. “I think that liberty time really made the difference with him.”

She gets input from some of the best – as well as Vicki, Mouse has also worked with Dan Steers of Double Dan Horsemanship. “I talked to him about Mexico and will be going to his property this year to do more work with him.”

Mouse and Mr Mexico have had a great HOY picking up plenty of ribbons across the show, and the title just capped it all off perfectly. The future is looking bright for this talented young rider and her “scopey” pony.

 

Results –

Cat C Pony Show Hunter of the Year: Amelia Newsom (Tauranga) Mr Mexico 1, Michaelee Head (Cambridge) Chantilly Lace III 2, Emma Herbert (Rotorua) Just a Touch 3, Kaitlin Brown (Feilding) Tawa 4, Minnie Davies (Tauranga) Mr Banjo 5, Bridie Quigley (Auckland) Ace Up My Sleeve 6.

 

Diana Dobson, 15th March 2019