Florence may have earned her reputation as a princess because of her high-maintenance attitude, but the hand-reared show jumper has made all the hard work worthwhile for Pieta Milne.
The pair won the six-year-old final at the Takapoto Classic recently in the North Island which is the pinnacle event on showjumpers’ calendar in New Zealand, while her second horse, Karisma, took third place. It completed a successful season for Pieta who has her eyes looking ahead to the world cup in 2027.
Yet, as she entered the ring on Global PH Florence, Pieta wasn’t sure they would make it over the first jump because two weeks earlier at Marlborough, Florence had played the princess card and been a handful and downright naughty.
It’s her personality, but Pieta wonders if it she is also influenced by her start in life, as Florence’s mother died soon after her birth, leaving Pieta to hand-rear her.
“We tried with other mares, but none of them wanted Florence. Then we got an older paddock mate that taught her everything and we fed her on a bottle. As soon as I’d sit down, she’d sit down next to me and rest her head on my knee.”
She was soon feeding from a bucket, and Pieta says they were cautious about overhandling her which could lead to her becoming bolshy. Florence had different ideas, and is now a highly-strung princess that has tested Pieta every step of the way, but has the superstar quality to make it to the top, as she proved at Takapoto.
"She jumped the first class and she was absolutely fantastic. She doesn’t have a height radar, so you can put the rails up and she doesn’t care. I was so nervous for the six-year-old class which was 1.25m. I don’t usually get nervous, but it’s big for the age group. But she was just so confident and jumped clear.”
When Florence went on to jump the next round with higher jumps, Pieta thought it was too good to be true. Meanwhile, she was also jumping clear rounds on Karisma, who she describes as a true scholar. Both horses were in the eight qualifying for the final jump off and Florence was the first to go out and the only one to get a clear round. Karisma was last to jump and knocked one rail, but by then, Pieta knew she had it in the bag.
“She’s the toughest horse I’ve ever met. She’s delicate and dainty and snobby and so high maintenance. But at the same time, the most resilient horse. I think she’s going to be a top horse; she’s got something quite special.”
Both horses are strong willed and that’s the way Pieta likes it. On the day Waimea Weekly visited, Karisma has given Pieta rope burns on her hands just getting her out of the paddock.
"I like a little bit of a challenge and I’ve got my hands full with both of them. At the end, they try harder for you. I have a chance with these two horses."
Pieta has her hands full with more than horses. She’s into her fifth and final year studying law, and doing it online, after initially being at Otago University until the horses drew her back home. Two days a week she is working as an intern in a local law office and the horses take a lot of work, so life is busy.
