People often comment on how lucky I am to do what I love for a living. They are right of course, getting to work with horses every day is amazing, but as I have been doing it for 16 years now, there are definitely parts of the job that have lost the gloss. That’s the thing to remember, it is actually a job and like any job there are things you love and things you don’t. So if you are thinking of becoming a professional rider, I will let you in on a few of the things I love and loathe.

The good:

For me, the competition is what it’s all about. Eventing is such an exhilarating sport, and I do enjoy my dressage as well. I find the training process itself so rewarding and sometimes the rides you have at home bring as much joy as winning an event. Riding professionally allows you to concentrate on training and improving every day on every horse, and bringing a horse up the grades is gratifying. It’s a great feeling to get in the truck with some nice horses on the back and head off in a different direction every weekend and test ourselves, our horses, and our training. We have a fabulous spirit in our little eventing community, and the people and horses we meet are pretty special. The other bonus is that we get to work for ourselves in the great outdoors, that deserves a special celebratory party right there.

The bad:

The hours, they are looooong. We don’t get weekends off and it’s hard to get away for holidays. Physically it’s demanding, although this doesn’t seem to worry the guys, I admit to being a little on the soft side in this respect. I hate breaking bones, my collarbone does not look attractive and I have had so many concussions if I ever forget your name, or mine, please forgive me. The singing we do in the truck when we are trying to stay awake when we are driving to competitions at 2am, or doing the haul back from Albury on the Sunday night. Truly awful. Farmer’s tan doesn’t look good in a frock, in my case farmer’s freckles, and the social life can be… let’s say… quiet.

The ugly:

Working in the great outdoors when it’s 40 degrees, blowing a gale or raining. Some of the horses we get to meet can be not so nice, and sometimes I think that I should get on board with a piece of ribboned string tied to my tail so I make a prettier kite when I fly. The bank account: that can be ugly too, that’s when you get to meet Mr Stress, he and I are great friends. Lameness: especially before major events. Not funny. And the one thing I just hate is when you (accidentally of course) bat yourself in the face as you attempt to swat one of the million flies that invade your personal space. Or, picture this one. On a young horse, one hand on the reins, one on the monkey strap and said fly gets trapped under your sunglasses! Nice.

Seriously though this sport is not for everyone and as great as it might sound (?) a career with horses is something that should be thought about very carefully.

Tips

It’s a try-before-you-buy kind of industry and it shouldn’t take you too long to figure out if it’s for you. If you’re not sure, enroll in University and defer for a year and become a working pupil. There’s no harm in trying, and there is no shame in realizing it’s not your cup of tea. You’re probably the sensible one.

Make sure you have a good enough horse to make it worthwhile, we all go through our fair share of donkeys, but in the end you are only as good as the horse you are riding.

Get the right kind of help as early as you can. Always know what you have to do to improve your riding to get where you want to go.

Realistically, the financial backing you have will determine how hard you have to work in this sport. If you are going to be doing it pretty much on your own, you will be working very hard. You will have to ride horses you don’t want to, teach people you’d rather not, and sell horses that you love. But it will make you tough, and you’ll find that quite handy.

Sponsorship is also really important. It makes a huge difference and the support of your sponsors cannot be underestimated. I have been with MITAVITE now for seven years and they have truly been outstanding.

I interviewed five professional riders to find out the individual paths they took to professionalism and why they do this crazy job. These guys are great people and some of the best riders in the country. They are inspiring in their enthusiasm, determination and love they have for their job.

 

KEVIN McNAB

Kevin is one of our most determined, focused and competitive professional riders. He rides an exhaustible amount of horses at most events and is a great producer of horses. The energy and enthusiasm that he puts into his huge operation is inspiring, and he freely admits to having tunnel vision when it comes to achieving his goals. Kevin grew up in North Queensland on a dairy farm in Millaa Millaa, and stated his intentions early by asking for his first horse at two years of age. His non-horsey parents obliged and started the ball rolling on a career that will undoubtedly be one of the best Australia has produced.

What sort of riding did you do initially?

“I did anything that was around because there wasn’t a lot on. I did Pony Club and everything that goes with it. My pony club instructor was Beryl Sabidina and I also did every clinic I could. I always wanted to event, I don’t know why but I probably read about it in The Horse Magazine.”

“I think I did a couple of events but I wanted to take it a bit further so at 14 or 15 I relocated to boarding school at Kooralbyn International School. It shut one year after I left but I swear it wasn’t my fault. At Kooralbyn I started to have regular lessons with Tony and Tracey Manca, and in year 12, I actually moved to his place. After my HSC I spent a bit of time in Queensland, I did dawn fill (packing shelves) at Coles, was a labourer during the day, and rode my horses at night. I probably had about five in work then.”

