Riverbanks Performance Horses is a relatively new establishment nestled on the banks of the Brisbane river just 30min west of Brisbane. Its principle rider Matthew Sharrock has been around horses most of his life and decided that he wanted to make a living from what he loved.
Matthew started riding when he was 10 on a quiet Anglo Arab gelding. This was just the beginning, to follow was a string of horses ranging from small sport ponies to competitive performance horses.
He started his riding career in eventing, riding a bay gelding by the name of Cisco. The horse that knew it all, that every mother would love, and who gave Matthew only 2 years of competing before he unfortunately died of an untreatable tumor in his sinus.
While competing in QISEA for St Josephs College Gregory Terrace, Matthew was fortunate enough to be given the ride on two amazing horses. HP Seamus owned by the Rhodes Family and KH Black Magic owned by the Higgins Family. Both horses competed successfully during the first few years of QISEA achieving many top 5 placings and giving Matthew valuable riding experience.
In 2002 Cherenton Tickleberry(Valuta) was bought from Courtlands Dressage horses as a 3 year old for Matthew to train and sell. Little did they know he was soon to become the next top horse for Matthew too compete. Under the watchfull eye of a list of top instructors such as Alana Railey, Jenny Gherke, and Vince Corvi Matthew trained Tickleberry to Medium level dressage by the time he was 6. After competing in the dressage world Matthew decided to go back to his roots and event again. As Tickleberry was the only horse at the time he was to be the guinea pig.
To Matthews great excitement the horse had some talent and after only a year of competing up and down the east coast they had achieved many top 5 placings and are set to compete Pre novice-1* in 2008.
Besides Matthew there are many other people who lend their talents to the Riverbanks name.
Laura Stevens is the other principle rider, she is in charge of riding the smaller performance horses and ponies. This talented young rider will be a force to be reckoned with in her later years, already with many top performances under her belt in Dressage, Hacking and Eventing.
Another integral part of the Riverbanks team is Casey Ferris, our resident Hackey. Although all of the Riverbanks team can turnout a horse to Royal Show Quality, Casey is the one with the expertise and talent. She can give your horse, and thankfully ours too, that little extra something to put you in the winners circle.
Thank you for reading this is just a brief insight into the Riverbanks team and from all of us here at Riverbanks we look forward to meeting you soon.
The team here at Riverbanks is dedicated to bringing you the best possible service we can offer. We are here to get the best out of you and your horse using the many years of expertise and knowledge gained from our time in the equine industry.
"If you try your best, then you will eventually succeed"
