Most days, Isabelle makes the short drive from her house in Canberra's north to the nearby paddocks where her beloved 31-year-old quarter horse Cody is seeing out his "retirement" years.
The Hackett government paddocks are a place for Isabelle to unwind from the stresses of her day while catching up with the other riders she has befriended.
"Having a horse at Hackett pretty much means everything to me," she said.
"Affordability-wise and convenience, there's nothing as great as Hackett for me."
But Isabelle and other horse owners were shocked to see their agistment — horse-holding paddocks — appear in a draft planning document late last year.
It is earmarked not for development but to potentially become part of a larger nature space.
According to the Inner North and City Draft District Strategy, a "short-term" initiative for the government is to "investigate expansion of Mount Majura Nature Reserve to include Hackett Horse Paddock".
"I think the effect of this actually is quite devastating," Isabelle said.
"It's not just a sport or hobby for a lot of people, it's their whole lives.
"I just really hope that they take that into consideration."
Horse paddocks 15 minutes from the city
Horse paddocks in the suburbs are a unique part of the bush capital, and are attractive to horse owners for their proximity to homes and cheap agistment.
But Isabelle said if the Hackett paddocks were absorbed into the nature reserve, she and other agistees could not afford to have their horses anywhere else. Some would even be forced to sell their animal.
She also pointed to the benefits for the community of having horses in the suburbs, with visitors a common sight.
"A lot of the kids and local community come up and pat the horses, feed the horses, they're all quite fat here," she said.
ACT Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate senior official Ben Green said there were "no plans at this stage" to close the Hackett Horse Paddock.
"Importantly, if those decisions are made there'll be significant community consultation on them," he said.
Mr Green said a "future investigation" of the site would balance environmental factors and the needs of the community.
"We're looking at this area to look at opportunities to strengthen the connection and the natural links with our flora and fauna and to look at other nature spaces as that area continues to grow."
'Treasured' part of Canberra's past should remain: riders
Canberra's growth and the government's preference for so-called "urban infill" have led to other paddocks being earmarked for closure or whittled down in size.
Paddocks in Curtin in Canberra's south will make way for a diplomatic precinct, although a spokesperson for the National Capital Authority told the ABC that horses would be allowed there for at least another 18 months.
Meanwhile, one of the city's largest government agistments, Parkwood, to Canberra's west, sits within the land for Ginninderry, a development which will see homes for 30,000 residents across four suburbs stretching into New South Wales.
The Yarralumla paddocks are now neighbours with a construction site for a new aged-care facility off Cotter Road.
Hackett is one of the smaller government paddocks, at 35 hectares in size and home to up to eight horses, with some owners having been there for 25 years.
There are 15 government paddocks across Canberra — each with its own yards for feeding and managing horses, as well as separate designated riding areas.
They have access to the capital's many trails which connect one end of the city to the other.
ACT Equestrian Association president Christine Lawrence called them a "treasured" part of Canberra from the 1970s, but an asset that remained popular today — especially among women and girls — with about 300 people on waiting lists.
"These are environmental management tools, they're people's family and they contribute to people's wellbeing, especially for an awful lot of women," Ms Lawrence said.
She urged the ACT government to develop a long-term strategy covering all the paddocks to provide more certainty to horse owners.
"Anyone who has a horse in a paddock worries about its future, and it's an added load of anxiety if you know your paddock is on somebody's list," Ms Lawrence said.
Paddock users push to remain and help protect endangered flora
Hackett paddock users have made a submission to the ACT government's consultation on its draft strategy, putting their case to remain and offering support to protect the "endangered ecological community" of yellow box-red gum trees.
"We understand that there's a push for a nature strip to be put in place which we 100 per cent agree with," Isabelle said.
"If they want to do it then we're happy to accommodate that, we're just really hoping that we can be a part of it instead of being removed completely."
Ms Lawrence said the areas that had yellow box woodland were fenced off, but the rest of the paddocks were grazed and acted as a fire break.
In other published submissions, Conservation Council ACT confirms its support for the expansion of Mount Majura Nature Reserve to include the Hackett Horse Paddock.
The Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate is reviewing all submissions as part of finalising the district strategies.
It said any proposed changes to horse paddocks would be the subject of consultation and the ACT government remained "committed to providing land for horse agistment across our city".
