No horsing around

Christina Koevert and Lee Hawkins have been selected to represent Gauteng in the South African National Equestrian Schools Association (Sanesa) National Championships.

They are extremely excited to represent their province at the Sanesa centre in Pretoria between 6 and 8 October, but the journey for the two girls started long before.

Koevert and Hawkins are residents of Bromhof and Randpark Ridge respectively. They started off in the trials for Gauteng west, comprising 31 schools with four qualifiers, from February to June.

The Gauteng west team was announced and the top eight riders out of every discipline were selected to represent Gauteng west at the Gauteng Regionals that were held in Kyalami from 6 to 9 August.

Out of the five regions, with 169 schools participating with a whopping 1 114 entries, the top 12 of each discipline got the honour of being selected for the provincial team.

Koevert said this was the first time that she has been selected, along with her horse, Billy. “I was chosen for my disciplines in working hunter and equitation, and I am really excited to be competing for the first time,” she said.

Hawkins has been selected for the national championships for three years in total. She qualified with her horse, Totum, in dressage and in hand utility.

Both the girls, who attend Rand Park High School, could not pin down why exactly they are so passionate about horse riding. “I guess you can say it’s the excitement that you have to compete with your horse and the power that comes with it,” added Koevert.

However, the fear of falling off is a reality. Hawkins said, “It is hard to get back on a horse after falling off because mentally you are always scared the fall might happen again,” she added.

The girls said it takes courage to keep on going. Unlike many other sports that require you to master control over an inanimate object, horse riding takes a different skill. “Every day we have to work with a live animal that has its own personality, mood swings and health issues. This can prove to be challenging some days, but makes it so much more rewarding,” said Hawkins.

Juanita Hawkins, Christina’s mother said, “I am extremely happy for her because of the hard work she puts into her riding.” She explained the girls hardly have a social life due to their training commitments on weekends. “It’s a great achievement and we would like to wish them all the best for the upcoming championship,” said Juanita.