Six Australian competed at the event held at Lemah Bidong, Kuala Terengganu Malaysia with Sutton called in to be a groom (strapper) for Australia’s Matt Sample.

Unfortunately for Sutton and Sample, his horse vetted out lame after the third leg of the ride.

“When Matt vetted out I then helped the remaining two Australian riders, as did the rest of the grooms who no longer had a rider,” Sutton said.

“The grooms’ job was to attend to the horse at the completion of each leg and the procedure in the humid conditions was much different to what we do at home.

“Each horse had three grooms (18 for the entire Australian team) and after each leg we had to wash them down with chilled water to cool the horse and get the horse’s heart rate down.

“This was needed even though the ride was held during the night.”

Only two of the Australian contingent finished and they were Penny Croft from Queensland who finished 18th in 10 hours 17 minutes 44 minutes just marginally ahead of Kristie McGaffin from Victoria who was credited with the same time.

One hundred and twenty six riders from 33 countries started the event and 78 were eliminated leaving just 48 finisher’s.

Sutton said being at this prestigious International event and being part of it made her want to strive to become an international competitor in the sport.

“The biggest problem will be finding a way to fund riding at this level,” Sutton said.

“The costs are high and I will need a major sponsor or two if I am to ride at events such as this.”

Sutton said she met the King and Queen of Malaysia and Royalty from Bahrein and the United Arab Emirates.

“The King of Malaysia was always around the Australians as he had qualified on an Australian horse and was often riding with the Australian competitors in the lead up to the event,” she said.

“The King was the host of the event, which was a great spectacle in itself.

“The opening ceremony was spectacular in a packed 50,000 seat stadium - just like the Olympics.

“The 33 teams paraded behind their respective national flags and famous French horse whisperer Lorenzo and his team of eight white horses was especially flown in to entertain the crowd at the opening ceremony.

“Popular singer Macy Gray, her band and backing singers were brought along to sing at the closing ceremony gala dinner.

Sutton, whose husband is an Italian, developed a special affiliation with the Italian team in Malaysia and enjoyed their company and swapped her Australian shirt with a member of their team.

While Mette did not ride at this event she did take with her a mascot named ‘Magic’ after the horse that has taken her to many endurance ride successes, including the 2008 Cooyal ride.

Sutton described being part of the Australian team as the opportunity of a lifetime and hopes that one day she can take her sport to the next level and ride at this event.