Champion pair make mark

LOVE AFFAIR: Wanganui teenager Ashlee Barlow and her ageing mare Phoenician Poem beat 17 rivals to win Supreme Champion Show Pony in their class at the Horse of the Year Show in Hastings at the weekend.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO 250315WCSMEQUESTRIAN1

AT THE tender age of 13 Ashlee Barlow has achieved a goal many only dream of.

The horse-mad Wanganui High School teenager and her 14-year-old mare, Phoenician Poem, won Champion Paced and Mannered 148cm Show Pony title and Supreme Champion Paced and Mannered Show Pony at the Horse of the Year Show (HOY) in Hastings last weekend.

Barlow was in just her second season showing at HOY and has had the mare she simply calls Poem for only eight months.

Winning or even placing at HOY is a major achievement that often takes both horse and rider years of training to reach.

"I've been riding since I was about 5, but only showing at HOY for two years. I would have been happy enough with just a placing. In fact, I was just happy enough to qualify let alone win ..." Barlow said yesterday.

"I bought Poem from a woman in Feilding. She's been a broodmare and has had five foals. She was pretty green when I got her, but help from my instructor Mandy Littlejohn here in Wanganui has got her up to speed. The paced and mannered class is all about the horse and how it moves and performs," Barlow said modestly.

Most in the equestrian game would freely concede the skills of the rider are also crucial to success in the ring.

Barlow said she would love to ultimately represent her country, but is realistic enough to know she and horse must develop further. "This year and next I want to focus more on the dressage side of things at Levels 1 and 2."

Meanwhile, other Wanganui horse and riders fared well at HOY. Barlow's near neighbour and schoolmate Kaia Patene won the 13.2-hand Paced and Mannered Saddle Hunter class on her horse Desert Storm and came second in the Saddle Hunter Pony of the Year.

Paige Cromarty cane sixth in the Saddle Hunter Pony class on Phoenician Phoenix, while thoroughbred racehorse trainer JJ Rayner finished third in the RisinG Star Riding Horse class on To The Max.