About Niki

I was born in Adelaide , South Australia . I have two younger brothers Ben and Josh and an older half brother Daniel. My parents are Carol and Michael. At the age of six our family moved to Queensland ‘s Gold Coast. My mum is a keen horse person so I have grown up around horses.

I started having lesson with Jocelyn Park at the age of seven on my 12hh part Arab pony ‘Arianna’. Jocelyn has been a huge influence on my riding career. I really appreciate all the support she has given me over the years.

I started off in the Pony Club ranks, competing in a variety of different disciplines on a number of different ponies and horses. I had a great time at Pony Club and really enjoyed the experience you get from being a member of a team. Pony Club is a great place to learn a wide variety of horse skills whilst really enjoying horse sport. I was fortunate enough to have some great Pony Club horses especially Eliza Moonbeam ‘ Bea’ who was successful in every discipline.

My next horse was my first experience of an ex racehorse, Dreamtime Jess, ‘Jess’ was a little on the wild side and taught me how to stay on and on more then one occasion how to fall off. ‘Jess’ had most success in the field of dressage. After Jess came another ex racehorse Double O Seven ‘James’ very different to ‘Jess’, ‘James’ was a very lay back character. ‘James’ and I competed in Pony Club gymkhana’s, dressage, eventing, showjumping and jumping equitation and competed as members of several state Pony Club Teams. In 1994 ‘James’ and I competed at our first EFA one day event at Goondiwindi.

It was not until after completing High School that I began to concentrate on Eventing. In 1996 for my 18 th birthday I received from my parents the most beautiful Thoroughbred Gelding Lion King ‘Rex’. In 1997 I competed at my first Three Day Event, Lochinvar CCI* with both ‘Rex’ and ‘James’ who both finished in the placing’s and later that year finished 2 nd in the Adelaide CCI** with ‘Rex’. The 1998 won the Goondiwindi CCI** with ‘James’.This win was enough to earn the Queensland Horse Trials National Horse and Rider of the year, the same awarded I won in 1997 with ‘Rex’.

2000 was a successful year, ‘Rex’ and I won the Lochinvar CCI** and we went on to win the Adelaide CCI*** later that year. ‘Rex’ also won the NSW State One Day Event Championship in 2000, ‘James’ placed 5 th in the same class. At the end of this year ‘Rex’ and I where included on the National ‘A’ Squad. ‘Rex’ and I were named Queensland Horse Trials National Rider of the Year.

2001 began well with a win in the Open/Intermediate at the first event of the season with ‘James’ . However two weeks later I had a fall from my then new horse Striking Heights ‘Tom’ and suffered a badly broken right ankle and this injury sidelined me for the best part of the year. A very annoying injury as it occurred between fences on the cross country, ‘Tom’ pecked going down a steep hill and dislodged me and then accidentally trode on my ankle. During this forced rest from riding I took the opportunity to finish my University Degree, at the end of 2001 I graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Business majoring in sports management. ‘Tom’ and I managed to get in one competition before the end of the year and finished 12 th in the Adelaide CCI***.

In 2002 ‘Tom’ and I competed in the Melbourne CCI*** finishing in 12 th place. Mid 2002 Lion King ‘Rex’ was sold to my coach Jocelyn Park to pursue a career in dressage. It was a hard decision to sell such a special horse, I felt he was no longer enjoying eventing and new he would have a wonderful home with Jocelyn and together they would have many successes. As ‘James’ was starting to get older, I decided to retire him from eventing but keep him to showjump, he had many successes including wins at Royal Shows in the B and C Grade classes.

I continued to compete and work with Tom and in November of 2002 ‘Tom’ and I convincingly won the Adelaide CCI*** finishing on a score of 39, over 14 points ahead of second place. We were the only combination to finish on our dressage score. This performance led to ‘Tom’ and I being included on the National ‘Elite’ Squad.

In January of 2003 I made the ‘Big’ move from Queensland to my boyfriend’s (Shane Rose) parents property in Berry, NSW offers a much stronger competition calendar than Queensland and I got to see a lot more of Shane. In February 2003 ‘Tom’ and I were selected to represent Australia as a member of the Trans Tasman Squad. The Squad travelled to Taupo , New Zealand in May 2003 and we competed in the CCI***.‘Tom’ performed beautifully and finished in individual 5 th place jumping one of very few clear showjumping rounds. Shortly after this performance I made a very difficult decision to sell ‘Tom’. The money on offer was more than I could refuse and so ‘Tom’ was sold to Susanna Bordone from Italy .

The sale of ‘Tom’ assisted in the purchase of Shane and my new property, located Werombi NSW that we have named ‘ Bimbadeen Park ‘. With the sale of ‘Rex’ and ‘Tom’ along with ‘James’ now retired from eventing I found myself without a top level eventer. 
So I have spent a few years rebuilding my team and have found a some lovely horses to work with. For financial reasons I have sold a few of my promising rides but I look forward to following their progress with their new owners.

Please see my ‘horses’ section for a list of my current horses.