City Leader | Chewy On His Way Up!

City Leader is a 2008 gelding by State City, bred by the late Fred TJ Castledine. Trained by John Bowtell, City Leader had four trials in 2011 before retiring in 2012. Despite not showing the need for speed, City Leader has found great success off the track around the eventing circuit with owner, Abby Hasleby.

Abby purchased City Leader (Chewy) in 2016 as an eight-year-old from Gemma Haddelton, who was competing the gelding up to 95cm eventing. Chewy was Abby’s first off the track horse that she had taken on to train, taking her from 80cm to 2* eventing. Abby is immensely grateful for Chewy, who has been by her side through several milestones and has helped shape her into the rider that she is today.

Chewy was not an easy horse in the beginning. While developing their partnership, Chewy was a little powerhouse who was full of energy and had spring-loaded legs with a unique jumping style. After taking him back to the basics, Chewy developed into a more comfortable ride and improved greatly as his training went on.

Abby said, “I believe there is truly nothing this horse cannot do! He is constantly surprising me.”

Chewy and Abby have had quite the journey together. Chewy was injured in a floating accident in July 2021, resulting in emergency surgery, a long recovery and intensive rehab. Abby and Chewy never gave up on each other, pushing through the hard times to come out better on the other side. Since returning to competition, Chewy and Abby have hit the ground running. They recently competed at the 2022 Equestrian in the Park competition, clearing the joker jump to place 10th in the Diamond class, much to Abby’s disbelief. Abby and Chewy are eagerly awaiting their 2023 plans, hoping to set out across Australia to compete at the Melbourne International 3-Day Event in June 2023.

We look forward to hearing about Chewy and Abby’s successes throughout the 2023 season!