Horse-Trading Leaves Girl with an Unstable Future

The story could come straight from a Girl’s Own annual: the unwanted brown gelding, long past his prime and put out to pasture, and the teenage girl who rode him to showjumping glory. A final ride, a last jump – and girl and horse are parted forever. But the truth is not as simple as teen fiction.

Yesterday at Woodhill Sands Event Centre near Helensville, 15-year-old Georgia Kloosterman rode 19-year-old Mackie with a sad determination, knowing that the very next morning, a truck would take him away and she would never see the horse again.

This story goes back two years, when Karaka publisher Sheryll Davies bought Mackie for her foster-daughter. She hired instructor Davis Davies to teach the girl to ride…

 

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Date: 9-20-2009
By: www.nzherald.co.nz