01/12/2025
This is an appreciation, thank you and congratulations post.
Sometimes you find people who,if you insert them into everyday situations, situations which would have happened with or without them, they have the ability to NOT make things more difficult or complicated. This is a very underrated skill. Being difficult is easy.
Then you find those rare people, when you insert them into a difficult, high-pressure, or complicated situation, have the ability to make things better. Not because they know what to do, or all their skills are perfectly under control. Because they figure it out. They keep trying, they stay calm, positive. Especially when it’s difficult. If they fail they never blame. They keep learning, improving and as a result, they make things better. Not only for themselves, but for everyone around them. Particularly for me.
Johane van Rensburg and Tia McCarthy are two of those rare people.They’ve been an integral part of team GPR for many years, but this year they truly “upper stepped”
We probably had our most successful year yet. And I don’t think I’ve ever had a team of riders ride this well. At the same time, we also had an extremely difficult year behind the scenes. We had to make things work in a way we could never have planned for.
Through everything, Tia and Johane just made it work. They embraced systems they didn’t fully understand at the time. They worked more hours than a day could realistically have. They helped and coached through competition weekends and then pitched up at the gym the next morning at 4:30. They kept me grounded and believing in a system that put the horse before anything else. We risked almost everything and it paid off.
We came back from Youth Champs and Sanesa Nationals with a truckload of medals. Probably the two “easiest” shows I’ve ever done. In a big part because of Johane and Tia
At the same time, they were quietly training their own horses. They trained, they believed, they pushed through, they embraced the hard times and they never once complained or blamed. And last weekend at FS Dressage Champs they both made their Advanced debut. On horses, they trained themselves. FS Champion and Res Champion😎
