Dalziel duo making mark on ODE circuit

PONY EXPRESS: Gisborne rider Turtz Dalziel and Mokai in action in the cross-country phase of the Flaxmere one-day eventing competition at Equestrian Park in Hastings. Turtz and mother Marsala are competing on the ODE circuit and loving it. Picture by KAMPIC/Sarah Alderman

FORMER Campion College student Xavier Dalziel is making a name for himself on the motocross scene. And younger brother Turtz is climbing the rankings in one-day eventing (ODE), an equestrian combination of dressage, cross-country and showjumping disciplines.

Campion student Turtz completed his second ODE competition last weekend in Te Puke. On board Mokai, the 13-year-old won his 80-centimetre pony class, finishing 10 points clear of the next-best competitor.

“It was an amazing result,” said mother Marsala, also a competitor on the ODE circuit.

Turtz started riding only a couple of years ago. His mother said he was the only groom she had, so he had no choice. He did dressage and showjumping and recently got into the ODE side of it, competing at his first event in Hawke’s Bay just before Christmas.

“He’s loving it,” said Marsala from Mangatoitoi Station at Ngatapa. “He’s really getting into it.”

As she does, an experience enhanced by competing alongside her son. The Dalziels have a team of six horses. They took four through to the Hawke’s Bay competition and placed second, third, fourth and fifth.

All six horses went to Te Puke and mother and son collected two firsts, two seconds, a third and a fourth. Marsala competes at training level on four of her horses while her main horse, Ruru, is at medium level.

Turtz is still learning the ropes and has come to realise the importance of strength in all departments.

Marsala said eventing “really sorts the weak from the strong” in terms of consistency, something she has impressed on her son.

Turtz has a goal of competing at the New Zealand Pony Club championships but as this is a team event, and Gisborne Pony Club does not have a team, he will try to make the Hawke’s Bay squad.

That means plenty of travel, something they are getting used to as Gisborne no longer runs one-day events. They are a three-person team, with Graham Fogarty driving the truck.

The “team” are back on the road next month for a competition in Taupo — where Xavier lives with his grandparents — and will follow that up with trips to Rotorua and Hastings.