"Comradeship", "horsemanship" and "sportsmanship" were just three of the words Inverell's Clare Fleming used when describing her recent Tom Quilty championship experience.
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Fleming and her mount, Flemingo Bomsaway, completed the prestigious 160 kilometre national endurance riding event over a difficult course at Tooraweenah on Saturday. Mud, sinkholes and rocky terrain made a normally difficult ride even more challenging.
"It was a difficult track, but I thought the horses handled it really really well. When you start a ride like that in the dark, there was 180 riders, there's lots of things that go wrong - you can get kicked, in the dark you don't know what the track is like so you can you can go too hard and fast on rocks that are sharp and end up with stone bruise," Fleming said.
Fleming and Bomsaway got through it as part of a team. The pair joined forces with another two riders - Miki Bell and Renee Henry - and their mounts to finish equal third in the lightweight division of the event.
"This year was pretty special for a couple of reasons," Fleming said.
"When we headed out on the fifth leg we caught up with another lightweight rider and we as a group said 'let's cross the line together.'
"It would be very easy to pull a ligament or have a horse come up very tight in the hamstring, or something of that nature, so we were very conscious we didn't want to risk hurting our horses and we wanted to complete.
"We rode together, we supported each other and the comradeship was beautiful.
"It was euphoric, I had tears running down my face and I think the other two girls did as well. It really encompassed the motto 'to complete is to win' but it was also a good demonstration of good horsemanship and good sportsmanship."
The national championship event is held in such regard that finishing and being awarded an esteemed Quilty buckle is on any endurance rider's bucket list.
The 2022 one was Fleming's eighth Quilty buckle from 10 attempts. But her achievements didn't stop with her own completion.
They had the quickest time in which they finished each leg to entering the vet ring (a requirement of endurance riding). She also had input in two of the other horses.
Lightweight division winner and best conditioned horse Pam Kramer's Flemingo Saphire was also bred by Fleming.
Her riding partner's mount, Miki Bell's Duray Spartakos, was another one she spent some time training.
"Absolutely, to have three horses in the top five we have had direct association with is a very proud moment," Fleming said.
Naturally entering an event like the Quilty requires a lot of time, hard work and dedication.
Fleming and her team have no shortage of that.
They have had 14 horses in work since January and have travelled interstate to compete in endurance events, averaging one ride per horse, per month this year.
And with that effort, it is hoped there is reward.
Fleming's goal for this year is to have highest points and distance completed for a rider across Australia.
And she is on her way to doing that, sitting in number one position on both ladders.
"I missed out on it last year because of Covid restrictions," she said.
"I started this year with the mindset that I don't want to let anything get in my way of achieving that if I can."
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