Horse riders on trail of anti- sale support
TOWNSVILLE’S horseriding community is fighting to save a beloved equestrian centre from a proposed land sale.
The North Queensland Equestrian Centre in Bluewater faces an uncertain future as an application was made before Christmas to sell a portion of the state land.
Townsville City councillors joined over 70 members of the horseriding community on Saturday morning for a trail ride to raise support for the facility.
North Queensland Reining and Performance Horse Club president Donna Hudson said it was amazing to see all the riders bring their horses out, despite the heat, and enjoy the facilities.
“It’s like the whole equestrian community has come together,” Ms Hudson said.
“There was a strong show of council on our grounds and they now have a very good idea of what happens here and how we actually function.”
The free day included a trail ride, various horse events, a mechanical bull, a sausage sizzle lunch and raffles.
Also in attendance was Member for Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto, who said he would hate to see North Queensland lose a facility like the equestrian centre.
“A lot of hard community work has gone into this centre and this rally,” he said.
“Horse people are community people, they love this and their grounds here and they take pride in it.”
Mr Dametto said it was saddening to see the group could lose its access to the facility.
The club has said if the land was sold, their centre would likely need to close eventually due to the loss of about 90 carparking spaces, a third of its camping and float parking areas and access to some riding trails.
Townsville City Council is required to provide a letter of support and undertake community consultation before a formal application can be made to purchase the land.
“We encourage anyone who feels strongly against this land acquisition to put submissions in to council,” Mr Dametto said.
Cr Maurie Soars made his first visit to the centre for the event and said he had an appreciation for the amount of effort the riders were putting in.
“Council have a better appreciation of what their needs and desires are, and they have an appreciation of what we can do to try and help out with that,” Cr Soars said.
“I think if the correct process rides out, we can come up with a solution to help everybody.”