Southland riders shine at showjumping champs
The tracks may have been trickier than he was used to, but that didn’t stop Tyler McKee from winning this year’s Archibalds NZ Grand Prix Championship.
The title win, in March, meant ending the showjumping season on a high for the Southland rider and his horse, Corrida.
“It was pretty good. It was a close competition,” said McKee, who lives at Wendonside near Gore.
“The tracks were probably a little more tricky and technical, being a national [competition], but it’s what we trained for.”
Winning with Corrida was especially satisfying for McKee given he had developed the 10-year-old horse bred by his parents.
It was the second time the pair had competed for the national Grand Prix title together, and McKee said Corrida had done seven more shows at the same height since then.
The Grand Prix is part of the four-day Archibalds NZ National Jumping and Show Hunter Championships held at the National Equestrian Centre in Christchurch.
It is the South Island’s pinnacle showjumping event, and this year was a good one for Southland riders, who took home four other national titles and made up nearly a quarter of all placings.
Nicole White, from Invercargill, won the Double J Stud NZ 6-year-old Horse title with her horse, Danny De Vito ECPH.
Summer Roy, of Gore, and Windsor Gangster won the Zealandia NZ 1m Pony title; while Briar Sharp, of Gore, and her pony, Second Edition, won the Vulcan Blacksmiths 90cm Pony Emerging Talent title.
Eilish Greene, of Riversdale, won the National 90cm Horse Emerging Talent title with her horse, Aramis.
Southland Show Jumping president Anna Clearwater was thrilled with the results.
“Winning titles at Grand Prix on a horse bred and trained locally – and at the emerging-talent level with young riders and young horses – shows that not only can Southlanders win at the highest level, but we also have a fantastic pool of riders and horses coming through for the future.”
Suzanne Black, from Gore, is another Southlander with a major win under her belt after claiming the Dunstan Horse Feeds Amateur Rider Series award for the 2023-24 season with her horse, Castellane AF.
Series competitors have to be consistent throughout the season to accumulate the points needed to win, and Clearwater said it took a lot of commitment from those riders who have to travel further to compete than others from elsewhere in the country.
She was keen to see the sport grow. “I’m looking forward to the new season kicking off in August with our local ‘have a go’ and training shows.“Hopefully we’ll see even more riders keen to start showjumping now they have seen what’s possible.”