Jo Bailey's first Tom Quilty buckle has been a long time coming.
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Bailey started endurance riding as an eight-year-old in the 1980s but didn't manage to get her hands on the prestigious buckle until 2022.
The Tom Quilty is the peak of all events on the endurance calendar and it was run on Saturday at Tooraweenah.
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It runs for 160kms and this year was particularly tough with rocks as well as sinkholes and boggy terrain to navigate.
But Bailey and Claralee Honeymoon managed it to earn their first Tom Quilty buckle.
The Red Range local described the feeling of finally crossing the line "amazing. Very, very sweet."
"My parents were at the first Tom Quilty in 1966," Bailey said.
"They got the bug and all of my family have Quilty buckles, I am the last one to get one. I have got state championships and Shahzadas and everything else. It has been on my bucket list for a very, very long time."
As a youngster, Bailey was able to ride at a Quilty event, albeit not the 160km ride.
"In 1983 they decided to let us compete. I was still a junior but they would only let us do 130kms of the 160km," she said.
I have done that before, so it was part of the Quilty. I have a buckle but it does not say Tom Quilty.
"It was called the national championship junior ride or something like that.
"I did 130kms and I didn't have a buckle that says 'Tom Quilty'."
In 2019 Bailey attempted her first Quilty in Queensland but didn't make it past the third leg.
Bailey said her delay in entering and completing was caused by a number of things; time out from the sport, life changes, turning to the show ring, etc.
But one main factor was having a mount tenacious enough to conquer the course.
That's where Honeymoon came in.
Remarkably, Bailey and the little mare only began their partnership in February after borrowing her from the Tenterfield-based Butlers who had taken her to three rides in 2019. She had also competed at pony club with their daughter, Elly.
Honeymoon qualified to ride in the Quilty this year and it was her first attempt at anything over 100kms.
"This horse, we have a bond," Bailey said.
"Even the owners say the same thing. They see us together and say 'there's something about me and her'.
"I started riding her and went 'this is the one'.
"When you get a horse under you that can do a Quilty, you know.
"They have to have a certain toughness and sass, and grit.
"She is one of those."
Bailey said Honeymoon pulled up incredibly well and "could have gone around again."
She is aiming to achieve that in 2023 when the Quilty heads to Victoria.