Celebrating the ‘Year of the Horse’, Cobar Show will be hosting the HLS Trick Riding troupe all the way from the Gold Coast as part of this year’s line up of entertainment.
Show organizer Simonne Mackay reckons it’s going to be a great show.
“I’ve been watching their videos online, I cannot wait to see it live, it’s going to be amazing,” Simonne said.
Simonne hopes Cobar residents will come out and support this year’s Cobar Show and the trick riders.
“Given the distance they have to come to perform here, and with the price of fuel at the moment, it is super expensive to travel anywhere.
“This entertainment is going to be in our backyard, we would be silly to miss it.
Experienced rider, Hollie Sheils heads up the HLS Trick Riding team of four riders who will be performing at this year’s show.
“We basically do stunts on moving horses,” Hollie explained.
“Trick riding is not very big in Australia, it’s bigger in Canada and America.
“There’s only a couple of troupes that perform Australia wide, so we’re pretty unique.”
Trick riding is a skillful equestrian event which involves performers doing various stunts on moving horses.
“You have to be able to ride a horse first, and have that little bit of control,” Hollie said.
She said the level and number of tricks you can do all depend on a rider’s flexibility, strength, experience and confidence, as well as how quickly they can execute them.
“Your strength and fitness, and also having a horse that is well trained and experienced to do the job, is important,” she said.
Trick riding comes with risks and the relationship between the rider and the horse is very important to ensure a safe and successful stunt.
“The girls that I’m bringing have been performing for a few years now.
“During their trick lessons when they learn new tricks, we put a lot of safety aspects into what we’re doing.
“You’re risking your life riding that one horse and it comes down to the training of the horse as well.”
With over 30 years of show horse and breeding experience, Hollie knows better than most how to get the best out of the horses in training to prepare for events.
“We do a lot of training at home with flags and loud music and then just basically getting them out there,” Hollie said.
“We try not to put a whole team of new horses out together.
“We’ll make sure that we have one new horse in with a team of experienced horses then that gives the new horse confidence too.
“The girls [in the troupe] love what they do.
“We’re excited to be coming to Cobar,” Hollie said.
HLS will be performing three shows, two on the Saturday and one on Friday afternoon.