Kane proves able

By Casey Neill
MACCLESFIELD rider Edith Kane and her mount Justice appear destined for trans-Tasman glory.
The 21-year-old and four Aussie counterparts will take on New Zealand equestrian rivals at Camperdown on 18 and 19 April.
Kane will be the only Victorian in the eventing competition. Riders were selected based on results from previous hit-outs.
Individual results in the three eventing areas will contribute to a team total.
“I think we’ve got a really good chance,” Kane said.
“Justice is consistently placing really well in this level and the rest of the team are all really good as well.”
Eventing incorporates dressage, showjumping and cross-country sections.
“Dressage is like dancing on horses really,” Kane said.
“Cross-country is galloping around paddocks, over logs, into water.”
Horses leap wooden structures in showjumping.
Kane competes up to three times a month.
“I prefer cross-country. It’s the most exciting, but I like all of them,” she said.
“His (Justice’s) worst is showjumping, but he’s getting pretty good at that as well.”
“The only problem he has is sometimes he can be a bit slow in cross-country, because you have a time limit.”
Kane bought 12-year-old Justice almost seven years ago.
She and her family had planned to fly to Queensland to buy another horse, but her brother Owen was killed in a car accident the day before they were due to leave.
Following the tragedy, Kane still needed a horse. Her riding instructor suggested Justice.
“He just came to me really,” she said.
Kane used to trail ride in the Victorian Alps during summer.
“And I was petrified of horses and had to be led all the time,” she said.
Her mum enrolled her in a local riding school holiday program when she was 10.
“I went for one day and then I just went back every day because I loved it so much,” she said.
“Then I got my first pony, and then another horse, and another one …”
She went into her first competition four months after getting her first pony, Tiffany, unaware there was a cross-country component.
“So that was a bit of a shock,” she said.
But Kane was hooked.
“I know a lot of people don’t believe it but you really form bonds with them,” she said.
She craves the excitement and adrenaline.
“There really are extreme ups and downs because you’re involved with an animal as well,” she said.
“Anything can happen. Your horse can go lame right before a major competition.”
“And I just love the improvement, you never stop learning.”
Kane and Justice picked up their first major title in 2005 and have never looked back.
She now has her eyes fixed on Olympic glory.
“I don’t know if Justice will still be with me then,” she said.
“But I’ve got other young horses that I’m already looking towards that with.”