Sarah Jocelyn & Curioso winners of the NRM Open High Points Series for 2023-2024.  Presenting the spoils were Luisa Wood and Sonia McKay from NRM.  Photo by Michelle Clarke

 

  • NRM Open High Points Series

 

Sarah Jocelyn struggles to find the words to describe her season, which was topped off with the win in the NRM Open High Points Series.

It came on the back of winning the Open Show Hunter of the Year at the Land Rover Horse of the Year Show aboard her self-produced Curioso.

She bought the 18-year-old horse as a nine-month-old and while she has enjoyed lots of success with him and knew he had bags of talent from the get-go, it still brings tears to her eyes to think about their 2023-2024 season success.

“I am just elated,” says the caregiver from Mauriceville near Masterton. “It is an absolute dream come true.”

Sarah and Curioso finished five points ahead of runners-up Emily Twort and Cameo KSNZ.

Sarah has produced many horses over a lifetime of equestrian but Curioso was the first horse she had broken in herself and done so well on. “He is lovely and cheeky, and he has his little funnies but I love him. He is my best mate and having had him for so long, we know each other so well.”

She retired him from showjumping a few years back. “He was fully sound but he was getting older.”

So she thought she would do a little show hunter. Just over a year ago she and partner Gavin Halkett bought their 100 acres at Mauriceville and it opened a world of opportunity for Sarah. “We are much closer to a lot of shows now and it meant I have been able to enjoy my first full season in a while.”

Turns out, Curioso was super competitive in the show hunter arena and the rest is history. “I am just over the moon. I can’t believe what we have achieved together.”

She is loving the camaraderie of show hunter and reconnecting with old friends, including Jacqui Symes who won the Show Hunter Amateur Rider of the Year at LRHOY.

“As a teenager I worked for her (late) sister Anne and John Gray at their dealing yard in Tokoroa and knew Jacqui since then. We are very close and have been fierce competitors all season – I have really enjoyed it.”

The two also finished on the podium of the Carousel Equestrian Amateur High Points Series with Jacqui and Takapoto Sienna second and Sarah third just three points behind.

It’s not the first title Sarah has won. The other was the Showjumping Young Rider Series in 1994 aboard Black Adder who was by Merran Hain’s Olympic horse Bago. “We got him out of an RDA paddock and I took him from nothing through to A grade, as it was in those days.”

Sarah says she has made many good friends in show hunter.

“You park next to a person once or twice and next minute you’re having dinners together. There are so many cool people in the sport.”

She extended a huge thank you to the sponsors who continued to support show hunter.

“It is so much more than just a competition,” says Sarah. “It brings a lot of people together.”

 

For full results, head to https://www.evoevents.co.nz/resultClass/2135885779/2146938848/-1

Diana Dobson – 21 March 2024