Station Stock Horse to National Dressage Championships

A decade ago some horses were trucked to Wave Hill Station, about 6 hours south west of Katherine, to do a contract mustering job. One of those horses is now about to compete in the National Dressage Championships, reports Kate O'Toole in her ABC 'Mornings' segment.

It's a long way from a dusty stock camp to the relative glamour of high level dressage, where the rider wears a top hat and tails and appears to effortlessly direct the horse to dance across the arena.

Judith Beint-Tapp is incredibly talented rider underneath that top hat. It must have been a hard slog trying to develop both Chester's skills and her own from her home at King River Station, about 40km from Katherine.  

In order to get the points to go to Nationals, Judith and Chester (officially known as Checkmate) have been competing at events in Darwin, more than 300km away. This year they have competed at a level called Inter 1. Only one person has attempted Inter 1 in the Territory before, many years ago. 

Quick Link

• Read more about Judith and Chester and listen to audio at abc.net.au