Bronte comes from Canberra and at first glance I think we all thought she was an unlikely person to become part of Ryan's. Bronte started with us on 29.06.2012. Bronte’s mum, Wendy, had attended our Sydney Auction in June 2012 and without consulting with Bronte or any other persons put her finger up for Lot 29 which was a Rituel mare called KRP Independance. Bronte at the time was working for Byalee and Ann Maree Lourey and was in actual fact at the auction when this momentus parental maneuver was executed. Wendy came around to the back stables where Bronte was grooming completely oblivious and announced her purchase. To this day I can remember the screams of excitement when Bronte realised what her mum had done. Wendy (Bronte’s mum) has done a little riding in an earlier life when Bronte and her older sister were attending The Goromon Park riding school. Wendy has shone when it comes to managing daughters and horses and Bronte says that she is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to veterinary issues. Anyway a few weeks after Independance (Indie) was bought Bronte then came to work at Ryan's.
Bronte certainly started here very much on the “green” side and Indie was also green and at times quite nervous and wayward. In hindsight not a classical pairing of rider and horse. Bronte is nevertheless very determined and very clearly in her mind is going to ride Grand Prix dressage and represent Australia at the Olympics! Indie is on notice! Since Bronte started here she has made outstanding progress. The first couple of dressage competitions that Bronte and Indie ventured into were good however they did return percentages / scores in the low 50’s. The tests were good enough however the result of lots of inexperience and staying positive was tough for Bronte as indeed it would be for anyone else. Tough it out Bronte did and today Bronte and Indie have just had their first wins at novice level and have returned scores exceeding 72%. This is a little bit of a fairytale story and not everyone is able to so clearly progress in 12 months and so be comforted. Progress sometimes takes a little longer and this is no indication that the journey is not realistically focused on an Olympic outcome. Also worth keeping in mind is that no graph in the world for anything just keeps going up and up. All graphs experience blips and downers and these take some surviving and of course Bronte can look forward to lots of these in the future however right now nothing seems to be able to stop Bronte and Indie.
Indie’s schooling today revolves around medium level and the shoulder in, half pass, medium trots and flying changes are all on their way and looking healthy. Bronte and Indie have also started gentle piaffe in hand and also canter pirouettes under saddle. Both Indie and Bronte are right now in the middle of a huge positive surge – a good moment to enjoy.
On a day to day basis Bronte is involved in all aspects of Ryan's and is happy to accept responsibility and is unexpectedly resilient and tough! Bronte and Utopian Cardinal (Heath’s young Grand Prix ride) are best of friends. Bronte spends a large amount of the day preparing and lunging Heath’s horses (and glaring at him when she thinks he is talking on the phone for too long).
Bronte in her past life played the trumpet and can sight read music fluently (my goodness!). Bronte also reads lots and lots. Some of the books are very interesting in that they are not equestrian and many are based around science fiction. Perhaps two of Bronte’s favourites are “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. Bronte also has a huge movie collection which features “Serenity”, “The Sound of Music”, “Moulin Rouge”, along with “Harry Potter”, etc.
Bronte has her own sense of humour which sometimes is beyond everyone else here at Ryan's however this never seems to interfere with Bronte laughing heartily. This does look like the beginning of a very promising story and in due time there will be some updates.