The 13-year-old John McGlashan College pupil recently returned from a successful Horse of the Year Show in Hastings.
Riding his pony stallion Bizzie Canoodling, Coutts won the speed pony of the year title.
He also won the rising star class, for riders under 16 in show jumping, riding Onisha.
He competed in the 1.20m and 1.25m height classes and it was a top result from the biggest meeting on the New Zealand show jumping calendar.
Coutts was the only young rider in the country riding a stallion, which tended to be more temperamental.
The drive to Hastings took five days, as his family lugged four horses along with it.
Three of those were Coutts's, while the fourth was his 11-year-old brother, Quinn's.
It was not the first time they had made the trip, although it had been tougher this time around due to the road closures caused by the Kaikoura earthquake at the end of last year.
They had competed at the event, which was always in Hastings, last year.
That time they had gained valuable experience and knowing the level to get to was important in this year's success.
Coutts had begun riding horses around the ages of 3 or 4.
His mother had ridden competitively, so the family always had a horse in the paddock.
He joined the West Taieri Pony Club in Outram about seven years ago and had been competing for the past five.
In that time he had been to various local shows, as well as doing the South Island circuit.
He had also had success in eventing and would travel to Whangarei with the Otago-Southland eventing team in April.
When he was not riding horses, Coutts was a keen football player and had represented Otago last season and played for Mosgiel FC.
Balancing the two could be tough.
He often rode one horse before school and his other two after school, leaving him with little free time but it was something he enjoyed and he was making a name for himself in it.
-By Jeff Cheshire
