Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre Star Spotters

“Jester & I had a wonderful season, ticking off our goal of jumping 70cm and having lots of fun and making new friends along the way. I wish Jester would grow so I could stay riding him forever.” 

Thank you Waikato Equine Vet & ESNZ.

Maddie and Storm had an unfortunate incident at their first show of the season, where Storm was spooked by a bird. Being a sensitive boy, this really rattled him, so they went back to basics, and slowly but surely he is getting back to ‘normal’.

They have had some nice rounds and managed to come away from the Dunstan series with a 10th overall for ponies 

Maddie seems to be getting her mojo back to and feeling a bit more positive about things to but it’s taken a while.  He’s a very cool pony just a very sensitive boy.

I have had a great season and I have achieved my goal of successfully jumping 80cm on my pony Penny, but soon after this she unfortunately became unsound to be ridden. This led me to my next adventure on my lease pony Victor. Together Victor and I have gone through some complicated situations but with my dedication we have had lots of fun attending many show jumping competitions and an ODE, in these competitions we have jumped from 60cm through to 80cm. 

I have made the decision to step up to a hack, over the past two months I have been working with Trigger. Over this time we have competed at SISJ champs (85cm) and an ODE at Waihora Pony club (65cm) which I got 3rd at and the weekend just gone Trigger and I competed at Collier Trophy jumping 65cm and our team won. 

I have gained confidence in my riding abilities and this has lead to many successful events for me and my ponys. 

I cannot thank Waikato vets enough for their sponsorship along with ESNZ for their scholarship and I am looking forward to this season’s ESNZ show hunter, show jumping and ODEs. 

Despite me having not as many outings I planned for – I did truly enjoy the first few Show experiences as an ESNZ Member. 

I have really enjoyed the Show Hunter classes and have plans for the coming season to take a couple of my young horses in some more Shows next year so I am planning to continue my Membership!

The 2 Shows we attended were the:

The Young Horse Show in December in Hastings where I took my self produced 5 year old- Cruise –  and placed 6 th  in the 70cm Show Hunter Class. What a nice welcoming atmosphere and well run Show! 

And then I went to the  2026 Show Hunter Championship Hastings- where I showed my friends Horse, Sandy Hills Toi, in a 80 and 90cm Show Hunter Classes as well as a Handy Hunter 90 cm where we placed 5th 🙂 !  

I would like to say another sincere Thank you to the Central and Southern Hawkes Bay Show Jumping Group for giving me this great opportunity!

Zoe has had a fantastic first season as an ESNZ Jumping member. The highlight for her was qualifying for HOY and then competing at Air Napier Show Hunter Champs – her goal was to get in the top 10 for the Cat B Championship and they came 8th. They also got a 4th and 6th placing. She also achieved her goals of completing her C certificate in April and competing at 90cm show jumping – even winning her first round! 

Zoe would like to say a big thank you to Central Districts Show Jumping Group and Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre for this opportunity and to previous Star Spotters Charlie Wilkin & Olivia Woodward for their guidance 😊 She is looking forward to continuing her ESNZ Jumping membership next season and continuing to improve her Show Hunter & Show Jumping.

Firstly I would like to thank all the sponsors for giving me the opportunity to have a crack at doing some showjumping this season and registering myself in my horse.

I have had so much fun in an area I have not a lot of skill in. I have been surrounded by a really great group of local riders who have just given me the confidence to get out there and have a go regardless of, if I can do it or not. I’ve had some major highs jumping in the 5yr old series ant young horse show. Highest I’ve ever jumped, was seriously nervous ! I’ve won some ribbons got some placings jumped higher than I ever thought I would and also. Some eliminations and stops and things that are all normal for a beginner and a young horse. Well I guess everyone. 

Unfortunately midway through the season I took a young horse too cheaply and broke my wrist so that was a bit of a stop for eight weeks from February and March luckily it healed enough for me to get back on a pony and do a bit of hunting the past couple of weeks.

I think the one thing for me that I have taken away from this experience is the confidence to drive to a show now and not be too nervous to get out of my vehicle. But also to take my daughter along with me, she has overcome some massive things in her life and to watch her bringing on a young pony with not a lot of experience either going out there smashing her goals. 

So for me next season will be really cool because I can take my horse and her along with me and her pony and we can enjoy doing some local things together. 

So once again thank you all so much for the sponsorship towards registering myself and my horse.

Emmy won the most points overall for a child competitor in a local horse sports event, February 2026.

Emmy has really enjoyed this season and has continued building confidence, gaining experience, and developing her partnership with her horses. She has enjoyed getting out to events, meeting other riders, and continuing to challenge herself along the way. 

This season has definitely been a learning curve for her. With injuries and setbacks affecting some of her horses, she has had to adapt and step into bringing along younger horses instead. Alongside her father, she has assisted in breaking in one new horse, while also working with two green horses that she has been schooling herself through groundwork and ridden work.

