Warrnambool’s Georgia Hodgetts, Macarthur’s Lucy Petersen, Hamilton’s Zoe Weinberg and Hamilton’s Indi Officer are passionate about their sport.

Three of the four – Hodgetts, 18, Petersen, 17, and Weinberg, 12, competed at the Equestrian Australia Interschool Nationals in Werribee earlier this month.

Officer, 15, had qualified but her horse went lame, forcing her out of the competition.

All four took part in the Warrnambool Show at the weekend and are preparing for a busy show season.

Hodgetts and Petersen specialise in showjumping, Officer in eventing and Weinberg in showing.

Hodgetts, a Warrnambool-raised teenager who boarded at Hamilton Alexandra College, has been showjumping since she was 12.

She plans to compete at the Australian championships in two weeks’ time.

“I was into horse riding when I was little but Mum never let me ride,” Hodgetts said.

“I persuaded Mum and started pony club and got into showjumping.”

Hodgetts said she enjoyed the speed element and the off-course fun.

“(I like) the social side of it and hanging out with the horses, it sounds a bit weird, but the company is pretty good,” she said.

“And going to bigger events down Melbourne way, we have some really good people up there and party-wise it’s pretty good.”

Petersen, who attends Hawkesdale P-12, has been involved with equestrian “all my life”.

“It’s just fun. You can train up your horses and every time you go out there’s something new to learn,” she said.

Officer is a boarder at Ballarat Clarendon College and uses her weekends to spend as much time with her horses as possible.

She enjoys the obstacles eventing presents, saying you needed to be “a thinking rider”.

“The exhilaration of it and the challenge (is great). It is sometimes very scary but it’s also exciting,” Officer said.

Weinberg said family links got her into showing.

“I’ve been riding since I was four. My mother (Jacqui) and grandmother (Gail Laidlaw) rode too,” she said.

“They’re very supportive.”

Weinberg, who rides horse Kolbeach Crown, affectionately known as Pete, said “the atmosphere and friends and meeting new people” were what attracted her to the sport.

The Hamilton Alexandra College student tries to spend as much time as she can preparing Pete for competition.

“I work with the horse after school and sometimes before school and go out and compete on the weekends,” she said.