Travelling across the countryside with four trucks and a semi-trailer is not the usual lifestyle for a young woman in her 20s.
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But for Jamie Winning it is nothing but the norm. She is in Dubbo, with her team from Yandoo Equestrian Park, from the Hawkesbury, for the four-day National Jumping Championships which started yesterday at the Dubbo Showground.
They are in search of the Breeders Plate Australian Senior Championship title.
It’s her commitment to training seven days a week and frequently competing in event’s like these, that may one day see her represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
“People ask me a lot, “don’t you get sick of it?” But I get to do what I love every day,” she said.
“Any time that I start to feel sorry for myself ... I just remind myself I’m doing what I want to do and how much I love it.
“There are small periods of time during the year when you don’t have many shows on and you get to have a bit of a refresh which is important.
“That’s one of the reason’s why we work in teams, because someone always has to be there if others are away, you can’t turn a horse off.”
Already her greatest feats to date are impressive, claiming two World Cup’s in 2008 and 2009, and she has the confidence and talent to take herself further.
“I was still a young rider then so that was a great achievement for me,” she said.
“ I’ve also competed in the Nations Cup team and Trans-Tasman teams representing Australia.
“I’d like to think that one day I might go to an Olympic or World Equestrian Games. Each are held every four years, so there’s one to aim for every two years.
But there are lot of variables that you need to come good at the right time to make a games...your horse might be at the top of it’s game but your not and vice-versa.
“But essentially that is my main goal. I won’t stop until I’ve achieved what I want to, so I guess I could die trying.”
For the moment, Winning’s plan is to do well here in Dubbo. The first three days of the National Jumping Championships are qualifying classes each of the three divisions, junior rider, young rider and senior, with the top riders making it through to the National Championship final on Sunday
“You need to do quite well in every class in order to have the best chance overall in the title,” she said.
“So it’s a bit of stress each day trying to achieve the goal for Sunday.
“We’ve come from Yandoo Park with a team of horses and riders, myself, Brooke Campbell and Jamie Kermond and Jono Berry also rides out of there, we try to help one another to succeed
“To win everything is the goal, but you’ve got to be realistic..so you just go out there and try and do the best you can.
“Jono, Jamie and myself are all in the seniors so we are against each other, but essentially if we can’t win we want each other to.
“We are competing as individuals but you try to create that team support...we like to think of each other as a family.
“When you travel with four trucks and twenty horses on the road you need each other there for support...it’s not just about what happens in the ring.”