Newsroom staff
8 October 2015: A 15-hour car trip from Wamboin to Murray Bridge, South Australia with a couple of ponies in the back isn't going to put University of Canberra education student sisters Katie and Lauren Slater off their game.
The sisters represented New South Wales (NSW) in the National Senior Mounted Games, a national competition which has been running for 30 years.
The NSW team placed second overall, behind the team from Western Australia.
Lauren is in her second year of a bachelor of secondary teaching degree specialising in science and PDHPE, While Katie is completing her final year of a bachelor of primary education teaching.
Katie Slater said the NSW team was selected in August and it had a handful of training sessions before the big competition.
"Over the three days of competition, riders and their own horses took part in 21 different games. We were out riding in 33 degree temperatures sometimes for more than four hours at a time. It's a real test of horsemanship and skill," Ms Slater said.
"I've represented NSW six times and Lauren is competing for her fourth time at the Mounted Games. This time I also competed in the tetrathlon, which involves running, swimming, shooting and show jumping."
The sisters will also represent Australia in the Nations Cup competition facing top riders from New Zealand, the US and South Africa in November.
"This competition is a real challenge. In the Pony Club Mounted Games we can ride our own ponies, but at the international competition everyone is on borrowed ponies and has to swap horses at certain points," she said.