Years of spending long days in the saddle mustering on his family’s farm and competing in practically every horse sport available have paid off for local Ben Luther, who has been selected to represent Australia at the World Mounted Games Championships to be held in Geneva, Switzerland in July.
The 20-year-old Edith horseman clinched his spot in the five-rider team after a very convincing win in the Australian Teams Championships at Wentworth in April, and now he will compete against riders from around 20 countries in Geneva.
The Mounted Games are a relay-style event, requiring riders to compete in around 60 games over the three-day competition, including dismounting and mounting the horse at a gallop, bending down from the horse to retrieve a ball from a bucket of water at full speed, and removing rings from a post with a sword and then passing the sword to the next player.
These tasks seem mind-boggling to many of us, requiring a huge amount of athleticism, flexibility and horsemanship, but this challenge is only the latest in a long line of successes on horseback for Ben.
Ben joined the Oberon Pony Club at the age of five, and even at a young age excelled at many events, including dressage, eventing, show jumping, polocrosse, campdrafting, sporting and, of course, the mounted games.
It was the faster sports of campdrafting, polocrosse and mounted games that attracted Ben, and he began his mounted games career at the Lithgow Pony Club camp in 1998.
Ben says his pony club background gave him a great foundation and the skills he needs for this sport, and he is very appreciative to the Oberon Pony Club and NSW Pony Club Association for all the instruction and support he has received over the years.
Soon Ben was competing at a state level, beginning with the competition at Bungendore in 2002, and he has competed in every state mounted games competition since with his Oberon team.
His career has been full to the brim with many triumphs.
In 2006, Ben joined the Australian Mounted Games Association of Australia (AMGA), a non pony club organisation open to people of all ages, and went on to win the Under 17 years National Pairs competition with his partner, Brett Davies.
The same year Ben placed second in the National Individuals for AMGA, and did so again last year.
In 2009 the trophy again returned to NSW, with Ben riding in the winning senior team while his brother Brendan rode to glory, winning the National Prince Phillip Games junior title in Sydney.
This year will be a busy one for the young rider, who, on top of competing in Geneva, will also be representing Australia at the World Equestrian Games at Lexington, Kentucky in October.
The World Mounted Games Championships will take place from July 23 to 25 at Geneva, Switzerland.
Ben is seeking sponsorship to assist with funding the huge costs of competing overseas, and will also be selling raffle tickets.
He would also like to thank the Oberon community for their continued support over the years.
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