Development riders are the up-and-coming champs
KYALAMI – Local development riders reach new heights and herald a change in the face of equestrian sports.
Development riders, or more specifically, black development riders, are taking the equestrian arenas in Fourways and Midrand by storm, earning medals at top equestrian shows, as well as receiving recognition from the sport’s top athletes.
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Protea show jumper, Oscar Ncube is one of the most successful development riders. Part of Team Nissan, he works closely with fellow Protea show jumpers Barry Taylor and Lorette Knowles-Taylor at Farnham Stables in Chartwell.
Ncube has represented South Africa at the 2007 All-Africa Games and has jumped at the World Cup Qualifiers for six years.
A young South African Lipizzaners performer, Percy Matabane (22), is following closely in Ncube’s footsteps, also racking up the medals in showjumping and dressage shows across Gauteng.
“I wanted to do showjumping since I was a young child,” said Alexandra-born Ncube. “I now get to do what I love, and also teach riders from our Thandi (The Heritage and Nissan Development Initiative) programme.”
Thandi is Team Nissan’s own equestrian development programme which trains seven children from a local children’s home. As a teacher, Ncube has a chance to make another rider’s dream a reality.
Showjumping fun at the Nissan Easter Festival at Kyalami Equestrian park
For Matabane, a Riba Stables rider from Soweto, a rise of competitive development riders in recent years has seen an attitude shift in equestrian sports.
“Black riders are given more opportunities now than before, and trained as hard as anybody else,” he said.
For Riba Stables owner, Barbie Gertenbach, this is due to a few reasons.
“Riba Stables has been around for 37 years. In that time we saw how the typical rider has changed,” she said, explaining that riding is expensive, and non-whites were shunned in the past.
“Now there are loads of Indian, coloured and black riders. Stables, like ours, now have special rates for previously disadvantaged riders.”
Wendy Gidlow, owner of the Thandi programme, said it has been proven that anything is possible for development riders if they are given adequate opportunities. However, she believes more programmes and sponsors are always needed.
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