Young Horse showjumping champions crowned in Hastings

New Zealand Olympian Katie Laurie rides the McCalls' Phantom HPNZ to victory in the Seven-Year-Old Championship at the Bayleys Hawke’s Bay Young Horse Championships in Hastings. Photo / Cornege Media

The rising stars of New Zealand showjumping and the people behind them have been honoured at the Bayleys Hawke’s Bay Young Horse Championships in Hastings.

Champions were found across the age groups, with Dannevirke horseman Logan Massie picking up two crowns, the Six-Year-Old Championship aboard Cumulus ECPH and the Four-Year-Old title with Phoenix ECPH.

He said Cumulus had been “naughty” to break in as a three-year-old.

“She was meant to be sold a few times, but I could never get her broken in in time for the auctions.”

Massie said everything changed when she was under saddle.

“I love her attitude and ability to jump under pressure.

“She is a bit bullish and has a lot of blood, so three days of jumping suited her. Her best jumping was on the third day.”

Massie said it was a nice bonus for both him and the breeders to take out the Four-Year-Old crown aboard Phoenix ECPH.

He said with a four-year-old, you can’t have many expectations and are there to showcase the horse and jump some nice rounds.

“Where they end up is where they end up ... they are predominantly here for fun and experience.”

Massie has had the horse around three months and admits he was quite green coming into the show, but stepped up, went well and showed “a bit of stamina”, finishing on 12 faults from the four rounds over three days.

Olympian Katie Laurie made the most of her fleeting visit home and was crowned leading rider, with Wairarapa’s East Coast Performance Horses the leading breeders and Matawhio Sporthorses, Chacco Silver the leading stallion.

Laurie had a busy champs with nine horses, and won the Seven-Year-Old Championship aboard Carissa and Mike McCall’s Phantom HPNZ and placed fourth in the same class on their Van Gogh MVNZ, which she suspects will contest World Cups in the future.

“Phantom is one of those very careful horses, so you can really get going; he likes it fast, too.

“We hit the first fence a bit slow, and I thought we had better get moving. He stepped it up real fast.”

For top breeders East Coast Performance Horses (ECPH), Nicki Hull said the win topped off an exciting year.

“We’ve had a really good winter selling horses with three going to Australia and one to the United States.”

The Young Horse Championships are a highlight on the annual competition calendar for ECPH and an event Hull said they always want to do well at.

“But you have to remember, these are young horses so you can’t expect too much of them. It is really nice they have all gone out and performed well.”

Matawhio Sporthorses’ Mary-Beth Willis was delighted to have Chacco Silver MS named the top stallion of the show.

“I am thrilled, he is a tall stallion who produces a lot of tall progeny, and many of those won’t come into their own until they are way past that YHS [Young Horse Show] age.”

Imported from Germany, Chacco Silver is by the very famous Chacco Blue, who has been the world’s number one-ranked jumping breeding stallion multiple times.

The Five-Year-Old Championship went the way of Helen McNaught (Taupō) and Whoopy Doo, who had contemplated a rodeo round before redeeming herself to take the title.

“Everyone wants to breed a good one, don’t they. We’ll just continue to produce her and see what she wants to be.

“Maybe we’ll take her abroad, but for now she’s going into the field for a bit of a holiday.”