Versatile Pony Club Mount

Aratar Shatiira is a beautiful natured mare and she was broken-in at the ripe old age of 15 years. She was originally earmarked for Chase to ride but when he lost interest, she was passed on to Angelina and has been her trustworthy partner in pony club ever since.

Now 18 years old, Aratar Shatiira has done all manner of things under saddle including dressage, pony club, jumping and now mounted games. She loves to jump and happily attempts obstacles above her PCAV grading level, as Angelina enjoys jumping too.

You can leave Shatiira in the paddock for months and then pull her out and work her without lunging or working down. Since coming home from the breaker she has only ever been ridden by children. Even before that, the children actually rode her at the walk and the trot – we only sent her to the breaker in order to install the canter aid!

Shatiira and Angelina attended the qualifying rounds for the PCAV West Gippsland Zone mounted games and qualified to attend the State Games at the PCAV centre in Gladdisvale. The day was marred by horrendous weather and a terrible accident when one rider and horse went down. The surface was very slippery and Angelina was part of the Composite team put together from riders from three different clubs. So their practise sessions had been very limited.

Shatiira did what she always does - tried her heart out at games that involved speed and accuracy. After the first three games the team was sitting in second place but the last three games required speed and teamwork with riders needing to race and hand over battons at a gallop. So in the end the team dropped out of a placing. They were beaten by older teams of riders from single clubs who had been able to develop themselves over the course of the year.

Angelina and Shatiira had a ball, so there are plans to try it again next year. In the meantime they will continue to attend pony club and fly the flag for the purebred Arabian working beautifully for children.