Teen gets US shot at western stardom

Hikurangi's Olivia McInnes has been western riding since she was 5, and all the hours in the saddle have paid off. The 15-year-old has been selected to represent New Zealand at the American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup.
After the disappointment of missing out on making the NZ team for the Trans Tasman competition late last year, McInnes set the goal of making the world cup team.
The Kamo High School student poured hours into training her three show horses, and practising  on her parents' property, where her father Graeme, another western riding enthusiast, has installed a home-made "mechanical cow", using a pulley system, powered by an old 10-speed bike in an arena, so she could  practise the art of cutting.
Her hard work over the past few months was evident when she dominated the Hawera-based NZ Cutting Horse National finals at Easter, and took out the overall youth division (13-18 years), onboard her specialist cutting horse Patchy. She was then awarded the End of Year Youth title, based on her performances at shows throughout the season.
Selectors deservedly included the talented rider in the five-strong New Zealand team to attend July's Youth World Cup, in Oklahoma City.
"It definitely made up for not making the transtasman team," McInnes  said. "I'm pretty excited to be heading over there. Over eight days there are riding clinics where we will be trained by top professional riders, which are followed by competitions. Only the top  10 in each event make the cut for the final - so I will be aiming to make that."
McInnes' favoured events are cutting, trail and  reining, but  the team management  decide which events riders will  enter at the world cup. Competitors will ride borrowed horses.
Riders from the host country, Canada and Australia traditionally are the ones to beat, but  a strong  bunch of successful riders  has emerged from Germany and Italy, and with 17 countries taking part, competition will not be easy, McInnes said.
The Youth World Cup  starts on July 3, and McInnes has began her preparation for her debut in a national side. A squad training camp was held last week in Rotorua, and she intends  putting in plenty of hours in the saddle before flying out on July 1.
Fortunately, she has the  support of her father and mother, Charlene, who started  western riding about the same time as their daughter,  10 years ago.
 Graeme McInnes also had success at the NZ Cutting Horse National, winning the open division overall.
The sport involves huge expense, and McInnes said she was looking for sponsorship to help  fund her world cup campaign.