Balancing riding alongside school and her other sports commitments has kept her busy, but she remains passionate about continuing to grow her skills.

Looking ahead, Emmy is focusing on the upcoming Winter Series with her young horses, continuing to build confidence, gain mileage under saddle, and further develop both herself and her horses over the coming season.

I had a great first season showjumping and doing showhunter.  I won the pony showhunter series for the Marlborough area.  We then competed in the spring down at Christchurch and also at a couple of local shows.  We got some good results but then we had to give our lease pony back to its old owners which was really hard for me as I had really started to get some good results and we all loved her.  Mum managed to find me another pony over the Christmas holidays called This Cheeky Monkey or Ted. We found out that he can be pretty cheeky.  He is an older school master and was a bit naughty to start with.  I fell off at home a few times but then we got him going much better and made it to Kaikoura A and P show where he won Champion Pleasure as well as jumping clear in my first round of showjumping. Unfortunately that evening I was riding bareback and Ted decided to take off bucking and I fell off and broke my arm.  Its all healed up now though and we are back in Winter training and he is going pretty well.  I am looking forward to next season where I hope we can get to a few more shows. A big thanks to Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre for their sponsorship this season.

From Ben.

Thank you again for this amazing opportunity. I started this season at the Barge Park GP show and had an amazing weekend doing my first 1m and 105 with Promise, as well entering the Ted Hatley 4, 5 and 6 year old class which we finished with a lovely clear round. We then went on to do our first ODE at Whakapara pony club finishing 9th.

Unfortunately our season then got cut short after Promise had a paddock injury. But with the amazing help of the Equistride Vet team, Promise has recently recovered after finishing her rehab plan!

Lockie and I had a great first season and can’t thank the sponsors enough for allowing us this opportunity. 

Bringing a green horse up the heights while also trying to learn myself hasn’t been easy but what I’ve learnt will stay with me for life.  We started the season at our local Waimate show where Lockie was amazing just having the first pole in the 90cm. We then were lucky enough to go to a few Christchurch shows where although the results didn’t quite go our way, what I learnt from watching other riders was incredible. It was our  first time ever being able to compete at a ESNZ show in Christchurch and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity.  Being a star spotter has allowed me to have new experiences and has expanded my knowledge so much.  My star spotter mentor Brodie walked the courses with me at some shows and even helped me warm up, this was so helpful in having another perspective which benefited Lockie massively as I knew how to ride the course a lot better. We also tried some Show Hunter which was one of our goals at the start of the season, our first time didn’t go quite to plan but we went home and continued training as something I have learnt is you can’t expect it to be perfect all the time. Then at our next attempt at Show Hunter which was in January in Ashburton, Lockie was incredible, coming 5th in the rising star 70cm and 4th in the intro 90cm. He had some very promising comments from the judges and considering it was only our second attempt, I was very pleased. Unfortunately after this show, Lockie went unsound due to having an abscess, even after this had healed, he just wasn’t quite right,  and would be sound then go lame again. Unfortunately that cut the second half of our season short, which was very sad as he had been training very well. Despite this we still had such a great first ever ESNZ season and what I have learnt from this will help me not just with Lockie but my other horses as well. This sponsorship has encouraged me to get the membership for Lockie again next season if all goes well.  From this season I have had highs, lows and in-betweens. I have learnt to not give up and keep looking forward I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity. For the future, my next goals are to focus on Show Hunter next season as we feel this is where Lockie shines and our ultimate goal would be to  maybe even qualify for H.O.Y which would be a dream come true.  I also have a ottb called Randy that I’m producing and I’m hoping to do T.I.E.S with him this upcoming season. I feel so privileged to have been given this opportunity, I cannot thank you enough, having opportunities like this gives people who otherwise wouldn’t have ever been able to experience this side of the sport. My partnership and riding with Lockie has grown so much from this opportunity and I can’t  to see what comes  next. Sincerely thank you so much, I will definitely never forget this incredible opportunity ❤️

Hi my name is Harriet and I am 10 years old. This season has been lots of fun competing in the Show Hunter ring on my pony Afallons Royal Salute (Solli).  I am thankful to be part of the ESNZ Star Spotters Programme, kindly sponsored by Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre, representing the Taranaki region. 

I’ve made lots of new friends and learnt a lot in my first year competing and I’m already looking forward to next season. One of my highlights was competing at the Napier Show Hunter Championship Show, as well as coming 7th in the Cat A series and under 12 Equitation series. 

My goal next season is to continue with Solli in the Cat A section and show jump my new pony Gussy.

Harriet 😊🐴

I had a great season with my pony Marley. We had a goal of jumping 80cm rounds confidently and trying a few 90cms.  We achieved our goal and even placed fourth in the Wairarapa Show Jump Series.
Thank you so much ESNZ and Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre, I felt so lucky to be chosen to be your Star Spotter for the Wairarapa!