Kevin moved back to his native Queensland five years ago, after a stint in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley.
Based just out of Brisbane, Kevin has quickly established his training centre and regularly has around 50 horses on the property.
“Probably thirty of them are full competition horses, and we’ve got a few there for training…”
You also teach?
“It depends, I fit in as much teaching as I can. Sometimes before events it gets a bit hectic. The week before Kooralbyn, the worst day I did 13 lessons, which makes it quite difficult to ride the competition horses.”
Was it scary, setting up your own place?
“You always get a lot of critics. Heath Ryan has been great like that, he has always told me going back to Queensland and being successful is impossible to do – that if I move to Queensland, that will be the end of me. Critics like that are important – but I try to make sure I come down to NSW and compete with the best of them.”
“I really enjoy it where I am now. I’ve got really good people to work with, a lot of support around me. We travel more, but over a year, there’s not a lot of difference because the events we do up in Queensland are 45 minutes away, whereas when I was down in the Hunter Valley most of the events were three or four hours. I think when you add it up over the year, I don’t do any more kilometres.”
“I’ve got really fantastic owners, it has taken a while, but at here at Camden I’m only riding one horse of my own, all the others are owner’s horses, and I’ve got some really nice ones, and the owners are happy to stick with them and take them through. John and Karen Healy, the owners of my One Star mare, Kinnordy Galera, they are actually the first owners I ever had, ten years ago, and I’m proud that they are still with me.”
And are you on a roll – you dominated at Kooralbyn?
“I don’t know about being on a roll, but things have been pretty good lately. It does seem to work like that though, you get on a roll and then all of a sudden, you are not.”
Ambitions?
“I’ve got a couple of horses at three star that I would like to take overseas next year. Maybe run one around Kentucky – it just depends on where the owners want to take them. Then we’ll see how things go from there…
Kevin and Gameplay
Then we took Kevin out on course to look at a couple of fences and discuss strategies for riding them…
And to get the show on the road something very straight forward…
This is nice, fence eight for the three star, they are just starting to get travelling, it’s just a nice galloping fence, hopefully pick it off and steeplechase it. It shouldn’t be a problem.
A fence like this is pretty friendly. There’s a ditch, they back up, you’ve got a little bit of brush there to pop them up in the air. You’d have to be really unlucky to have anything go wrong here. Worst case scenario, if you’ve had a fright earlier on, and your horse is not so bold, it would have to be a fair chicken to stop here, but if they do stop here, I think there’s not much point in going on.
Kevin rode one of his three star horses here, Gameplay, who picked up just 0.8 time to finish fourth in the CIC***
The next fence we checked out was a three star fence, the now pretty standard double of apexes…
Kevin and Hufflepuff over the three star apexes
In my approach to this fence, I am going to stay out a little on the first element, so that I can get a line onto the second. I’ll make my turn to the fence, and I am not going to angle too sharply across the first apex, I’m going to stay out. But I’m not going to square up the front rail – I’ll still be a bit cheeky and jump it slightly from right to left, which is going to make it easier for me to get on to B.
I’m not going to put too much of a bow in the line from A to B. If I break it up too much, I am going to end up getting there in three and a half strides, so I am going to try and stay a little direct and get there in three. I’ve got three horses here, Hufflepuff, Gameplay and Vantage.
Do you school these sort of fences much at home?
We do build them in the showjumping arena and play around with different lines. We do that on a regular basis.
What kind of pace do you want between these two fences?
I’ll be just above showjumping pace. I think that will be faster than breaking it up. If you break it up, you are going to end up doing four or five – to come direct, just above showjumping pace, will actually be the fastest way to go.
Apexes have become pretty standard now, it’s a while since they were new and challenging?
I think apexes are fences that once you get used to riding them, you get comfortable with them and they are not so bad. It’s just a matter of training. To start with, I was certainly uncomfortable with apexes so I jumped lots of them, and now it is just a matter of making sure I’ve done the schooling.
Can you do it all in the showjumping arena, you don’t have to go and find a couple of apexes that don’t fall down?
No, I do actually have a little across country course set up at home, and we do practice over solid fences, I think that helps, just so they see different fences – and it helps the riders too.
Kevin’s horse here was Hufflepuff, who had a wonderful double clear cross-country, coming in just one second under time. With two rails in the showjumping, Hufflepuff finished fifth in the three star.
