Horse-trading leaves girl with an unstable future

Georgia Kloosterman and Mackie. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The story could come straight from a Girl's Own annual: the unwanted brown gelding, long past his prime and put out to pasture, and the teenage girl who rode him to showjumping glory. A final ride, a last jump - and girl and horse are parted forever. But the truth is not as simple as teen fiction.

Yesterday at Woodhill Sands Event Centre near Helensville, 15-year-old Georgia Kloosterman rode 19-year-old Mackie with a sad determination, knowing that the very next morning, a truck would take him away and she would never see the horse again.

This story goes back two years, when Karaka publisher Sheryll Davies bought Mackie for her foster-daughter. She hired instructor Davis Davis to teach the girl to ride.

But at two shows Mackie bucked the girl off. Once, Davies says, she had to be taken by air ambulance to hospital. Sheryll Davies was worried, even angry. Mackie was "dangerous", she says.

She spent $1000 on vet checks only to find that the horse had fused hocks at the back of his leg and could no longer jump.

At that point, the stories conflict: Davies says she gave Mackie to Davis to put out to pasture in a "free lease" arrangement.

The riding instructor says he agreed to take the gelding off Davies' hands for good. He insists Mackie was never dangerous, but simply needed the right rider and the right exercise.

At his stables, Davis was teaching a young girl who was ready to make the step up from ponies to big horses: Georgia Kloosterman. She rode Mackie and said she really liked him and Davis offered to let her compete on him. In every little eventing or dressage competition since, Georgia and Mackie have been placed in the medals, says Davis.

So, in March, Davis went round to Sheryll Davies to give her the good news: that Mackie had found a home, a friend and success. To his dismay, Davies demanded he return Mackie to her.

"It's a shocker," says Davis. "The young girl who is riding Mackie just loves the horse and is successful on him."

Davies took Davis to the Disputes Tribunal at Pukekohe District Court to get the gelding back - and it is there that the story becomes particularly complicated.

According to findings shown to the Herald on Sunday by Sheryll Davies, the two parties could not agree on whether Mackie had been gifted to Davis or provided on a free lease. Without any corroborating evidence to support Davis' claim of a gift, the tribunal referee found that Davies was entitled to take Mackie back.

Georgia was inconsolable.

"She was very upset the day she found out and she was crying her eyes out," says her mother, Jo Kloosterman.

"She really loves Mackie and she's formed a great attachment with him which is really neat. And they are doing really well together as a team."

Georgia would like the chance to buy Mackie: "He is such a cool horse," she says. "I can do everything with him. He is a great friend."

This weekend, Davis Davis lodged a last-minute appeal against the Disputes Tribunal ruling - but that may not be enough to stop Mackie being loaded on to the horse transporter at 9am this morning.

Sheryll Davies says the agreement was always to put him out to pasture - that it was never safe to allow him to keep competing. "This is my horse," she says. "My express wish was that he was to be retired and I stand by that."

She will not consider selling him to the Kloostermans.

"This is heartbreaking for all concerned - I don't minimise that for one moment. I have children, too. I'm a mum."

She promised Mackie would not be euthanased. "I invite you to come around in a year's time - he will not be put down ... I just want the horse that I own to be returned to live out his retirement at our property."

A happy ending? That is for the reader to decide.