Rising local equestrian vaulting star Ginger Kennett has finished the year on a high after a big win at the Australian national championships.
But the young champion from Picton, who took out the CVI junior 2 star event in Scone with her horse Don Don, doesn’t plan to rest on her laurels.
The 16 year old says that while she has made great strides in 2019, she still has a lot of improvement in her and plans to continue putting in the hard work required.
“Seeing the senior equestrians close up showed me how much more I have to improve to be the best I can be,’’ she said.
Ginger also enjoyed success overseas this year.
In June she won the CVI Flyinge event in Sweden, beating equestrian vaulters from the home country, USA, Germany and Finland and others.
“In vaulting you also have to put up with quite a lot of injuries – in scone I fell and hurt my knees early in the competition – and you need to be very fit,’’ Ginger said.
Vaulting is not yet an Olympic sport but Ginger says she wants to be ready when and if it ever becomes one in the future.
“It won’t be part of next year’s Olympics in Tokyo but you never know what happens further down the track,’’ the young equestrian said.
One of the next challenges for Ginger will be having to juggle the demands of improving her equestrian skills and managing her school studies.
She will be sitting for the HSC next year.
“I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m going to give it a go because I love vaulting but also know I have to do well academically.’’
