Qld Young Rider Elizabeth Ballard Recognised for Dual Talents
At the tender of age of 20, Elizabeth Ballard is on not only the Queensland Young Rider Team for Dressage but also the Young Rider and Australian Team for Show Jumping.
Elizabeth is already a super star in both arenas with her horses Sven and Bramley.
“I started riding at the age of six when dad bought me a pony,” says Elizabeth. “I didn’t have much choice in whether I was going to ride or not because all my family were into horses; it’s just something we did.”
Elizabeth was accepted onto the Young Rider team for Show Jumping in 2015 and the Australian Team in 2016. “This year I’m also on the Young Rider team for Dressage which is brilliant,” she says.
Elizabeth has two beautiful horses that are part of her successful team and who are polar opposites in personality. “Sven is a 20 year old Warmblood who I’m currently competing Small Tour on,” explains Elizabeth. “He’s an absolute gentleman at all times and with every ride he always puts in 100 per cent effort. I really enjoy the dressage side of competing, I’m a real perfectionist and strive like everyone else to better their scores.”
Elizabeth’s show jumper is Bramley, a 17-year-old Stock Horse. “We used to compete in Eventing but I stopped eventing him once we got to 1* level as his Dressage scores were not so high,” she says, “but he really excelled in the Show Jumping phase so I decided to just stick to the jumping courses, which has been a great decision. Bramley has a very quirky in personality but is very talented. This year we are competing at the Mini Prix and Young Rider level and hope to achieve some great results.”
On top of her busy competition schedule, Elizabeth also brings on young horses and offers lessons.
“My goal this year is to really progress with the young horses I have coming on and improve Bramley’s Prix efforts. This is also Sven’s final year in Young Rider so we’ll be giving it all we have.”
We wish Elizabeth every success for the competition season.
Photo credits:
Jumping image: OzShotz Photography
Dressage image: Amy-Sue Alston Photography
Elizabeth was the featured Young Rider in the April 2018 edition of HubVibes
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