Ruby Fletcher began riding at just eight years old and 18 years on her love of horses is just as strong.
Through riding for the disabled she met teacher and fellow Tamborine Mountain resident, Hilary Stubbs, who discovered Ruby loved all things retro and carriages.
“She saw people driving carriages at the Gold Coast show one year, wearing old-fashioned clothes and got stuck on the idea,” mum Tanya James said.
Together Hilary and Ruby took on a project of cleaning up an old carriage that Hilary had.
“I felt pretty damn good about it,” Ruby said when she discovered she’d get to drive it.
“There is a lot of hardware and gear for carriage driving and a lot of control and connection with the reigns. It’s very different to horse-riding, but they complement each other.”
At riding for the disabled, Ruby rides Matti or Matt Star as Ruby affectionately calls him, an ex-racehorse standing at 16.5hh.
“He likes me a lot. He’s gentle and we’ve built a bond over the last five years,” she said.
“He has a fan base at Riding for the Disabled and I’m one of his fans.”
Once a week she dons her horse-riding gear and spends the day at Riding for the Disabled at Arundel.
“It’s pretty full-on but a good full-on,” she laughed.
Ruby is now a volunteer there, helping out with the carriage driving lesson after her own.
“I’m an advocate for carriage driving for the disabled,” she said.
“I’m trying to encourage other people into the carriage driving sport because most people aren’t aware of it.”
The girl who rides after her is in a wheelchair and is non-verbal, but carriage driving has allowed her to take up a sport.
Ruby represented Queensland at the National Special Olympics in dressage and in 2019 entered her first carriage driving competition.
“I went pretty good in it,” she recalled.
Since then she’s gone on to have some amazing wins.
In March she got a whopping 67.5% in dressage.
Last month she participated in a nine-day clinic at Nanango, including two days of competition with head coaches from the United Kingdom.
Ruby came first, competing against all able-bodied competitors, almost 20 points ahead of her nearest competitor.
“I got three blue ribbons, one for dressage, one for my cones test and one for working very hard,” Ruby shared.
When she’s not out riding Ruby loves to participate in the events run by Mountain Mates.
“It keeps me out of trouble,” she joked.
