This is Where it Starts!!!!! (October 2011)
What is it about horses and young girls. They are attracted to one another. Where or who said that every little girl wants a pony - the back garden just is not big enough. But get involved in a stable and the dreams all start to come true. This is where it starts...........
(Nessie Turan and O'Sheas after his win at Wanganui in 2010)
Nessie Turan is one of those young girls.
Nessie is a 12 year old girl living in Cambridge and is in her last year at Cambridge Middle School. She loves horses. Her mother Jo used to work with Nicky's mother, Lynn. They were introduced to Nicky and Nessie spoke about her love of horses and her wish to get involved in some way. So Nicky suggested she come down to the stables and spend a bit of time learning the ropes and getting involved in caring for the team.
What an opportunity........she took it up with great enthusiasm!
Now she is involved in most aspects of the stable. She leads the horses from their boxes, brushes them, washes, them and helps feed out and is learning about gearing them up for training and racing. She has a natural instinct and knows that jobs need doing. When she is able, Nessie travels with Nicky to race meetings and helps there as well. She leads the horses off the truck into the stable area, or brings in the sulky and the race gear.
After a race, she helps take the gear off the horse, gives them a drink, scrapes them down after a wash and towels them down, then walks them to cool off.
Nessie is a keen member of Kidz Kartz Cambridge and has been dong this for about 3 years. Peter and Wendy Ferguson and Susan Branch assist the Kidz Kartz in Cambridge every Monday evening from 5pm to 7pm. The kids learn all aspects of care for the ponies and ultimately driving them on the big race track. Nessie has become one of the senior members of the club and has been in races at Auckland, Te Awamutu, Cambridge, Hawera and everywhere that the Kidz Cartz team races.
Nessie got involved through her Uncle Lionel and her cousin Rachel Clark who has also gone through the programme. She drives a little pony called "Peanut" who is 11.3 hands high, white and chestnut, Here is a picture of Nessie at Cambridge Raceway in the parade ring with other members of the Kidz Kartz Cambridge club.
Nessie's favourite horse in the stable is "Rusty" better known to racing fans as "O'Sheas". The reason she likes him so much is that he is so gentle and kind. She can even hop on his back and, with assistance, have a ride around on him, albeit at the moment she is led around by a handler and because he is so big, she needs assistance to actually get on his back. Her other favourites are Loki Brogden, Diamond Smile, Secret Love and Leroy Brogden.
Nicky comments that Kidz Kartz is great. It gives the children the experience of sitting behind little ponies and learning all the basics of driving and teaches them confidence in handling horses on a smaller scale which is safe for them and easily managed.
They learn the basic driving skills of steering left and right, being able to start horses moving forward, stop horses and driving with "light hands" through the mouth of the ponies. While the kids would love to have a go behind the big horses, they are not strong enough to be able to control them when they need to make sudden decisions.
One of Nessie's ambitions is to be able to start driving work and drive fast. She has had a taste of speed behind the pacer "McArdle Lassie" in a double sulky with Nicky Chilcott and her word she used to describe the experience was "awesome".
Here is where it all starts. It is through programmes like Kidz Kartz and having access to a stable, that children decide that this is the industry they want to become a part of.
Who knows what Nessie and others like her will ultimately decide to do and how much involvement she and others will have, but it is this hands-on involvement that may determine their long term future in harness racing.
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