Dargaville's Hope Kena is optimistic her second international competition is as successful as her first as she prepares to leave for Melbourne tomorrow for the annual Trans-Tasman Quarter Horse Challenge. The 17-year-old said that the format of the three-country international event makes the competition difficult but she's relying on her experience- and a bit of luck - to get her through. The Whangarei Girls' High School student said teams of five riders from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia will spend four days training together under the watchful eye of leading instructors before drawing their mounts for the competition next weekend. "That means you train on one mount and then, just as you're getting used to him, you have to draw another one at random for the competition," she said. "That makes it harder than normal competitions where you train together with your mount - but you've just got to do
the best you can with what you've got." Kena has succeeded before in similar competitions. In 2006, she qualified to represent New Zealand at the World Cup in Texas and although she was the youngest competitor in the international field of 52 under-18 entrants, she still finished in the top 10. "Every show is different though, there are different challenges every time, and you don't know what to expect until you get there. "So there's always a bit of luck involved," she added. Kena has recently had her share of bad luck, too.
At the end of last year, her quarter horse Red went missing and was found near the Waihue River five days later. Finding her competition horse meant there was nothing to hold her back from national competition and her efforts led to her selection in the five-strong Kiwi junior team for this week's
contest. She is the only Northlander in the team that will compete in a variety of dressage tests, using both English and Western saddles and styles.
