Amelia “Mouse” Newsom and Mr Mexico Winners of the Cat C High Points Series at The Land Rover Horse of the Year 2020, HB A&P Showgrounds, Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, Wednesday, March 11, 2020 Credit: KAMPIC / Sarah Lord

Amelia Newsom has no need for speed and height, preferring instead to seek perfection and it all paid off at HOY when she and Mr Mexico won the Aniwell Cat C Show Hunter High Points Series.

The win was even more special for the Tauranga teen, who is better known as Mouse, as it is her first series win. She and Mr Mexico have this season won all eight championship starts and eight from 10 of their high points starts.

After the opening day of competition at HOY, Mouse says she felt confident they were on track to do well. “I knew he would try as hard as he could,” said the 13-year-old. They won the final, with Dylan Bibby (Onga Onga) and Greedy McCready second and Maia Colenso (Christchurch) on Morocco-Chino third.

Mouse is rapt to have won the series – albeit by a single point ahead of Kaitlin Brown (Feilding) aboard Tawa.  “It is pretty cool I have worked up to it and we’ve put a lot of time and effort into it. Mr Mexico has been performing so well.” She now looks forward to the title class tomorrow (Friday).

At eight, Mouse received a life-threatening injury when she was kicked in the face by her horse. Since then, her preference has been show hunter. “I like the perfection of it,” she says. “I like the attention to detail that show hunter calls for. This is my happy place.”

Mouse loves to produce her own horses. Mouse got the eight-year-old in October 2018, came out in 2019 at HOY and won the Cat C of the Year crown and have just continued to improve since. She thinks all the liberty work she did with him early on set the scene for success. “I love that he has such a kind and loving nature and is always so happy in what he does.”

She also has Moonspirit Jitterbug who she has carefully brought through over the past six years. It’s a real family effort, and particularly between Mouse and her 14-year-old sister Livi. The two are as different as chalk and cheese – Livi loving the thrill of showjumping and Mouse the perfection of show hunter – but are always there for each other.

 

Results –

 

Aniwell Cat C High Points Series: Amelia Newsom (Tauranga) Mr Mexico 62 points 1, Kaitlin Brown (Feilding) Tawa 61 points 2, Quinn Coutts (Palmerston North) Bizzie Canoodling 48 points 3, Olivia Adams (Christchurch) Sweet Cappuccino 47 points 4, Ellie Templeton (Middlemarch) He’s Pryceless 45 points 5, Molly Coutts (Palmerston North) Monkey Puzzle 31 points 6.

 

Aniwell Cat C High Points Final: Amelia Newsom (Tauranga) Mr Mexico 1, Dylan Bibby (Onga Onga) Greedy McCready 2, Maia Colenso (Christchurch) Morocco-Chino 3, Kaitlin Brown (Feilding) Tawa 4, Charlotte Conder (Wellington) Sir Bounty Hunter 5, Senga Hickson (Cambridge) Get the Beat 6.

 

By Diana Dobson

12 March 2020