Sally Steiner grew up on an orchard property in Kerikeri, Northland, and with her friends owning horses, she ended up with her own.

Some twenty years later the Pyes Pa woman is a professional showjumper, who has competed internationally, as has her husband Phillip.

Phillip and Sally Steiner and son Oliver, walking Jamie Main's horse ‘On The Point Eve'. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

This week both are gearing up for four days of show jumping action in Tauranga, starting on Thursday.

First is the Mills Reef Winery Show Jumping Classic on February 26 from 4pm, with the Classic event and Catwalk Charity Slalom. Show-goers can enter the grounds for free.

Then on Friday, February 27, the Bayleys Tauranga Show Jumping Championship kicks off from 9am daily to Sunday, March 1 – all free to the public.

Sally says the aim of is to jump a clear round – but there's no horsing around, as it takes much more effort than just sussing the course.

She says: 'There's a lot of training at home and horses are a 24-hour, seven days a week thing. They're not something you can put in the cupboard when you're not using them.”

'So it's not just the riding, it's the care, maintenance and training of the horse.”

Going in the ring, Sally says every show has a different course designer, fences and surroundings 'so you can't practise the actual course you're going to jump”.

'You have to practise the skills – so it's quite challenging.”

Between Sally and husband Phillip, they take up to 10 horses between them to a show.

'At different ages or stages and their level of preparation, each horse jumps in a different class.”

Sally likes show jumping when everything is prepared well, the horses have good ground to jump on as well as good fences and course. 'It makes huge difference to the rider,” she adds.

'And it's satisfying when you carry out a plan on the horse and it's successful.”

'Producing them to do that is also really good.”

Sally says a small show jumping fraternity exists in New Zealand and she knows just about everyone. 'You get to see most people most weekends and see their progress, so it can be really rewarding.”

With stables and an arena at home, Sally lives and breathes riding, training and caring for horses while looking after her two children, James, aged seven, and Oliver, two.

'They like the jumping bit, but they don't like brushing them,” she says.

Sally, now 35, even met Phillip through show jumping 'funnily enough”.

With more than 500 horses and riders nationwide on their way to Tauranga for this week's events, Sally says onlookers will get to see action-packed, high jumps.

'It's an exciting sport to watch and even if you have nothing to do with it, it's interesting.”

The Tauranga events' highest classes see horses jump up to 1.6 metres – the same as at the Olympics.

'At Mills Reef on February 26 is two classes; the first is small Grand Prix class with most of the best horses and riders in NZ.”

The second class is the Speed Slalom run, to raise money and awareness for the Catwalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust.

The Bayleys event's Grand Prix on March 1 is also one to watch. 'But there's something good to watch every day.”

See the Tauranga Show Jumping Facebook Page for more.