Willowmavin’s Ben Hamilton has been crowned the Under 12 National Mounted Games Australian Champion of 2024.
The mounted games is an equine sport where horse and rider compete to score points to qualify for the next heat, with challenges including putting a tennis ball on a witch’s hat or a bottle on a drum, before galloping to the finish line. Overall, the games are a test of each competitor’s speed, accuracy, and agility.
11-year-old Ben and his horse Rainbow progressed through 42 heats over two eight-hour days.
Eventually, out of the final eight competitors, Ben and his horse Rainbow took home the trophy with a score of 285 points.
Ben’s mother Niree Weybury said she was in tears when her son won.
“When we realized he’d won, everyone cheered,” she said.
“I don’t remember what Ben said, I was crying when they read out his name.”
Ben took up the equestrian sport at the age of 3, and trains under President of the Australian Mounted Games Association Andrew Rodaughan and coach Dan Foster.
His horse Rainbow comes from the Bissick family in Whittlesea.
The sport and success of the Mounted Games runs in the family, with Ben’s cousin Seren McKeever winning the National Mounted Games Australian Championship in 2019.
In other competitions, the 11-year-old has progressed to winning the Victoria Station Individual Title with 29 out of 33 races in April this year.
Ben’s next competition is the Sydney National Pairs at Sydney’s Camden Equestrian Centre in October.