“I did that for six months and then moved to the NSW Centre to do my Level 1 with Heath and Rozzie Ryan. I was right amongst it, based at and around the centre for 4 years. Heath was a great motivator and to be in such a competitive atmosphere was very intensive. I have always ridden for Queensland and had always planned to go back so I moved back to Vic and Nat Nicoll’s place and had about 30 horses on 15 acres. I turned their place into a dust bowl and they never complained once. Then I purchased my own place and started developing it.”

You are fiercely competitive, John Carroll told me a story of you two playing squash and you just wouldn’t stop till you beat him in one game (note to reader, John Carroll is a seriously good squash player).

“I have a competitive nature, whether it’s athletics at school or playing pool with my mates at the local. I couldn’t walk for days after playing squash with John, he thrashed me, I had no chance of beating him.”

You ride up to 9 horses at an event, how do you do it? Do you get tired?

“It’s easy, I have good staff. I don’t get tired until Sunday night (or Monday morning if the event is in NSW) when you get home. Then we have a couple of quieter days.”

So what’s a quiet day?

“A late start in the morning, say 7 or 8. Ride about 6 to 7 horses and only do a couple of lessons.”

Right Mr Energy, so what’s a normal day then?

“It depends what competitions are on, but in the week before an event, I’d ride between 8 to 10 horses and teach about 6 to 7 lessons.”

Do you have days off or holidays?

“I don’t have days off as such. We are on holidays at the moment with EI but not generally. The grooms here get a day off but the riders don’t, they have to be in touch with the real world, so they don’t get one off either.”

Do you have a bad day?

“No not yet, although I am not a fan of riding in the rain at home. I enjoy what I do; I don’t have a problem getting out of bed. It’s a great atmosphere here, it’s not like going to work.”

So what are you trying to achieve? The Olympics?

“I want to be the best that I can be, to have financial freedom and have my property set up how I want it. Yeah, I want to go to the Olympics, everyone else is going so why not. It’s not my prime motivation though, but I do want to compete at all the major events around the world. And win.”

How does your business operate?

“I do clinics and lessons, and I ride a lot of client’s horses. I try to make a clear distinction between a business and a hobby. The horses that I own and ride are my hobby and don’t have to be sold. My riders (Kev has two riders that on an average day work 12 horses each) produce horses for sale purposes to keep the business ticking over. Up until this year my own horses had to be sold to support the business, and I have sold so many good horses that I didn’t want to sell. Now that I am set up, I don’t have to sell them. This was always my aim but you have to make sacrifices along the way.”

What’s your advice to people wanting to enter the industry?

“If you are not having a real go then don’t bother. It’s not something you can do in halves, there is no middle ground. At some stage you will have to develop a system that produces results at the top level. There are a few different systems but as long as you follow one and don’t switch around, you can be a professional. That’s what I developed at the centre with Heath, which was a step along the way that I wouldn’t be here without.”

 

REBEL MORROW

Rebel Morrow has been riding since before she could walk and was the highest placed Australian at the Athens Olympics on her horse Oaklea Groover. Rebel originally comes from Kilcoy in rural Queensland and comes from a strong horse background. Rebel’s mum, Vicky, was a professional horse trainer winning multiple state and national titles in western pleasure. Rebel’s dad Wayne was a horseman who broke in their horses and now works as a master farrier. Rebel, and her brother Lyndon were in the Australian Youth Western Pleasure Team that toured America in 1988. The Morrow’s then met the infamous Simon Kale who introduced them to eventing, and got Rebel up and running as a successful junior.

Did coming from such a successful competitive horsey background make the decision to become a professional rider an easy one?

“I didn’t set out to become a professional rider, it just seemed to happen that way. I was just competing and riding my own horses, and then was lucky enough to be offered the ride on other people’s horses, and it just snowballed from there.”

How did you get from the abattoirs to Athens, to establishing your business at Congewai?

“After I finished my HSC, I went to Europe to with Simon Kale to groom for him. I had broken my collarbone two days before at Lochinvar 3DE (riding like a juvenile delinquent) and was very homesick but it was an invaluable experience and an inspiring one. When I came home I needed to earn some money, so after figuring out that fruit picking wasn’t viable as I was eating more than I was picking, I got a job at the Kilcoy meatworks where I learnt “If it ain’t good meat, it ain’t Kilcoy meat”! I worked there for three years and the money was good enough and they were supportive enough of my riding to give me flexible hours to work in with the competitions.”

