Chloe O'Rourke

Nakita Willis

Hi, my name is Nakita Willis I'm 11 years old and love everything about horses. I fall in love with horses when I was 4 years old. My family use to every year volunteer at all hospitals for children's week dressing up in character costumes. They would go into all the children's rooms and make their day. I use to take a shetland pony and dress him up as a zebra, I would dress as a jockey. Together we were racing strip's! I would ride this pony into every room and visit all the children that were not well. I love seeing all the kids get excited when I would walk into their room, even the doctors and nurses loved our visits. This moment was my favourite memory riding when I was younger. when I was 4 I got my first pony and started having lessons with Amelia, she was a tough instructor. Amelia has definitely taught me to not give up, she use to say when I would fall off if your not dying get back on. After 3 years with Amelia my family decided to pack up our family farm and move to Lakes Entrance, we brought a tourist park. This was a huge change for me as I never thought I would find an instructor like Amelia. I decided I wanted to get into show jumping and mum found a instructor who had just moved to the area. My mum contacted Amanda Leyshan who is a grand prix show jumper. I have been having lessons with Amanda for 3 years now and love it. Amanda has not only taught me to ride but how to care for my horses. Amanda always says caring for your horse is the most important part of owning a horse. I can now catch, rug, saddle, feed, ride and care for my horse on my own. My family are very supportive and take me to every competition but they don't ride, I have learnt to do it all on my own. I think learning all this has made me love and appreciate horses more. I ride and have lessons 5 days a week and spend my weekends out at Amanda property learning more about horses every week. Amanda and my family take me to every big competition and we love travelling to compete. I have made great friends at these competitions. When I get older I would like to train horses and compete at a high level, horses are everything to me. I want to be like Amanda she brakes in, trains and competes her own and clients horses. 3 years ago I found this pony left in a paddock with no food and water, she was only 3 years old and hadn't had much handling. I felt really sorry for her and asked mum If we could keep her, mum tracked down the owner and asked if we could buy her. She was very skinny and not healthy at all. The owner said I could buy her for $750 so I paid for her and took her home. I looked after her for 6 months until she was healthy again, once healthy I took her to be broken in. The braker said I could come out everyday and learn as much as I could with the braking and training. I named this pony Bella, she looked beautiful to me. Bella is a 14.2hh riding pony Bella has become my best friend, I saved her and she has taught me to ride and never give up on anything. She has been very challenging at times but I'm lucky I have Amanda who helps me out every week with her. I have been competing Bella in Showjumping and we entered the Auss championship show jumping in Jan 2022 in the 85cm- 90cm open and placed 5th in the final. Bella loves jumping as much as I do, my goal is to get Bella jumping 1.1m. Bella is now 7 years old and we spend everyday together. Amanda has offered me to ride her older grand prix school master Luna, this way I can start jumping higher jumps. I am training with Luna now and hoping to enter the children's series in Nov 2022 at boneo park. Luna is a big 16hh warmblood I love riding Luna, she definitely looks after me and I feel safe. I have two riders I look up to and admire one is Amanda Leyshan and the other Robert Palmer. When Amanda is competing in the big classes I love helping her out in the warm up arena and watching Rob compete. His very talented and always making jokes when he rides making everyone laugh His very funny and a nice person. When I ride I love wearing my White Jotties, Belt and competition shirt all from Lucky Kids Equine. My mum brought me some clothes at a comp and I absolutely love them. I now wear them to every event, these are very comfy and I can move when I'm jumping. I don't feel like I'm restricted at all. Plus the jotties are not see through like most white pants. I only wear these clothes now when I ride and I can't wait to tell everyone about this brand as I know they will like it as much as I do. The lady stacey who started this brand is super nice and very talented. Stacey has really thought about the clothes and how they will suit kids. My family and Amanda Have explained to me that I have the privilege of being sponsored by my favourite clothing brand. I hope I can make them proud as I will work hard and wear LKE with pride. Thank you LKE for my sponsorship. Nakita Willis