Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne has long made clear she is transitioning into training a small stable in Ballarat to complement her riding. Nottingham Farm is right next to the Dowling Forest Racecourse where she plans to gradually move into the next phase of her life.

But it is not just about Payne.

She wants to ensure her pony Akzar enjoys life post-racing too, and is hoping to venture with him into the world of eventing.

Professional athletes’ career moves are often in work tea-hotly debated, in the pub or media. Sports fans rightly or wrongly relish making a point when an athlete should retire and what is the best way to bow away from the sport.

The ‘lucky’ athletes get to chose their moment while other careers are cruelly cut short with injury. Or for some there is the unexpected reality their team needs them no more – like North Melbourne legend Brent Harvey and the AFL fan furore that ensued.

Any athlete to have reach the highest levels has so much to offer from their experience, exposure and sheer determination.

Payne considers the same from Akzar, a nine-year-old gelding and 2014 Warrnambool Cup winner.

“To give a horse like this, who’s had a life of racing, a nice retirement,” Payne told Ballarat media this week. “I really hope he enjoys it and can have a nice life. That’s what it’s all about. Looking after them at the end of their careers because they’ve provided us with so much.”

They will learn the art of show jumping together from one of Payne’s close friends. Payne said it would be a fun challenge for herself, learning a different aspect and techniques of riding.

This may not necessarily mean they are determined to reach eventing’s elite ranks but it is about channelling what they have know and love into something new. it is about extending their own games and sharing some of their expertise in a different sporting arena.

Australian sport is about to watch an explosion of code-jumping for the inaugural AFL Women’s season. Notably, Australia’s leading javelin thrower and world championship silver medallist Kim Mickle (Fremantle) and American league basketballer Erin Phillips (Adelaide) are set to pull on the boots.

Both Olympians are keen to test their skills and strength in a sport previously unavailable in an elite capacity.

And there are those who successfully translate their trades when at their peak.

Two-time world 400-metre hurdles champion Jana Pittman swapped spikes for the ice, drawing on her sprinting prowess for the two-woman bobsleigh in the 2014 Sochi Games.

Rugby league star Jarryd Hayne swapped his game to play American football with NFL club San Francisco 49ers. And now has swapped back again, via a bid to play Rugby Sevens with Fiji.

Athletes crossing sports can earn a new perspective on their discipline and offer a different perspective in their new sporting fields. Essentially, it comes down  dareto being willing to have a go and try something new once in awhile.