Bridget Dalmau, Caitlin Croft, Carla Gerigk, Jessica Martin, Rosetta Miller, Nicole Kennedy, Leia Sadanah, along with the school's head coach Imtiaz Anees and dressage instructor Rachelle Hirst began their journey on Wednesday for the event.

This will be the second time NEGS has conducted an international competition experience to New Zealand after the inaugural tour was held in 2018.

Nga Tawa is the only girls' boarding school in New Zealand with an onsite Equestrian Centre pioneering the way in school-based equestrian education.

Selected students participate in training sessions on unknown horses in preparation for what they will face in New Zealand.

Not only do NEGS students compete as a team in both showjumping and dressage against Nga Tawa students, they do so having only ridden their borrowed mounts once prior to the competition.

All competitors who participate ride randomly-drawn mounts; horses they have never sat on before the competition.

Riders have the challenge of not only competing and riding to the best of their ability, but getting to know their horses in a short space of time.

This a fantastic opportunity to test their skills and broaden their experience given that the cost of transporting a single horse across the Tasman twice amounts to $12,000.

The short trip allows the competition to fit into these busy students' academic schedules.

This year, NEGS is giving some of their up and coming riders the opportunity to attend.

"We've got quite talented riders in the junior years and the younger girls are going to be so much richer having had this experience," Anees said.