Part of the reason for making the trip north is to take his horse JL Champs Elysee, fondly known as Tallie, back home for a “last hurrah” at the highest level of New Zealand dressage competition. He plans to compete on Tallie at the A&P show next week and the two-day Premier League Championship show in Gisborne in November.
“My dad and I bred him up at Whangara,” Love said.
“He’s 18 years old now. It’s nice coming up to complete the circle.”
Five years ago, Love and his horse moved to Christchurch to get the highest level of practice and coaching they could.
“I’m so grateful for the support of Kay and Kevin Buckley. They’re like family; they’re the reason I moved down there.”
When he left for Northern Hemisphere judging, he was at the top of the New Zealand dressage scene. The horse, itself, was really successful and competed nationally.
Tallie is an East Coast-bred gelding.
Love says horses bred there are renowned for their capacity to excel in a lot of disciplines.
“It’s a homebred horse, off the hills on the Coast,” Love said.
“There are so many purpose-bred horses these days but these can do anything from hunting to jumping.”
Love grew up riding. His father was passionate about horses and everyone in his family had at least one. It was “the quintessential East Coast life”.
He proudly identifies with his Ngati Konohi and Whangara Mai Tawhiti heritage, never forgetting where he comes from as he travels the world.
“I enjoyed riding horses to the beach to get seafood . . . the horses there (at Whangara) are part and parcel of the way of living.”
He and his siblings always pushed each other’s riding; the sibling rivalry could get “quite competitive”.
For him, dressage was a natural progression, displaying the symbiosis of man and horse.
“The essence of dressage to me is power, control, poise, balance, connection and synchronicity between horse and rider.”
Love said judging the sport took into account all of those factors, knowing what horses were capable of and how the riders could make them move.
He’s never stopped learning and perfecting his craft and is now an accredited FEI International Judge for Dressage, FEI Para Dressage and FEI Eventing.
While he said it was exciting to be returning home to compete, he hoped he could get overseas and back into judging soon.
Love said a lot of time had to be put into a horse to bring it up to the highest level of competition and he had been doing more things on the judging side.
“I’m not sure what I want to do once I retire Tallie,” he said.
“If I want to continue, I have to commit time to it.”
As for Tallie, he’ll live out his days in the pastures.
Gisborne Dressage Group vice-president Kelly Couper said they were looking forward to having Mura Love and his “lovely horse” back in Gisborne to take part in the A&P show and their two-day Premier League Championship show in November.
“We are lucky to have an equestrian of Mura’s calibre continue to support us and give back to our group,” she said.
“We wish him luck at the show and our champs and I know some of our local riders cannot wait to watch his grand prix classes.”
