| Riders Profiles |
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| YOUR PRESIDENT - CATHERINE MACKIE |
| Catherine has been riding since the age of 16, but did not get serious with the sport until she moved to Qld in 1989. She joined Darra-Oxley Pony Club in 1992, where she met fellow rider and now her best mate, Sylvia Nelms. Catherine completed in Pony Club for 12 years. In 1999, Catherine obtained her Leve 1 C Instructors Certificate, and then went onto a Novice Dressage Judge in 2007. From 1998, Catherine was heavily involved in show horses and was very successful showing American Saddlebreds, Arabians and Pintos. In 1999 at The Royal Brisbane Show, she won her nominated class and took our Reserve Champion Pinto gelding, with her dual registered Saddlebred/Pinto, Wilson. Two years later the same gelding, along with her other Saddlebred 'Blaze of Glory', (who was the son |
| of the Broncos Mascot BUCK, and is half brother to Nancy's Junior). Catherine won a National High Point Rider Award with The American Saddlebred Assocation of Australia. Along with many Champion and Supreme Champion wins at Ag show and at State Level, High Point Awards with both Saddlebred and Pinto breeds. In 2005, Catherine and Bill won the Club Champion award at PRARG and the New Comer Dressage Award, and in 2006 Sylvia won the same Award. Catherine is still doing dressage and her goals are to be an EFA Level 1 Instructor and an Accredited Jumping Equitation Judge. |
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| YOUR PUBLICITY EDITOR - MICHELLE OTT |
| I have been asked if I would like to be the newsletter editor for the club - which I happily accepted. I also signed up for this year 2008 as first time member with this club. Some of you may know me from Dalson Park Indoor Riding Centre and PRARG - but that was many years ago! Sharon Ashwood asked me few months back if I knew much about websites and creating them - I knew just enough to get me out trouble (or into it, depending on how you look at it! Hahaha). All of sudden at the beginning of April, I got the 'urge' or, I should say - was bored - so I built Cedar Grove and District Riding Club's own website! Hope everyone is happy with it. Anyway a bit about myself: I was born completely deaf (due to German Measles/Rubella) but this has not stopped me from having hearing friends as I grew up involved with them, my husband and our 2 kids are hearing. I can speak quiet well, it sounds like I am talking with a blocked nose - but hey I don't bite, hahaha! This is the reason why members can't phone me but I am available via emails, SMS and MSN chat, so feel free to contact me in any of those formats! Also am an Amateur Photographer, I am starting to set up an interest in Photography after a friend who |
| pointed out that my photos were good! So might take it up..... Just an addition to say I have been riding since I was a little girl, unfortunately I haven't been able to ride for well over 3 years now (due to my big fella who is unrideable as he has Pedal Osteitis and also has been diagnosed as Chronic Laminitis). Also my old fella is just too old as well as my young boy who isn't ready to do a 'starting' as yet! I just can't wait to get back into riding with my new boy one day! I have 3 horses. Here is my link about my life and my horses - www.geocities.com/cmculleneachan/ Happy Reading |
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| XANTHE BALLINGER |
| I grew up in a family of horse lovers. Both my parents rode as did my brother and sister. We kept horses at a riding school in xford Falls in Sydney until I was about 8. We had lots of riding school lessons (trotting around the arena on school poinies that knew what to do) we had a Dutch couple Tony and Frances Earnst, who were showjumpers, that taught us all. These were the days where instructors would put a $1 note under our knees and challenge us not to drop them!! (How riding has changed in Australia!!). When I was about 8 my parents went into partership with friends breeding Quarter Horses. From there I spent most holidays and many weekends at the property near Maitland (NSW) and going to country pony club gymkanas. I was a member of a Gresford Pony Club. This was great little pony club where we did LOTS of sporting, a bit of jumping and chasing cattle. The ponies I rode were all hand me |
| down's that knew how to bend, barrel and flag race. I was always just a passenger and learned to hang on!! Apart from that we did a lot of stockwork on the property. I loved spending days out mustering cattle with Dad and Phil then having a go at drafting in the yards. The property was about 2,500 acres. In the early '80's Mum and Dad bought a fruit farm just out of Ballina in a place called Teven. They shifted my horse there too. Again we spent extended long weekends all most school holidays on the farm (lots of long boring drives). I changed pony clubs and went to Alstonville for a while. This pony club did a lot of jumping and LOTS of hacking. My little pinto gelding didn't quite cut in the hack ring. I didn't stay with Alstonville long as I made friends with people at Lismore. I joined Lismore Pony Club instead. They did lots of jumping and hacking too. But at least they were a lot of jumpers. We had fantastic zone jamborees! We used to take the horses to Lennox Head and South Ballina quite regularly for "fittening" work (mad gallops up and down the sand and in the surf). By the time I was in year 11 my parents decided I should go to boarding school while they sold up in Sydney to move permanently to Teven. So I went to NEGS in Armidale for 2 years. Very interesting!! There was an upside, I could take my horse. At that stage I had an Appaloosa x Thoroughbred gelding called Amigo. He was a very obliging horse and could turn his hoof to anything! While at NEGS I was introduced to eventing and was hooked! I competed on him in everything from polo cross to dressage, showjumping, eventing, camp drafting and hacking. He was a great horse and taught me heaps! NEGS was a massive learning curve in many ways. Our horse were all yarded and stabled, we had lessons a few times a week and most weekends were spent competing. I love the horse aspect of it! When I finished school I spent a year with Amigo and another little black stockhorse gelding called Imginatively Black, showjumping. I love it. I was meant to be studying to be a primary school teacher but that was an interruption to an otherwise fantastic time! I loved jumping at all the country NSW shows. I moved to Queensland the following year to study travel and tourisum in Brisbane. It was meant to be a 6 month thing and turned the horses out for the break. Well 20 years later I'm still in Queensland! The horses came to Brisbane about a year after I left home but I just become a recreational rider and spent years just trail riding around Brookfield and taking the horses to Bribie Island for gallips on the beach. I kept Amigo until he died in 1998. He just moved from property to property where ever I lived. |
| It wasn't until I moved to Cedar Grove in 2001 that I really got back into riding. I didn't have a horse for about 18 months after Amigo died. But I was miserable without a horsie friend around. Linsay, my husband, pushed me into getting another ( I bet he wishes he could look into the future! ) I leased a lovely little Arab mare from a nice local lady, Pam. Abbie was good little mare that gave me back the confidence to ride and started me competing again. From then I've had a series of nice-ish to down right awful horses. At the moment I have Sam, a 5 year old Thoroughbred gelding, bay, about 16.3hh who I'm having a blast on and another young gelding called Rocky. I love that both my daughters ride. I just wish they could have the experiences I had riding on massive properties just riding and playing with their ponies. I have a husband and 4 kids Melissa 14, Josh 12, Georgina 11 and Ben 8. I joined the club in about 2001. While being a member of the club I have was Secretary for a few years and am now in my 2nd year as Treasurer. I love our Club! |
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