“I was lucky that we had a great set-up at home because of Mum, and my parents were supportive and drove me all over the country. By this stage I had gone to NZ as part of the Australian Young Rider Team and had a team of four horses.”

“I then moved to NSW in 1999, to base with Tarsha and took my 3* horse Oaklea Reprieve and a young one showing a bit of potential called Groover. Moving down to NSW was the turning point to becoming professional, living and breathing it 24/7 and being amongst the most competitive riders in the country.”

“Groover and I started to shape up, and we were listed on the State and then National squads. That’s how it happens, you just work at it and slog it out till you get there. I did my Level 1 and started to coach, and then came Athens Olympics which was the eighth wonder of the world for me.”

“Mum has always missed being around the horses and Dad was shoeing full-time in Queensland, and they decided to move down to the Hunter Valley. We are now set up at Congewai near Cessnock and I can operate how I have always wanted to.”

Rebel is the hardest worker I have ever met so I asked her how important a good work ethic is in a professional rider.

“If your heart, body and soul want to be a professional rider you will never complain about working hard. If you are not passionate about wanting success bad enough then you will find this life tough. Working full time with horses is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It’s the lows that make you strong and worthy of reaping the rewards of success.”

What are the average hours you work a day, and how many days a week?

“Are there days in a week? I thought they were continual, no start and no finish, especially now with no events on, I have no idea what day it is! The thing about working for yourself is that you have no set hours; I work as long as the light lets me. I love horses and I love being with them.”

How do you operate your business?

“I mainly do clinics, I have a great bunch of people in Rockhampton and Tasmania which is great. I have my daily lessons at home and do the usual schooling and selling of horses.”

Are the rewards worth it?

“It still brings a smile to my face, so yeah it’s worth it. Whether it’s your young horse winning its first intro event or giving your student the confidence to jump a fence they didn’t think was possible. Watching the total bliss on your horses face while you scratch his itchy bum, or seeing my parents shed a tear while they watched me ride at the Olympics. It’s all good.”

What’s your advice to future professionals?

“Have a high tolerance level to anything annoying. A horse whinnying all night and day because it’s left its friends, bloody FLIES, they really get to you. But really, I think you have to have to understand that this sport and profession has no limits, no boundaries. It’s not sensitive to stress and pain and at times things are just completely out of your hands. It can be really tough, any you have to be able to survive all of it and take each day as it comes and never lose sight of why you started… For the love of that animal.”

 

SHANE ROSE

Shane Rose is a brilliant competitor. His first “big win” was at the age of 21 winning the Advanced National Championship on Peace Matinee in 1994. He then represented Australia for his first time later that year riding Joe Cool in the Young Rider tour, New Zealand. He returned to New Zealand as part of the senior Trans Tasman Challenge in 1995 riding Dudley Serious, and in 1996 was selected for the Atlanta Olympics with Joe Cool. In 1998 he headed off to Rome for the Worlds with It’s A Knockout, and in 2002 he won Adelaide 4* on Beauford Miss Dior. 2006 saw Shane and All Luck selected for the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, but after a disappointing result there, they fronted up at Burghley and produced a spectacular run to finish 3^rd. This is a brief overview of a career that has produced innumerable and consistent success.

So how did your riding career begin?

“I started riding at a very young age, my brother and sisters all rode so I got plonked on top around age two. We grew up in Terrey Hills, Mum had been around horses as a kid so she encouraged us to be too. I did Pony Club, my A certificate, games, comps and all the general stuff. At the end of year 10, I had the choice of going to boarding school or riding and if I had been a bit bigger I would have stayed at school to play Rugby but my size and ability didn’t marry so I headed off to England to ride horses for six months.”

“I wasn’t a great rider back then and it wasn’t a life changing experience but it started me off in the right direction being in a professional yard. When I came back I did nine months with Denis Piggot and then in 1992 moved to Berry. I did the normal stuff, agistment, riding horses for people and worked part time in my parents nursery.”

“In 2003 Niki Chapman and I went into partnership and bought Bimbadeen Park and we decided we needed to make more money so we got into spelling, pre-training and breaking-in racehorses and started to steer away from riding too many other eventers. We started to concentrate on good owners and only good horses that I like riding. I’m at that stage where I only want to ride good ones.”

What’s your average day?

“I ride all day, in the morning I average 15-20 racehorses, and in the afternoon I usually ride 8 eventers. I try to give the girls who work for us lessons after that. The racehorses don’t take the time the eventers do, I can do four racehorses to one eventer. We aim to finish the racehorses by 11 but it doesn’t always happen.   I don’t do outside lessons and I’d only do 6-7 clinics a year.”

When did you decide to take your riding seriously?

