Bonga loves everything horses and riding

Bonga Gumbo, a resident of Saddlebrook, had a clear idea about his career choice and didn’t have to ponder over it too much. His father was a horse groomer and also a horse clipper, and he imparted all his knowledge to Bonga. This sparked Bonga’s interest in horse riding.

He said when it was time to find employment, his father was there for him for every step of the way.

“I didn’t start by riding though until I started working at Christelle. I love everything about horses – they are the best animals that I have ever met. They are an animal that you can make an understanding with and you can share love with the horses.”

When asked how often he rides his horse, Gumbo said he does it every day because practice makes perfect.

“I wake up early in the morning to start feeding the horses as we ride early before it gets too warm. I then have a longer lunch break before we tackle the afternoon and the other guys leave at 16:00 once the horses are all in and groomed and get their supper. My daily tasks include the stable and horse care and maintenance and I have other people who help at our home in the garden so I ensure that they know what to do during the day.

“I get to ride every day as we have six horses – each of them works six days a week with a day off. We alternate with arena work, hacking and lunging which is also something that I enjoy and have learnt to do as part of the training programme. Dauphie and I will have a jumping lesson every second week with our jumping coach Jason Phillips, and we usually have a dressage lesson once a week with our dressage coach Georgie Roberts.”

Gumbo will be competing in the Toyota Easter Festival this year and he is already prepared for the action. He will be riding in the showjumping classes in the 1m with his horse, Dauphie.

He participated in the 90cm class last year but aims for 1m this year. He also bagged the KPC Development Award in 2023 and is proud of it.

“This means a lot to me as it is one of the greatest achievements that I have had a dream come true. I want to say thank you so much to the KPC club for all the support they have given me; without them I would never have achieved all of my dreams.”

He speaks highly of his horse, “The horse that I ride is Branic Dauphin D’Or – called Dauphie. I love him because he is my schoolmaster. He is a lovely and sweet horse – but sometimes he is strict with me and teaches me to know him better. I love him because he taught me how to ride and he always looks after me and has made many of my dreams come true. We call Dauphie ‘Madala’ because he is supposed to be old, but he doesn’t think or know this. He turned 21 in January but is still going strong and loves going to shows – if the other horses go somewhere and he doesn’t he is angry with them when they come back.”

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