About Jo
I was lucky enough to work in the UK for several years, where one of our primary focuses at the
yard was to train and compete international level Working Equitation horses. During this time I
had the opportunity to represent Great Britain in Working Equitation in 2007 before finally moving
home to New Zealand.
One of my aims when I came home was to promote this sport and really get it going here in New
Zealand. With anything new, it takes time for people to start to take note and see what things are
all about, but it is growing all the time. The first year I did a demo at Equidays, 80% of the crowd
had never heard of it before. Yet the last time I did a demo there 80% of the crowd had seen Working Equitation before.
So why do I love this sport so much? It’s the versatility, the discipline needed to produce a good
dressage test, the versatility required to work around varying obstacles and the excitement of the
speed round, it really incorporates a little bit of everything. The horses love it to, due to the variety
of work and you can literally feel them get excited as they see the obstacles.
In addition to holding regular lessons and clinics in Working Equitation at both my property in the
Waikato, and throughout the North Island. I also take horses on for breaking or further training.
When I came back I brought my young four-year-old Lusitano stallion, Xerife back with me, along
with two Lusitano mares from Portugal. His oldest progeny are now six and they are all certainly proving themselves as trainable, versatile horses. Xerife stands at stud during the summer
months as well as competing at a top level.