Finding balance key to rider's success

FAST AND FUN: Nancy Te Whata is a two-time world champion in Mounted Games but is focusing on her studies for the moment.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Time management skills and knowing your priorities have seen Nancy Te Whata rise to the top of her sporting field while managing to continue her tertiary education.

The two-time World Mounted Games champion is back in the saddle at NorthTec after a hectic start to the year with her sporting achievements taking priority.

Te Whata is letting the training go to a back seat as she focuses on her Bachelor of Applied Management Studies degree.

The balance between study and sport, or any extra-curricular activity, is found with a lot of prioritising and good time-management skills, she said.

"Keep goals in mind for both."

Mounted Games involves completing tasks at a competitive speed on and off horseback.

"It is a very fast and fun sport," Miss Te Whata said.

"You don't have to have an expensive horse, like more glamorous other equestrian sports, you can just use your beloved pony. Mounted Games involves athletic ability, good riding skills, hand-eye co-ordination when jumping on and off your horse and racing up and down a field."

Miss Te Whata competes on her own and as part of a team. She won her first world championship title in November 2008 in Sydney, and won her second at the Horse of the Year Show in Hastings in March in the team category.

The second-year student says NorthTec provides her with the ideal conditions to thrive in sport and in her studies. "It is awesome studying at NorthTec, it is close to home for family and horses. The smaller classes, one-on-one tutoring and that the tutors know you and have a great understanding on what you are passionate about makes it the right place for me," she said.