Lucy makes horses and HSC work perfectly

By Yarra Editor

Jun 18, 2024

Lucy Dowling addresses guests at our Open Day to talk about her experience at Scots.

Rennie Year 12 student Lucy Dowling is pursuing her love of horses alongside her HSC studies this year in preparation for a gap year on a Northern Australian cattle station next year.

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Lucy, a weekly boarder at The Scots School Albury, recently led the School’s Equestrian Team to a Top Three finish at the Scots Equestrian Interschools Challenge contested by riders from Griffith, Shepparton, Holbrook, Mansfield, Bright and everywhere in between.

Lucy was named 2024 Equestrian Captain and 2024 Boarding House Captain at Scots and was the school’s best performed senior rider at the interschools event on her bay quarterhorse, Spartan.

Together, Lucy and Spartan finished sixth overall in the Senior Age Champion, after competition in dressage, showjumping, sporting, handymount and show horse events. The horse and rider partnership is now in its sixth year and also has campdrafting and team penning on their resume.

“I’m a weekly boarder so I go home to the farm every weekend,” Lucy said.

“It means I can ride, go to work at Blacksmith and help out on the farm. And being able to keep up my riding means I’ll be in a good place when I go and work on a station in Queensland for my gap year next year.”

Lucy was the epitome of a reluctant boarder when she joined Scots in Year 10.

She thought all talk of her heading off to boarding school would become a moot point when her family moved back to Rennie from Nyngan in central NSW. She was happy in her Yarrawonga school and had settled beautifully in the idyllic countryside.

“That was until my parents, who had gone to boarding school in Melbourne and Kilmore, decided boarding school might be a good idea for my future studies.

“Little did I know within two years I would be doing my final year of school as the Boarding Captain.

“I am so grateful for what I have been offered and have definitely made the most of the time I have spent here. So, in the end, Scots Boarding has actually been the best decision that my parents made for me - but I still refuse to tell them that!”

People can find out more about a Scots education when Scots Principal Mark Hemphill hosts an information session as part of its Tour of the Regions - at 10.30am on Monday 24 June at Belle’s Cafe, Belmore Street, Yarrawonga.

By Yarra Editor