Expectations far exceeded

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 36

Expectations far exceeded

As Shelley Creelman and her mother left their Prebbleton home at 3.30 on Sunday morning, to meet up with the rest of the Canterbury-Westland team to travel to the New Zealand Pony Club team championships at Hastings, Shelley said, “It would be nice to finish in the top 10.”

That was the understatement of the horse sport year. The 19-year-old Shelley achieved a goal far beyond her expectations by winning this year’s prestigious A.I. Cup for riders 17 years and under 21, finishing on her dressage score of 48.89 penalties. The OtagoSouthland rider, Charlotte Young, was close behind with 49.78 penalties. Shelley’s partner in this exciting win was Femleigh Lad, a 15.2 hand crossbred chestnut gelding by Nightly Stroll. Their team, trained by Mrs Mavis Harris, performed well to finish third in the 16-team competition.

Shelley’s introduction to riding began at the age pf nine at the Sandow Riding School, then owned by the late Jack O’Donnell, a former well-known huntsman and show jumping rider, who saw the potential in this novice rider on her first day.

While still at Sandow, nearly two years later, Shelley was recommended to Mrs Zelda Walker, of the Legend pony stud, who was looking ftt a capable rider to

work and show her ponies. This was the beginning of a successful partnership with the champion pony Legend Rosetta.

Shelley’s parents, who had mainly followed tennis, netball, rugby league and swimming with their other children, soon found themselves being introduced to the busy and demanding showing scene. As they said, they were really “green” parents, but they were soon educated.

Shelley contributes her sound grounding in horse mastership to Zelda Walker’s tuition, and she gained valuable experience riding and educating the younger and later successful ponies, Polyester and Polysweet

When the Walker family moved to Australia, Shelley took over the experienced Miss Legend and competed in pony club events, and attained her C certificate, and the young pony Legend Amberlight. This pony she trained and showed successfully, specialising in winning a number of unity cups. At, 15 years, Shelley started working on a young park hack Ambrosia. However this training was Interrupted when she was out of action for nine months with a badly broken leg, shattered when her pony fell and rolled on her. Back on deck, she showed Ambrosia, collecting a number of

reserves before selling her.

However, showing did not hold enough challenge for this keen young rider, and she was soon looking for a horse on which she could compete in the more challenging show jumping and eventing fields. While in Nelson she tried, and liked, a horse called Femleigh Lad.

A week later she and her father went up to collect the new horse. They had a hazardous trip home, striking snow through the Lewis Pass, and Shelley had a long, cold two-hour walk when they had to off-load Femleigh Lad to enable the car and float to get through. And so began a successful partnership, in which hard work and patience paid off. Femleigh Lad is a horse no-one can get cross with, and, as Shelley’s mother said, “They are both strong willed and they seem to achieve their success by kidding each other along.” In their first year together, Shelley gained her B certificate and won the prestigious Intermediate Nydfa Cup at the Canterbury A. and P. Show. Competing at pony club one day events through the winter, they rose to intermediate grade. Six months after her B certificate, Shelley gained her Horse Mastership certificate.

At the 1985 area trials they had their traumas,

and at the final trial, Femleigh Lad was so off colour that Shelley retired him. After a spell, with Femleigh Lad now fully recovered, the combination achieved further successes, with Shelley gaining her A certificate, the highest achievement in pony club in New Zealand, - and winning the Senior Nydfa Cup at the Canterbury Show. They were also successful in showing and hunter classes.

And so to this year’s area trials, with Shelley hoping to make the Can-terbury-Westland team. At the first trial, at Hurunui, she was second in the dressage, and was clear in the cross-country until a run-out at the second last fence. Shelley blamed herself.

At the second trial, at Bullock Creek, she was third in the dressage, and witl/ clear cross-country

and show jumping rounds was first over all. She performed her best dressage for first place at the final trial at McLeans Island, jumped a clear cross-country round, but a brick off the last fence in the show jumping dropped her to third over all. She was second on points over the three trials for a place in the team. Since riding for Mrs Walker, Shelley has beeen instructed by Mrs Sally Field-Dodson, to whom she contributes much of her success. For the last eight months, she has been working in the mornings for Mrs FieldDodson, gaining valuable experience schooling young horses, and in the afternoons she schools her own horses, Femleigh Lad and a promising youngster called Larakin, which lives up to his name. BARBARA HEARD