Nyora’s Chloe Benis and pony Jazz ready to represent Victoria

NYORA’S Chloe Benis and her pony Murray Gold Jasmyn (Jazz) are preparing to represent Victoria in the Equestrian Interschool National Championships at Melbourne’s Werribee Park, with competition running from the final day of September until October 3.

Chloe and her mount qualified in the ‘combined training’ section, meaning they will compete in two disciplines, one dressage test and one show jumping round.

The young rider outlined the most challenging aspects of those disciplines.

“For show jumping, it’s probably the striding, and for dressage, it’s getting the frame in the right diagonal,” Chloe said.

She explained that in dressage it is important to keep the horse’s head down, achieving an elegant look, while it is essential to determine and monitor the number of strides the horse takes when jumping and know when to jump, being important to first walk the course on foot to assess how many strides are needed.

Chloe’s mum, Nicole Benis, said it is necessary to promote the sport and create awareness of the opportunities it provides, given a lot of pony clubs are dying due to lack of participant numbers.

“We’re trying to reach out and say that every kid can have a go whether you go to Toorak College or whether you go to a little country public school,” Nicole said, noting Chloe is one of the few government school students who will be competing in the National Championships.

Chloe and Jazz represented Tooradin Primary School at April’s State Championships with their performance earning qualification to represent Victoria later this year.

Eleven-year-old Chloe began riding aged just three.

She often rides six days a week, including lessons and competitions.

Chloe has two ponies in full work, with Jazz joined by ‘Dunelm Look at Me’ (Lulu).

Nicole said many city-based kids competing in equestrian have others ride their ponies during the week, while Chloe does it all herself.

“It’s a massive achievement for an 11-year-old kid to be able to do that and compete against these kids and beat them,” the proud mum said.

With an arena at home, Chloe rides before and after school.

“I’m nervous and excited,” she said of the upcoming National Championships.

Chloe said hanging out with her horses and cantering around is what she loves most about riding, adding it is also a social sport and great for making friends with others who love horses.

She normally enjoys eventing, combining dressage, show jumping and cross country jumping.

“It feels good and makes you proud of the horse,” Chloe said of successfully clearing jumps.

While she clearly loves her ponies, they are sometimes naughty.

“Jazz can be stubborn and Lulu can be really rude,” Chloe said.

Hopefully Jazz will be on her best behaviour at Werribee.

Chloe aspires to continue improving.

“You want to challenge yourself, so I want to go up to ‘novice’ to challenge myself a bit more,” she said.

That includes a desire to increase her jump heights, something that will eventually require a new pony.

Injuries now restrict Lulu to dressage, with Chloe hoping to complete one more competition with her before the pony is retired.