Hazel Shannon and WillingaPark Clifford were non-travelling reserves for the Tokyo Olympics. © Julie Wilson

Hazel Shannon, on the move

By Adele Severs

After nearly 12 years at Ryans Horses, Hazel Shannon is starting a new chapter at Willinga Park. Equipped with a wealth of knowledge from training with Heath and Rozzie Ryan, and supported by Terry and Ginette Snow, the first stop on Hazel’s latest adventure is France.

Hazel Shannon arrived at Ryans Horses in Heatherbrae in 2010 as a 17-year-old with aspirations of becoming an eventer — even though she’d never ridden at a one-day-event. Hailing from North Queensland, Hazel’s eventing dreams were inspired by her mother and her aunt, who had grown up in England surrounded by eventing greats. Hazel’s aunt told Hazel as a youngster that when she was old enough, she could go and train with Heath Ryan — so when she finished school, that’s what she did.

Since then, Hazel has won a record three CCI5* Australian International Three-Day Events (Adelaide) and a further eight events at FEI level. This year, she was named a non-travelling reserve for the Tokyo Olympics and spent a week in pre-export quarantine (PEQ); although she didn’t receive the call-up to compete, the experience gave her great insights into preparing for a major championship.

“I got a lot more from PEQ than what I was anticipating, information-wise,” says Hazel. “I spent a week around the best riders in Australia preparing for the Olympics, so it was awesome to be around them, watching them, and seeing how they do things. Shane Rose, Stuart Tinney and Sonja Johnson have been to previous Games, so there’s a lot of knowledge there, and I also learnt a lot from New Zealand’s travelling reserve rider, Bundy Philpott. They were all happy to share insights and pass advice on to someone like me who hasn’t done it before. So it was really good to watch them prepare… and then to watch Shane perform well and come home with a team medal topped it off...!"

Read the full article in the October issue of Equestrian Life magazine here.