NEWS > Dressage
Posted by Christine Armishaw on 20/05/2021.
Prue Spurrett has been wonderfully involved in dressage for many years as a volunteer and encourages others to come give it a try

Volunteer Week Profiles - Dressage

In celebration of Volunteer Week 2021, we have reached out to our discipline chairs, who give up their time as volunteers to fill these roles. We dug under the surface to discover more about these wonderful people who dedicate so much of their time to keeping our sport running.

Dressage Chair: Prue Spurrett

  • Apart from your role as an EA & FEI Official and Chair of National Sport Committee, which in itself is a lot of volunteering, how else are you involved as a volunteer?

PS: We need to take every opportunity to promote our sport and I’ve made have some good contacts with our local media (ABC local sport, Prime and the local papers)  for whenever something’s happening locally  - lining up the interview with ABC Grandstand with Mary Hanna at last year’s Willinga Park, when she set the Australian GP Freestyle record in 2020 with Calanta was just a matter of seizing the opportunity when it presented and having the right contact at hand.

Like just about everyone else, I rode up with my first horse and joined Northside Riding Club, a multi-discipline club based at St Ives Showground. Pretty soon, doing everything from measuring arenas to lugging jumping poles and wings around.

Then I joined the committee, which led to becoming Metropolitan Delegate for DNSW and I was on my way…and lifelong friends were made during those fabulous years.

  • Do you also volunteer outside the equestrian world? If so how?

PS: Apart from equestrian, I love volunteering for our Forster Vinnies 2 days a week - a great crowd and we play Rock & Roll on a loop!

  • As Chair of National Dressage committee, why would you encourage people to get involved as a volunteer in equestrian sport?

PS: Definitely I try to encourage more people to join the volunteer team, especially younger members, there’s so much to enjoy just being around the horses in a non-official or riding capacity - especially at the Majors with a real buzz happening.

Just join your local club and put your hand up to write for a judge, you will learn so much in the front seat as you see the reasons for the marks and comments we give!

  • What has been one of your best experiences as a volunteer?

PS: There’s been so many great moments and experiences when in volunteer rather than Official mode - probably the best has been being part of the Sydney CDI team since pre the Olympics; for the latter years organising the school excursions, although the year we had a booking for one entire primary school was interesting (over 150 children) to be fitted in with all our schoolies busing in from metropolitan to regional areas. We hosted over 300 schoolies over the two days.

For a more simple one, I always enjoyed calling the trot up at the Sydney CDI -just being up close to these wonderful powerful horses as they snort their way to the judges.

I also volunteered for a time at Taronga Zoo as a guide and loved the Show and Tell segment - especially handling and showing off the beautiful diamond python, naturally called ‘Monty’.

  • Would you like to say anything particular to all the amazing volunteers in our sport?

PS: Just ‘give it a go’ - Australia survives in all facets of our lives due to volunteers - there would be no sport of any kind without them, no clubs, no ribbons or rosettes, no championships -  no Olympics. 

So there is time to leave the horse with a full hay net and give an hour or two to your club - or even - join the committee - please!!

We need young talent, with your fresh take on things and your wonderful tech skills. You find yourself part of a team, on the ’inside’ and with luck, you’ll make friends that will last for years.

Don’t be put off if we seem a tad 'tired' when you appear at the door, we’ve probably been there since dawn, buying the milk and supplies for the judges' lunches, checking the boards and computers are all set up, taking calls from scratchings, being hassled by last-minute calls about the draw not being right on the web, etc, etc, etc, and does it look like rain there??? 

Thank you every one of you, wherever you are, you are the backbone of our sport - you are Legends!

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