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GIVING BACK WITH CHRISTINE WALLIS

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SADDLE REVIEW

SADDLE REVIEW

GIVING BACK

An Eventful Life

For Christine Wallis, being an eventing steward has meant travelling all over the world, writes JO MCKINNON

Christine Wallis has spent countless hours over many years volunteering her time to ensure that equestrian events around the nation, and beyond, run smoothly.

“My husband says I’m never home, he has to introduce the dog to me when I get home,” she laughs.

Her dedication has been awarded. In 2010 Christine was named Equestrian Australia’s Official of the Year and she has also been a recipient of the prestigious Julius Patching Award, which recognises the outstanding contribution that officials make to the fabric of the Olympic sporting community in Victoria.

It was a lifetime involvement with horses as a keen rider and having a daughter who now competes that led Christine towards becoming one of Australia’s most respected and experienced Eventing stewards.

“I was interested in getting involved in some sort of official capacity after the kids grew up and the Pony Club years were over,” she says. In 2004, Christine, who hails from Leongatha in the South Gippsland region of Victoria, attended an official’s course in Adelaide, and was inspired to pursue a career as steward.

For those that may not know what the role of a steward is, stewards ensure that rules (under the FEI and EA) are adhered

to by all riders who are competing at events.

“As an FEI steward we go to events and oversee a fair play for all riders,” says Christine. “We make sure they are abiding by rules and regulations. Also the welfare of the horse is a big part of our duties, and we help committees to run a successful competition.”

The most consistent issue facing stewards is people not understanding the rules. “People just don’t read the rules carefully,” she says. “Most of the time things go wrong because riders don’t know the rules.”

When Christine first began stewarding it wasn’t, she says: “A big professional official appointment - it’s only been in the last 10 years that it’s grown to become an important part of FEI and Equestrian Australia events.”

In 2008 Christine went on a self-funded trip to some of the globe’s biggest eventing competitions including Kentucky, Badminton and Samur in order to gather insights into what other nations were doing. Soon after her return, she plunged straight in and took over the role as Steward General from Di Schrapel.

Since then the journey has taken the 69-year-old all over the world to officiate at events including the 2012 London Olympics and last year’s FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, USA.

She says one of the most enjoyable aspects of stewarding is working with other people to get the job done. “The teamwork is very satisfying – in eventing we have a really strong team. We respect each other and we have to communicate a lot.”

Christine also gets enormous satisfaction out of working at the junior

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76 HORSEVIBES MAGAZINE - ‘ ‘ People just don’t read the rules carefully. Most of the time things go wrong because riders don’t know the rules. AUGUST 2019

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levels of equestrian sport. “I do a lot with interschool competitions and I enjoy the experience at grassroots educating people about fair play,” she says.

Christine plans to wind down her involvement in the not too distant future and is focused on helping new people come through the ranks.

“I’ve been involved in this a long time. It has its ups and downs and it’s not always smooth sailing. Plus, once you reach the age of 70 you have to go through a process with the FEI where you show competency. I think we need to see young people come through,” she says. “We have EA steward courses around Australia with other discipline steward generals and we want to try to get a succession plan in place.”

She says the challenge of achieving that goal is that many young people these days are time poor. “It’s hard to encourage younger people into it who still ride, have jobs and family and it’s hard for them to find the time to keep up with the rules,” she says. For now, she will continue on with her own busy schedule and will be attending various national and international courses. Over the next few weeks she will travel to Tasmania and Northern Victoria and this month she heads to the UK where she will brush up on the latest rules and regulations and bring that invaluable knowledge back home.

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A: Christine Wallis with Lindy Young. B: Chris Wallis, (fourth from left) one of the stewarding team at Melbourne International Horse Trials 2019.

A: The Julius Patching award presented to Christine by Colin Patching in April 2019.

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