Life is to short to spend it by yourself
Host: BK Trick Riding
Written by Becky Klingenberg – Owner, BK Trick Riding.
Meet the star of the show – Rose Gold
This here is my mighty mare Rose Gold. She is seven years old, born and bred at Heytesbury Cattle Company. Her sire is Lawson’s Vision owned by Bill Doyle at Dixie Station. Her dam is an Australian stock horse plant mare. She was broken in by Tom Curtain for six weeks at the age of 4. She is unmeasured as I cannot bring myself to get a height on my little golden girl. Ideally for my height and weight, I would look for a horse around 15 – 15.2 hands high. I got her as a 21st gift from my best friend, I don’t know how I got so lucky, but someone somehow knew what my world needed before I did.
She has the biggest, toughest heart, has never been lame or sore and certainly doesn’t require any fancy diet. I am being biased but she is seriously the best. Her job is carry me safely throughout our trick run. She is fast but sturdy, there is absolutely no better feeling then riding a horse at pace that you have 110% faith and trust in.
Sarah Duguid Photography: Sarah is one hell of a photographer and was doing everything needed to get the best angles of our suide drag. Here I am hustling to get out of the trick so we didn’t run her over!
Physical training – No Pain No Gain
Having a full time job on the research station makes training windows quite limited, but we make it work. I train the horses in what’s left of the daylight, and my own training is done either early mornings or late afternoons. Dreams don’t work unless you do, so my training is fairly consistent now, my goals are bigger and I know what I need to do in order to achieve them.
I do a mixture of:
-Yoga (if there are any instructors reading this who want to take me on as a project please let me know I certainly need help in this area!)
-Strength training, weights/ body weight
-I train the horses for their own muscle building and conditioning
-Trick training which can be 2-5 nights a week
-Working on a station can be quite physical so there is always extra activities.
A common question I am asked is “Have I had any wrecks?”. Absolutely I have! Never anything serious enough to keep me out the game though. Trick Riding is supposed to look dangerous, but it’s not meant to be dangerous. I do get a lot of tight muscles that become quite achy, so stretching is one of the most beneficial pain relief I find.
Loaded up and ready to go!
Travelling to a show that’s “Just down the road”
Heading to a show can mean travelling anywhere from 250km to 1500km one way. You will hear everyone in the Northern Territory says “Yeah mate it’s just down the road” . . . literally. The roads out here are long, and they are few and far between.
My car always looks like I’ve packed never to return – it’s always full to the brim for a weekend away trick riding. I always haul two horses, Rose is fully trained and seasoned to trick riding and I’ll haul another horse for exposure to help move along their future career.
I always have plenty of spare gear with me, there is nothing worse than something breaking or starting to wear and you have to buy or borrow unfamiliar equipment. Everything we use is very much customised to either ourselves or horses. All my gear is cleaned and checked before leaving, we are fully responsible for our safety and measures we take to ensure that.
Most places we go we set up a portable yard and camp. There is no Hilton hotel out here it’s just swags and road house instant coffee. I’ll always set up a trick run in the arena before actual performance. Familiarising the horses with what we call “station” is most important. Station is where the horses Start and Finish. They are trained to run from A – B, so checking out the arena and picking your station is crucial.
Huge thank you to this years sponsors.
Sponsors
BK Trick Riding – Run with Wild Horses is proudly sponsored by We Fit Rugs, Suze Aron Arbonne independent consultant make-up and R.P.M Rapid Print Media. I am so very thankful for the support of these amazing sponsors. We Fit Rugs have my horses fully geared out in shade mesh rugs for the extreme conditions of the NT. Suzie has supplied my performance make-up which is a wonderful range of gorgeous colours to choose from and the best part is they are all natural products. R.P.M Rapid print media have come on board with us this year, helping the BK Team really get our brand out there. Our wonderful show shirts have all been personalised with our name and screen printed with the BK logo, as well as hundreds of bumper stickers to get give many thanks to fundraising efforts, participants, and advertise on our vehicles and floats.