Siobhan joined the EFA National Office, along with Niki Chapman, Monique Schaefer and Marina Northcote as the “original” Sydney staff under CEO Franz Venhaus in 2003. Since then the National Office and the EFA has changed and grown and Siobhan has enjoyed many exciting opportunities and rewarding projects.

“I really enjoy working in sport; there is a really interesting ethic and sense of purpose about the work, which is very different to working to pay the investors’ dividends in the corporate sector.”

Franz Venhaus said that even though he had known of Siobhan’s plans since early May, the announcement was a shock when it happened: “Seeing Siobhan move to New Zealand will be a great loss to the EFA National Office and to our end of the sport. It will be very hard to replace Siobhan since she got involved in and contributed to so many aspects of our operation. We will literally need two people to take her place.”

Siobhan saw the job at ESNZ advertised in their magazine The Bulletin. “I threw my hat in the ring on a whim,” she said. “I’ve loved New Zealand since I visited in 2005. It has a dynamic landscape that fascinates me. Australia is such an ancient continent, worn flat over millennia, but New Zealand is riding a fault line which brings constant change to the mountains and the land.

“It will be a change from the overwhelming vastness of Australia. Three hours of commuting each day will be replaced by ten minutes of walking though funky downtown Wellington. The structure of ESNZ is different, serviced only by their National Office (no Branches), so the work will be more direct to the grass roots level than it has generally been in my role at the EFA.

“I will really miss the people I have worked with from the EFA Offices, Committees and Events. I’ve made some great friends over the years who are all invited to join me skiing in the winter and bungee jumping in the summer.  Find me on the ESNZ web site in a few months: www.nzequestrian.org.nz.“

Siobhan intends work in the EFA National Office at least until going to hospital for a spinal surgery planned for the end of July.