Horse's Tale - Power Loaded

This article is from the December 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

SYNOPSIS
Stable name: Benji
Height: 15.2½hh.
Age: 6
Breeding: Australian Stock Horse. Sire: Doongara Manpower. Out of a Bryjen Fort Talon mare.
Owner/rider: Georgia Hope
Top five results:
1. Australian Stock Horse National Championships 2019 - Supreme Hack of the Show
2. canberra Royal Show 2020 - winner of ASHLA
3. Southern Highlands ASH Branch Show 2019 - Supreme Working Horse
4. South coast ASH Branch Show 2018 - Grand champion Horse of the Show
5. NSW ASH State Breeders Championships 2018 - Supreme Hack of the Show

How did Benji come into your life? Benji came into my life in 2015 from the Fountain of Youth Sale at the National Championships that year. A close friend of mine, Prue and I wanted to buy a horse in the sale, train it up and sell it to go on a holiday together. She would break him in and I would compete him.

We had a budget of $3,000. We had seen Benji in the catalogue but hadn’t even gone to look at him because we thought he would be way out of our price range.

Auction time came around and all the horses we were bidding on kept going out of our price range. Then Benji came out. No one was bidding. So I put my hand up. We got to $3,000 and someone went to $3,500. It was at this time that my mum said, I will give you the extra $1,000 if you get this horse. Go one more. The fear and excitement rushed through me. What do we do... so I stuck my hand in the air and went one more and we got him!

What was your fi rst ride on him like? Ahhh now see, that first ride. That first ride was everything. Prue had started breaking him in. She had given him four random rides, but due to the rain she couldn’t do much more with him. So he came back to me to do some more work. It was on that first ride that I knew I was never going to sell this horse. I knew that this was the horse I had dreamt of owning. The way he was just so balanced, the way he floated across the ground and the way he tried so hard. So I made the decision to call Prue and tell her I wasn’t going to be able to sell him. I bought Prue out and Benji has been mine ever since.

Did he have any training issues? Under saddle, no. Trying to catch him, yes!

How did he handle his first show? Like an absolute dream! First show out was Bungendore Show. He took everything in his stride, didn’t bat an eyelid and worked his little heart out. I even think he made it into champion!

Congratulations on taking out Supreme Hack at the 2019 ASHS nationals with Benji in what you described as a dream come true. What was the key to taking the win? Riding every step of the way. Benji will only do what you make him. If I slack off, he slacks off. As soon as we trotted into that workout it was business. We were there to do a job and we made it happen. And I always talk to him, tell him “we’ve got this”, it keeps me focused.

With a quieter year competition-wise, what have you and Benji been up to? Benji and his best mate Don have just moved to our new property, so they are settling into their new home. Before that we were enjoying long trail rides, something that we had let slip and something I believe is so important for their training.

Most annoying habit or quirk? When he doesn’t want to be caught, he doesn’t want to be caught!

Strongest personality trait? He’s actually a child. He loves to play with other horses, bite rugs, fidgets, paws at the ground. He has the attention span of a two year old.

Preferred work environment? A perfect spring day on a flat piece of land is where the magic happens.

Work ethic? 10/10. No matter how long the break, each time I get on him he is right where I left him. Under saddle he is an absolute dream to ride.

How does he handle the big occasions? He takes it all in his stride. He definitely feeds off me and I feed off him. If I get nervous so does he and vice versa. But when we get into our groove there’s nothing stopping us.

Weekly training regime? Thanks to COVID it’s involved a lot more trail riding, which has been so good for both of us. But usually I try to get three rides in a week, focused on suppling and building strength. Then leading up to competitions I aim to ride every day.

What has he taught you as a rider? He has taught me what it feels like to glide across the ground, but also that you have to ride every step. Benji is such an amazing and talented horse that puts in 110% when you ask him to. But if you slack off he will make sure you know about it. He has taught me that it is possible to have the horse of your dreams and I just can’t believe I was the lucky human that got to own such an incredible horse.

Does he have a best friend? Don, my partner’s horse. They are a little inseparable now!

What is the first thing on your shopping list for him? A new fender saddle. I was lending a friend’s indefinitely and he finally asked for it back, so I only have my competition stock saddle at the moment.

When was the last time he made you laugh or cry? Just the other day! I’ve preached above that I struggle to catch him, but the last week he has been following me around like a bad smell and is loving affection more than ever. I’m definitely not complaining, but it does make me laugh.

Most treasured moment together? This would definitely have to be winning Supreme Hack of the Show at Nationals. That was my all-time ultimate goal and he was the horse to get me there.

What celebrity does he remind you of? This is a tough one, maybe Rafael Nadal. He is good at what he does, but he definitely has some quirks you have to work through. Like Nadal during a game, he has to do his little quirks/rituals!

The next 12 months… Time to ease back into some solid work. Increase his suppleness and progress his working talent and cowyness. After winning Nationals last year I had to find a new ultimate goal to work towards and I decided that it would be to win an Open Challenge at Nationals. In order to do that we need to refine and level up our skills in the working and campdraft section. Bring on Nationals 2021.

3 things we don’t know about Power Loaded...
1. He has stranger danger
2. He loves to destroy rugs
3. He loves to let himself out of the stable if it’s not double locked

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