DUBBO'S Prezlea Brouggy will be one of three teenage girls from NSW to represent Australia on the global stage in the coming months.
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Fifteen-year-old Brouggy will travel to Fort Worth, Texas in June with 14-year-old Holly Gutterson from Orange and Temora's Siobhan Kurtzer, also 15, as well as South Australian Jessica Pascoe, to compete at the Appaloosa Youth World Show.
The selection is the culmination of 18 months of hard work.
The team used the recent National Appaloosa Show at AELEC in Tamworth to finetune their talents before heading to Texas in June for the week of high class competition, according to team co-ordinator Pat Thompson.
"They were selected on team spirit, their activities in their respective clubs and promoting the appaloosa across different horse codes over the last 18 months," she said.
"We'll be travelling over two-and-a-half weeks early so the girls can get used to the borrowed horses.
"That's a huge thing for them to compete at high level on a horse they don't know.
"Competition over there is huge. What we have here in one show would take in one class over there."
For Thompson, it won't be her first trip to Texas. She accompanied her daughter Brittnee to the same show three years ago.
"Brittnee had a ball, but it was the size of it that stood out - totally different to here.
"Riding different horses is part of the experience they'll gain. They're very generous there too, one lady is taking three of her own horses down for three of our girls to train and compete on."
Holly will contest the 13-15 year division while the older three will compete in the 15-18 year division. At this stage though, the Aussies aren't sure of what events they'll be competing in.
"It'll really depend on what the horse is trained for. Probably the western and English classes, showmanship and equitation. They'll basically be concentrating on getting to know the horse and the events for the first two weeks."
And to ease the financial burden, the four girls have raised an amazing $8000 each.
"They've done that through raffles, cleaning stables - you name it. So if there are any sponsors out there willing to help out, we'd welcome them with open arms," Thompson quipped.
