Sophie White, a year 13 student at St Peter’s College in Gore, has represented Otago and Southland in her sport on seven occasions.
At 17, this was her last year of eligibility to compete on a pony.
She will travel to China to compete in the show jumping division of the NZPCA China exchange alongside three other riders from across New Zealand, from May 27 to June 8.
Sophie said she would be timed jumping hurdles on ponies she had never ridden before.
But she had experience riding many ponies and horses throughout her life.
She had wanted to ride since she was very young her mother, Clare White, said.
‘‘Pretty much from when she could sit up, she sat on ponies.’’
She started riding at the Wyndham Pony Club when she was 7 years old and honed her skills show jumping on different sized ponies.
For pony show jumping the pair will leap over a number of poles, set to heights that could be over a metre high, in two rounds.
A rider and pony go through a course of jumps and if no poles are knocked over in the first round and if the pony did not stop, the second round would begin.
It involved a course of about 10 jumps that a duo had to get through as quickly as possible, which involved skilfully manoeuvring around corners.
One of Sophie’s coaches, Amanda Wilson — who had been working with her for about a decade — said she had seen her show jumping skills grow.
‘‘I watched her go from riding a very little pony to jumping ... having great success with her ponies.’’
She said riding was no easy feat, but Sophie was up to the challenge.
‘‘You’re sitting on this animal that doesn’t speak English and we’ve got to learn its language.
‘‘She’s always been gutsy.’’
