EQUESTRIAN - Teenage rider is ready to move up

A YEAR of unprecedented success in the pony classes has Tangiteroria teenager Vicki Berger planning her transition into senior showjumping competition.
The 16-year-old won the North Island pony championships at Taupo at the beginning of November and that, along with the rest of her performances at big events last year, saw her selected for the 12-member national training squad.
Berger found herself rubbing shoulders with some of the top and emerging riders in the country at her first training camp, one of them familiar to her - the other Northland participant, Vicki Wilson, who was selected in the horse class.
Berger is preparing for her next major showjumping test, the Pony of the Year competition in Hastings in March, on her already successful pony, Classic Cowboy, but she also has hopes of success with another mount, Chocolate Flash.
She puts her success down to patience and hard work, and a part of that is realising what she has to do to gain success - and that kind of thinking has her looking ahead to what happens next year.
"I've only got one more year left on the ponies, so I'm getting young hacks started at the moment," Berger said.
Until now, her mounts have measured in at below 14.2 hands - and therefore defined as ponies - now she is keeping her eyes open for hacks she can train for top level competition.
"I prefer to get young horses and get them going myself, then you can trust them more - you get to know them better and know what you can ask of them," she said.
Rather than buying competitive horses that come with competitive prices attached, Berger prefers to train her horses almost from scratch, and she has already got started with her new project.
"I've already got one, Kylie Cross, who's six, and we're looking for another one to work with at the moment," she said.
Horse trading is a new thing for her and Berger said it wasn't easy.
"It really depends how fussy you are. You can just go out and buy a horse but, if you want something in particular, it can be quite tricky."
At least the 16-year-old now has a little more time to spend training her current and prospective champion mounts - she indicates that she has finished with school - and then seems to think better of her assertion.
She turns to her mother, Christie, who is monitoring her progress in the interview while standing only a few feet away, manning the gate, as competitors come in to go into the horse ring at the event.
"Have I finished school, Mum?" she asks, with the hint of a frown developing.
Mum comes back with a wisecrack about getting expelled from home school but then relents, giving her a positive reply to the question.
"Yeah, I'm finished," Berger grins, no doubt planning how all that extra time can be translated into training her new horses.