AQHA MAGAZINE July / August 2021 | Page 40

PG . 38
AQHA FEATURE
Sharon Currie with her horses • Photo by : Eric Lloyd Photography
respiratory , palliative , orthopedic , gynecology , general medicine , with a specialty in Cognitive Impairments / Dementia . Sharon also had an Equine Massage business , Broke Az Therapeutic Services , for six years , but the work was a bit unforgiving on her body .
Her work colleagues know Sharon ' s horse mad , and people find amusing as it takes her twice as long to get to work than a show . Every morning , up at 5.30 to put her horses out / change rugs / feed / muck out and leave home for work at 6.30 . Back home from work at 5.30 pm , they are brought back in , given afternoon tea , and depending on the day , Sharon works one of them . Then they are rugged , fed and put to bed . “ I have lights at home , which are great but tend to have two nights midweek where I don ’ t work horses and do house stuff instead . Consistency is my key , but it ’ s a struggle in colder months ,” says Sharon .
“ In WA , we are pretty limited to the number of competitions , so usually we have around 6-8 events in the calendar year , across our three western clubs here . I ' m fortunate as most of our shows are held at the State Equestrian Centre , about half an hour from home in the Swan Valley . I still pack up and head down and camp for 2-4 days to show . I would love to attend shows over East more , but a 4 – 5-day drive to get there would equate to 3 weeks off work which makes it very hard . We have considered having a horse with a trainer , but I ' m a hands-on person , so that ’ s not an option for me just yet ,” Sharon said .
“ I was blessed to be able to have three months away from work and home in 2017 thanks to a very supportive hubby . I competed in the VIC State Show , Q17 , including pre and AmQHA shows , a club show in Ballarat , the NSW State Show and the NPHA . I appreciated the level of training and fitness the horses and riders need , given the amount of travel alone to get to shows and compete at such a high level regularly . A wonderful experience . I will never forget what I learnt , the people I met and the friends I made . To ride with people of that caliber regularly did so much for my riding and was very inspiring , to say the least .”
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