“Hufflepuff was my first horse to go in the three star. I stuck to the plan and went all the straight routes. It was a really smooth round, no hairy moments. Everything rode to plan. He’s a pretty well seasoned three star horse now and it is a very nice track – very inviting and the going was good. The time was actually very gettable.”
Kevin and Kinnordy Galera in the one star
The next fence we discussed with Kevin was on the one-star course, a big log to a ditch to a brush arrowhead…
For this fence what I am going to do is stay out a little, establish my line and come direct, so my horse sees the arrow head early – I think that will be my biggest problem. Then I am going to look for a nice distance, say six or seven feet from element A, the big log, so I float in a little big, and that is going to hopefully land me on a twelve foot canter stride and get me close to B which is a ditch. So that if my horse has a little bit of a spook, or a bit of a look at the ditch, it is not going to be a problem, I can still pop over that quietly. Hopefully I’ll land a little close, I don’t want to jump too big over the ditch, so that I can sit quietly and add, and do the two to C, the arrow head.
It’s going to be a little short for me to see, so I want to get close to B so I can pop that quietly and be patient and wait to C. Hopefully I can keep Kinnordy Galera straight, because if there are going to be any problems they are going to be at C. They can scramble over A and B, but at C you could quite easily get a cheap runout.
Do horses either like or not like ditches?
I’ve never actually had a problem with ditches. I think ditches are something that have to be visited at an early stage, and introduced to the horse correctly, so that they don’t all of a sudden get to two star and realise that it is a ditch – and then they get a fright. I think if you start with very small ditches and you try to pop them over, and gradually build up, then I think ditches are probably one of the easiest fences on course. You can ride quite strong and they will always back up, it makes them easy fences. The problem with C is that a novice or one star horse is still quite green and they are going to pop over the ditch quite big and if they have a little spook at that, it is going to take their attention away from C which is why I am going to stay out on my line and come a little direct, so that they will see C earlier.
Kevin’s horse here was Kinnordy Galera, no jumping, no time faults in the cross-country. They finished 12th in the one star.
The water always presents a challenge…
I think this two-star fence is quite nice. The distances are a little short, which I like, that will work well – jumping into water. We are coming away from the stables, and we’ve just done a U-turn and turned back on ourselves. That’s going to help us get organized, it will break them up in the corner. I come across the bridge, stay out until I get my line. I’ll actually line all three elements of the fence up. Once I’ve got my line I’ll keep my canter. I’m going to be quite strong, without being too fast. The distance is a little short so that should work well. Jump A, land a little short, hopefully get close to B, which is going to help the jump. There’s a bit of width jumping into water, it’s nice to get to the base a little strong, make sure they finish off behind and don’t hit it on the way down. Land in the water, sit up, the two is a little short, so I will just be patient there. Make sure he watches the bank on the way out, it’s quite small, I don’t want him to stumble up it. After I jump out, I’ll sit quiet and wait for the three to the last element. It should work well. The horse I am riding here – Belcam Caesar – has been going super, so fingers crossed it should just be an exercise.
What could go wrong – what would you warn a pupil about?
I’d like them not to over-ride it. The distances are nice, you don’t have to gallop at it. Strong is good – not gallop. Be patient in the water, I don’t want them to stumble out over the little bank.
Kevin’s horse here was Belcam Caesar, again double clear cross country, and second place in the CIC**.
And finally, a bit of a test for a Pre-Novice baby…
I’m glad this fence is late in the course so that they are going and hopefully they will get here and be bold enough. I think early in the course, this would really cause some problems, but as the second last fence on course, it should ride okay.
In my approach I am going to slow right down, get back to showjumping pace, and then I am going to come a little strong, get a nice distance. I’m guessing he’s going to leave the ground and then he is going to see the ditch – so in the air he may have a bit of a twist and a second take, but we should land on the other side and be fine.
How do you school for a fence like this?
Get your horse to jump a ditch, it can jump a vertical, a sky fence, this shouldn’t be a problem. As a pre-novice fence, it’s a tough question. I think it will be fine, it shouldn’t cause too many dramas here. A lot of the horses will leave the ground and then in the air they will have a little bit of a second look at it, as they actually spot the ditch. It may feel a little awkward but it shouldn’t cause any trouble. You’ll land and canter away fine…
And so how did it ride? Fine – Kevin had another double clear cross-country on his Pre-Novice, Katalyst.
