The life of equestrian stalwart Pam Roberts, who died on Sunday 23rd March, will be celebrated in Wanganui on Saturday. A long-time supporter of both the pony club movement and the horse world, but eventing in particular, Pam was the instigator of the Young Event Horse Championships in New Zealand.
With the support of her husband Steve, and help from other Manawatu enthusiasts, particularly Fred Gorton, Kathy Scott, and Mary Bowling, Pam ran the initial Young Event Horse class in 1994 in the Manawatu. It was based on the format of the Burghley Young Event Horse Championship, which she and Steve watched in the UK. Pam talked with the management and was encouraged to copy the format, which is now widely used throughout the world.
That first YEH class was rated such a success it was repeated the following year alongside the National One-day Event Championships at Manfield, Feilding. Even greater recognition resulted in the Championship running at the National Equestrian Centre in Taupo alongside the NZ Three-day Event in 1996. It is still run in conjunction with “the three-day” so will be contested at McLeans Island, Christchurch, this year, for the first time.
Pam continued to run the Championships until 2004, after which ESNZ Eventing took over the organisation, but the success of this enduring competition has to be attributed to Pam’s vision and enthusiasm. The winner of that final year of Pam’s reign, Bryce Newman, gave his medal to Pam, and it hangs around the collage of photos of those first eleven YEH Champions on the wall at the Roberts family home in Wanganui.
Pam was always looking for ways to encourage interest in eventing. For several years she organised groups of pony clubbers to travel in vans to watch the three-day event at Taupo, staying at the Taupo camping grounds. There will be many youngsters who benefited from Pam’s active interest in all things equestrian, as well as breeders of young horses who have a prestigious competition to showcase their youngsters.
Pam was a great enthusiast that riders should understand that dressage was the basis of all training and ran very popular dressage tournaments at the Wanganui Racecourse. Mandy her daughter won the DC Pony Club Eventing Trophy in 1983, and went on to become the NZ Grand Prix Dressage Champion as a result of Pam’s influence.
(PHOTO TO COME)