That's what Rylee Mason and Sophie Daly, of Hawke's Bay, have been trying to do in a relatively breathtaking short time in mounted games before they compete at the Under-14 World Pairs Championship in La Bonde, France, next month.
The 13-year-olds suspect they will become the first in their age group, the youngest, to represent New Zealand at a world championship when they compete on July 23-24.
As if travelling to another hemisphere wasn't challenging enough, the year 9 schoolgirls will compete in borrowed ponies from England to test their faith in the animal kingdom.
"We'll have two ponies so we'll riding both to see who will ride which one," says Mason who has been doing mounted games for five years and her current mount is 16-year-old horse, Nimble.
"Obviously it'll be a very new environment but we think we'll adjust well," says the Napier Girls' High School pupil who believes her gelding has a lot of life still left in him.
Her affinity with her quiet mount extends to one of friendship where he understands what his role is.
"Nimble knows his job and doesn't have a problem with it."
Daly's 14-year-old mare also goes by the name of Sophie.
"I didn't know her name until one day before the sale in Auckland," says the Hastings Girls' High School pupil who bought Sophie on January 14, 2014.
The horse isn't as docile as Nimble and can be mischievous, which means Daly's work can be cut out some days.
"If I let her win she eventually decides I won't do that [be cheeky] and be good."
The girls consider themselves fortunate in having the tutelage of Nicole Hope, of Hastings, who lived and rode in La Bonde for a year.
Says Mason: "She's set us up for the arena because we're new so we'll be like fish out of water."
Hope, who also competed at the worlds, set up a fitness plan for the girls in summer.
"The sand there is very deep and we're used to competing on grass," says Mason, revealing they have been training at a sand-based arena here.
They will take part in 24 qualifying races, eight semifinal ones and, if they make the cut, 10 in the final among 48 combinations.
Daly and Mason were rivals in the singles discipline of mounted games where they became friends, complementing each other in the pairs event.
"Nimble and Sophie [horse] love each other," says Rylee who joined forces in August last year when Daly went to Puketapu Pony Club for her first taste of mounted games as an eventer.
The girls won the U14 NZ Pairs Championship at the Horse of the Year Show in Hastings in March.
"If you don't overthink things and think one thing at a time then you'll work together well," says Daly. "If you don't put pressure on each other you normally do very well."
Mason, who followed in the footsteps of older sister Courtney Mason, 21, and step brother Josh Adamson, 21, now based in England, believes they will be able to keep up with the elite European rivals.
Daly echoes the sentiments, revealing she was originally paired with Ashley Sedcole last year when they won the national U12 crown at the Hoy Show but went their ways not long after.
She has quit eventing but still competes as a showjumper.
"Mounted games teaches you balance so when you do something wrong in showjumping you use your core strength [acquired from mounted games] to correct it," she says, adding it sharpens a rider's skills to negotiate tight corners in showjumping.
Daly intends to stay with mounted games because she believes she'll get more out of it and is hopeful it'll become an Olympic Games code.
The rush of adrenalin, variety of activities and sheer pace all add to their sense of fun while making new friends.
They are raising funds to pay their way to France and welcome any assistance.
Mounted games gained international spotlight in 1986. Twenty-three nations now participate in it with riders performing on ponies no bigger than 15 hands high.
Speed, agility and accuracy are the cornerstones of what is often described as relay racing on horses. The code demands myriad skills, including vaulting on and off the pony at top speed, turning around drums at a gallop while placing equipment on it or leaning down to pick up items off the ground.
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