Hi,

My name is Molly Lines and I, with my horse, Tadpole have been selected to represent Australia at the Oceania Championships in New Zealand alongside my Young Rider team members; Mackenzie Walch, Bethany Hirst and Olivia Shore. As a group of under 21 year old riders, we will compete in the CCI3* class and travelling with us will be the Australian Senior Team who will compete in the CCI4* class. 

Tadpole is an Off The Track Thoroughbred who raced as “Liquid Courage”. We have been a team for six years now and have together learned the ropes of the Equestrian Triathlon known as “Eventing”. Since I purchased him in 2018, we have gone through our local Mansfield Pony Club and all the way up to International level competition.

Some of our highlights being, winning our first Melbourne International Three Day Event in 2022 to placing 2^nd in the Young Rider class at Adelaide International and then winning our very first CCI4* start at Ballarat in May 2023, to now being selected as a part of the Australian Young Rider Team for the second year in a row. (Unfortunately, last year's Oceania Championships were cancelled due to the devastating cyclone that hit New Zealand). 

This huge journey also comes with a pretty large price tag for the Young Rider Team and my family and I will be doing everything we can to make this dream of being on an Australian Team come true. Tadpole will have his first ever international flight and although it still seems so surreal, it is also coming up so quickly! I am very keen to do my best to be a valuable member of this Australian Young Rider Team and feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity.

For those that want to follow along – the event is being held in Hastings, New Zealand from the 5^th to the 10^th March. We will be flying out of Australia on the 3^rd March. The Team event is being held at the Land Rover Horse of The Year Show – www.hoy.kiwi . 

No words could ever describe how much I love Tadpole as my partner in crime, and I am so proud of how much we have achieved already. We are very lucky to have such great support from our local community and the Equestrian community, and we are very grateful for any help or support given to our journey, in getting our first taste of international competition - First of hopefully many more to come.