GIPPSLAND will be well-represented at this year's national pony club championships, with three riders making the trip to Sydney this week.
Nineteen-year-old Samantha Harrington from Munro, 15-year-old Zoe Boulton from Cobains and 16-year-old Matt Tulloch from Briagolong will all be competing in the showjumping section at the championships next week at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre.
While Zoe will leave next week, Samantha and Matt will be competing in the New South Wales state championships at Camden this weekend.
Both Zoe and Samantha competed in the East Gippsland Zone Pony Club championships as well as the state titles held in February at Tullamarine.
For Zoe, reaching the national championships has been a highlight for a lifetime of horseriding.
"I've been riding since I was four or five years old,'' she said.
Zoe will be riding her 10-year-old stockhorse-cross Strike, whom she rode to victory at the East Gippsland Zone elimination.
A member of the Victorian Young Riders showjumping squad, Zoe was modest when asked about her ambitions with her riding.
"I just take it as it goes really. I'm still not too sure if I'd ever want to take it to the professional level,'' she said.
Both Zoe and Matt will be competing in the junior showjumping section, while Samantha will be competing in the associates section.
Matt, along with Samantha, will compete in the NSW state championships as well, "for a bit of practise'', as he put it.
A relative newcomer, Matt has been showjumping for the past four years on his 20-year-old warmblood Mastique. However, Matt has proved a force to be reckoned with, having come second in the East Gippsland finals, and ninth at the state finals.
Since discovering he'd been selected to compete in the nationals, Matt has been training closely with his coach Dennis Crane.
"I've been riding nearly every day for the past couple of months,'' Matt said of his training.
However, Samantha missed out on competing in the zone and state championships due to work commitments. It was purely through her outstanding results over in the past 12 months that her application to compete in the finals was accepted.
"I didn't know if I'd make it to the nationals,'' she admitted. "I was pretty stoked when I found out I was accepted.''
This will be the second time that Samantha has competed in the nationals, having attended in 2002 in the Junior section.
Sam will be riding her quarterhorse-thoroughbred cross, ironically named Financial Difficulties (FD for short).
East Gippsland Zone Pony Club president and chief instructor Megan Harrington said she could not have been prouder of the efforts of Zoe, Matt and Samantha.
"I just couldn't believe it when I got the call saying they'd been chosen,'' she said. "This is the best East Gippsland has ever done in the nationals. This year, we have two competing in the dressage section and three in the showjumping.''