A change in disciplines from eventing to polo proved a successful for equestrian Treenie Osborne who will pull on the green and gold next month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Osborne has been around polo her life with family ties in the sport but only picked up the mallet herself two years ago.
The Armidale School student has since played a season and attended polo schools around the region.
The Australian team travelling to New Zealand in March is a mixed group of school-aged players.
She said even though polo is a relatively small sport in terms of numbers at school-age level, it is still exciting to be selected.
"I didn't really realise it was a thing until January this year,” she said.
"I played it socially for a while but seeing as I had played a season and been at the schools I was eligible and I put in an expression of interest and that got me to where I am now.
"I was really excited because it is overseas and there is a whole group of us going and we are all the same age and I love riding so it was definitely something I wouldn't pass by.”
The team members will travel to Christchurch and have one day to train with the horses they will ride for the test matches and polo schools.
"We have a day to pick and choose, they are all trained so we are relatively lucky in sense we can hire horses instead of having to take them over there because that would be really impractical,” she said.
"It is challenging but it is definitely worthwhile in a sense of making memories and friends and social circles.
"I am surprised and happy to be going, it will be a great experience.”