KEY POINTS:
Katie McVean comes from blue blood in showjumping circles. Both her parents rode for Australia, with father Jeff competing at Olympics, World Cup finals and World Championships - he even won the King George V Gold Cup, one of the most coveted awards in the equestrian world.
So
it was always a matter of when, not if, the younger McVean wore the silver fern.
She was 14 when she first rode for New Zealand and, this weekend, she once again slips on her national colours to captain the young rider team for a transtasman test at the Mount View Stud Young Horse Breeding Championships in Taupo.
She has already made her mark overseas, winning the Junior World Championship title in Abu Dhabi in 2000, the British Young Rider Championship in 2003 at the Royal International Show at Hickstead, and riding in five Nations Cups for New Zealand.
She was also shortlisted for the Athens Olympics and has won at grand prix level in Europe and Canada, including at Spruce Meadows, Canada, one of the world's most celebrated shows.
McVean, 20, is known for her competitiveness, level headedness and horsemanship. She won the Lady Rider of the Year crown at the Kelt Capital Horse of the Year Show in Hawkes Bay this month and finished seventh equal in the Bell Horse of the Year class.
The lady rider crown is one that has eluded her for five years. She has finished second twice and almost didn't even start this year.
If Dunstan Hairy McClairy had been behaving himself on the opening day of the show they wouldn't have. But he wasn't, so the youngster from Mystery Creek decided on a late entry - a good decision.
The combination headed off around 40 other riders to win one of the most sought-after trophies at the show. McVean and the Gisborne-bred Hairy were the first of 10 in the jump-off setting a cracking pace the others just couldn't match.
She was clear and home in 40.94 seconds after flying around the course, slicing corners that those who followed failed to manage.
Fastest time in the jump-off went to Vicki Wilson (Whangarei) and Wurlitzer, who stopped the clock at 38.4s but paid for it with eight faults. They finished out of the money - but she did manage third place on Witheze. In second place was Sue Thompson, of Hastings, and Air Hill the Rajah, who had four faults in 40.66s.
A nasty little upright stile on a tight turn proved the undoing for many. It was the fence that won the class for McVean, whose extensive offshore experience undoubtedly gave her the edge.
She came home from Canada in July and decided she would only start her small team of horses in three-star shows - especially Hairy, who she co-owns with Chele Clarkin.
"I wanted to keep him fresh and away from the hard ground."
It was Clarkin's late husband Paul who discovered Hairy's potential. "He had him as a hunter but said he was too good, so he gave him to me."
That was five years ago and the two have been together since. He's a character-filled horse who is quick to let his young charge know if he isn't happy. "He used to buck a lot and Paul always said his ears had to be forward before I got on - it was good advice."
McVean may not have been busy competing this season but her days are still filled with horses, riding as many as 14 a day.
She rides track work every morning for her father and works the other young horses on their new property. Her day starts at 4.45am - but she says you get used to that.
Besides, she is starting to enjoy not dashing off around the countryside every weekend to shows. She has been doing the show circuit since she was tiny - even before she was competing.
McVean's first pony was a Shetland stallion called Billie. "He would only let me catch him and, at three, I didn't really know how to put a head collar on, so it was rather interesting."
He may have been tricky but he was extremely tolerant of his determined young rider. McVean would go to shows with her parents and set up her own jumping courses, using everything she could find around the trucks.
She's been hunting since she was little, too, but was convinced by Clarkin and her mother that she wasn't allowed to jump full wire fences until she turned eight. The day she did, she made the most of her newly-gained status, jumping every fence in sight. Fear has never been a factor for McVean, who for her 21st has been given a skydiving jump. "I've done it before, but it is such fun."
She has also bungy jumped, paraglided and parasailed - all in the name of a thrill.
And the 1.5-1.6m jumps are equally exciting. "I love it," says McVean. "And the excitement of competing at those big international shows is something else." That is why she loves working racehorses. "It is certainly never boring with them."
The Olympics are always the aim for McVean - but she says you never know with horses. She has high hopes for five-year-old Dunstan Delphie, out of Jeff's old World Cup mare Flower Power, who she says has a huge jump in her. "We've got the London Olympics in 2012 in mind for her. She looks very nice."
She may head offshore in the winter months, but just what destination is yet to be finalised - though probably somewhere in Europe.
"I won't be taking any of my horses away this year, though. The next time I do that it will be an Olympic horse - something really special."
