Clifton Eventers on 
Clifton Eventers on 
Clifton Eventers on Summer Phillips
Summer was born on what's known as Auckland's North Shore (i.e., the bit north of the Harbour Bridge) and has spent all her 20-something years in the area. Consequently, she considers herself a died-in-the-wool JAFA.
Uniquely for a Clifton person, no one else in her family was into horses, so they weren't in her blood.
"I rode a pony at camp when I was little and then started having ring lessons at Coatsville. However, I gave up horses when I reached 14 years old for a variety of reasons, including boys, glandular fever and the fact that my horse kept going lame."
"Before I came to Clifton Eventers in March 2008 I ran my own catering company on the North Shore, so coming back to horses was a bit of a change! I was one of the original Muriwai pioneers and have seen a huge change in the place as we have added facilities and more horses."
"Having not ridden for nearly ten years when I joined Clifton Eventers, my riding was effectively back at beginner level, so I took it pretty steady then. I had planned to do the horse thing only for one year as a sort of 'mid-life crisis at 23', but Jock made me stay, so it just keeps on growing and growing.
Summer rides Clifton Grovachi (photo left), Clifton Tradition, Clifton Alf and her own horse, Lilly.
"If I am very lucky I sometimes get to ride Clifton Encore!"
She rides at Intermediate level and plans to go Advanced / three-star next year, "and then we'll look at the next level from there". Jock thinks I should be going four-star in a few years' time.
