Jackie was 12 when she was introduced to Gypsy, when she went from Christchurch to the country near Geraldine to stay with her sister and brother-in-law while her parents travelled overseas.
Now, at 78 she’s still horse mad and after a lifetime competing at shows and a couple of decades officiating in various roles at the Canterbury A&P Association’s equestrian group, she’s been declared a Show Legend.
Jackie had no idea what was about to happen as she worked away in the office above the main ring at the showgrounds near the end of the mid-November show when a committee member came up and asked her to come and meet someone.
“We went down and round and when we went out to the ring I thought something was up and then they let me know, just before the award.
“It was so unexpected and overwhelming and still so exciting.
“My family knew but hadn’t let on. That’s a bit of a worry.”
Show Legend is a big deal at the Canterbury A&P and Jackie’s still chuffed at the award.
She competed, mainly in dressage, till her mid-60s, was ringmaster at the Canterbury show for several years and was a judge for dressage and show-jumping for a long time, judging all-round New Zealand and in Hong Kong.
In recent years she’s been taking the equestrian entries and sorting them out, making sure entrants are qualified to be riding at the show and are in their correct grades.
As a girl, Jackie lived fairly close to the Riccarton racecourse in Christchurch. Her father was keen on racing so she went with him to the stables and to the races and that was that.
By the time she was five she wanted a horse.
“My parents weren’t that keen so they bought me a rocking horse instead and I rode that to death.”
Later, when she went to live with her sister for a time she found an ally in her brother-in-law who was also keen on horses.
“He wrote to my parents while they were away and said I’d need to have a pony to get to school and that’s when I got Gypsy.”
When her parents returned Gypsy went with her to Christchurch.
“We kept him near the racecourse and I remember riding there and back on my bike, carrying the saddle.”
After she outgrew Gypsy her brother-in-law organised a bigger pony for her, for show-jumping.
The interest in dressage came after her marriage when she and husband Geoff bought land at Yaldhurst, with room for a horse.
“I loved training the horses and it was a lot of work getting them up to standard. It was exacting. You needed a lot of patience and I loved it.”
As a competitor, Jackie “won the odd ribbon at the odd show” but enjoyment was her main focus.
She had four horses through her dressage years. One of them, The Governor, she rode till he was in his 20s.
Geoff is keen on horses too. They’ve raced a few over the years, with one of them winning nine races.
With friends they did a lot of horse-trekking, mainly up through the Clarence and Molesworth areas of the upper South Island.
Nowadays they ride occasionally, mainly at Christmas when they go to see their son Richard who farms at Flock Hill in inland Canterbury.
“We’ve a grand-daughter who is riding, hunting and jumping in the ring so I go and watch her and enjoy that. I’m as keen as ever. I just love going and watching the show horses.”
Becoming the Show Legend isn’t a retirement ticket for this great enthusiast.
“I’ll keep on going back to the show and I have to be there next year because my godson Tim Black is coming in as president.”
