Kangaroo Valley Show with Deb and Faith, and their horse Mudgee Road. Video supplied by Kangaroo Valley Show.
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00:00So this is me and my off-the-track thoroughbred Mudgie Road.
00:06We compete in the show jumping all across the South Coast and up in Sydney all the way
00:11down to Victoria.
00:13We compete in 90 centimeters to a meter 10 and I've had Mudgie for four years now after
00:19he was retired off the track and our favorite thing is jumping, trail riding and the Kangaroo
00:25Valley Show.
00:26So I've been competing in the Kangaroo Valley Show for 10 years and this is Mudgie's second
00:31ever Kangaroo Valley Show so we're excited to be competing again this year.
00:35So this year we're introducing some new classes which is the Thoroughbred Sports Horse Association
00:41and we have been training Mudgie and she's been going to lessons for quite a long time
00:47to get him used to his different career.
00:50So Mudgie has been on the racetrack and he did quite well and then when he's retired
00:54from racing often the horses didn't have a very positive future so the Thoroughbred
01:00Sports Horse Association was put together to encourage a new direction for horses and
01:06for their retraining so Mudgie is now a very accomplished show jumper, he's doing really
01:12well.
01:13We have three new classes at the Kangaroo Valley Show which is sponsored by Mystery
01:20Downs.
01:21The breeders and the trainers encourage these new classes and they sponsor it, they give
01:26them the ribbons and the prize money to encourage that the horses that they have used in racing
01:31are now available to do dressage, hacking, sporting, show jumping, all of the different
01:37disciplines and eventing.
01:39The process of training for Mudgie Road was initially building trust between our partnership
01:45so a lot of hours on the ground, grooming, getting to know each other.
01:49We then started doing lessons with my coach, Karina Priestley and Kel Priestley who own
01:55Jump Equestrian.
01:58A lot of flat work and dressage so that's staying on the ground, no jumping, getting
02:03each other calm, calming each other down, getting to know each other.
02:07Then we slowly introduced jumps at a lower height and have worked our way up through
02:12training at home and at competitions to get to the height that we are today.
02:17So among show jumping and on the ground work, we also do a little bit of trail riding and
02:23hill work to build up his muscles so he can jump better and be stronger off the ground
02:30and as well as calm him down in all different types of environments.
02:34Before we had Mudgie Road, we didn't have, we weren't, Faith wasn't jumping with thoroughbred
02:39horses and then we thought we would give it a go and try and put a little bit of training
02:44in with the support of, as Faith said, her coaches, Kel and Karina.
02:49Before owning Mudgie Road, I wasn't used to the different temperament and athleticism
02:53of a thoroughbred.
02:54I was used to smaller ponies that I trusted and had been trained previous to me riding
03:00them and competing on them.
03:02So Mudgie was my first experience of building each other's confidence up and being calm
03:08around each other and trusting each other, which was just different to the more calm
03:14pony that children usually start to ride and compete on.
03:19It's definitely taught me lots of different things about riding different horses and how
03:23each horse can be so different and I think it's definitely helped with my riding and
03:29I'm able to take that knowledge into all the different horses I ride now.
03:32We would love you to come down to join us at the show.
03:35We will be there all day Friday and Saturday, the 14th and 15th of February and we can help
03:41you out.
03:42There's lots of people that are very knowledgeable about horses and we're very happy to help
03:47you out and please come and let us know how we can help.