“I’ve always been competitive with whatever I do, but I was more interested in playing rugby for Australia than riding. When I left school I didn’t want to get a job so I thought I’d ride horses so it just happened for me as opposed to me desperately wanting to be a horse rider. Anything I do I want to be good at, and it dawned on me one day that this is what I could do.”

Talking to Shane is like getting a shot of positive thought in the arm. I asked him why he always seems so relaxed and stress free at competitions.

“What are you going to stress about? I’m an optimist not a pessimist. I see the good in everyone and everything, I always see the positive way out of a bad situation.”

That’s fortunate as you’ve had some serious injuries to deal with.

“I had a pretty bad run there for a while. In 2001 I had cancer, so I had my thyroid removed and iodine radiation therapy. It wasn’t too bad, I was only out of action for a month or two. In March 03, I broke my leg in three places on a young pre-novice horse that had been a little difficult. That was painful, they decided not to pin it so I was in plaster from my hip to my foot for four months. I ended up getting a rod put in it and I was riding again in five days. Three weeks later I rode at Adelaide 3DE on Bobby Dazzler. Probably the worst one was my face in March 05. I got kicked in the face by a mare we were training to go into the barriers. I have eight plates in my face with a few screws in each plate. I was out of action for two months, and apparently the mare was lame for a week, and shifted her shoe so she was quite determined to kick me.”

Do you love being a professional rider?

“I wouldn’t do anything else, I love my job, love my sport, and I love horses. Niki and I have a nice property and house now. Not many people get to do their hobby as a life choice. I really enjoy working with the racehorses, and the breakers. They come to you unhandled and four weeks later you send them home and they know how to walk, trot and canter and work in a basic frame. The change is really rewarding especially compared with an eventer where it takes a couple of years to make huge progress. My hobby is my job and I don’t have to deal with people, it’s great.”

Advice to potential professionals?

“I think you have to find a way to support your ambitions, I come from a normal family and I have always struggled to buy nice horses. For the first 10 years I struggled to get quality horses and had to work with less athletic ones. You have to work that bit harder to prove that they are good enough for selection and I think I didn’t get to the Games because of that.”

“Being wealthy helps, but if you’re not then you need to get owners to buy horses, because it makes it so much easier if you are starting with better athletes. Sure you still get that one-in-a-hundred ex-racehorse that makes it, but if you have a well-bred purpose bred animal, then the chances are a lot better. That’s why I love the racehorses, because it gives me the ability to buy some nice horses to compete on. In those first 10 years, I was struggling to put fuel in the truck to get to the next competition, but I did it because I was determined and I really wanted it.”

What’s the worst thing about this job Shane?

“Nothing, I love my job.”

Nothing at all?

“I’m pretty fortunate, this job has taken me to America, New Zealand, England, Italy Germany, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong so I have been to a large part of the world with my sport.”

“I work for myself so I have the ability to be flexible.   Horses don’t look after themselves though, and if I go away for more than a week I worry that the place will fall apart, which it probably wouldn’t. With this EI we have been able to go away for the weekend and do things that normal people do, so I guess this job that we choose dictates that our lifestyle and friends revolve around horses. Having weekends off, going to the beach, it doesn’t happen. We get up early, and work hard for not a lot of money. But that’s what we do and if was easy then everyone would be doing it, and then it wouldn’t be as much fun.”

 

HAMISH CARGILL

Hamish Cargill is a rider who has made the transition from successful junior to professional rider fluently. He has also managed to balance university demands as he did it, snapping himself a law degree on the way. 2006 was his first year focusing entirely on riding and coaching and he made his successful international debut with two horses in Taupo, New Zealand in 2007. He has a good team of horses, is a popular coach, and has the “dream team parents” Paul and Alana behind him all the way.

Where did the interest in eventing originally come from in the Cargill family?

“Mum and Dad took us to the Stockholm WEG in 1990 as part of a European Holiday and we loved it. We walked the cross-country course and climbed over every jump and haven’t looked back. We got ponies as soon as we got home and started eventing at St Greg’s in 1991. Until WEG that year we had the basic horsey interest, Mum had always ridden but I don’t remember being at all into it. I have no idea what made us go to the Worlds, but it was probably at that point that my future professional skiing career got canned in favour of riding.”

Your sister Kirsty is also a successful 3* rider. Prue and Craig Barrett got you both up and running through the grades. How important do you think it is to train with good coaches early on?

“It’s the most important thing. If you learn the correct thing first, you won’t have the pain of undoing it years down the track. When Kirsty and I started with Prue and Craig they were almost the two most competitive riders in the country so it was exciting, and in many ways inspiring, just to be around them. Being surrounded by people at the top level, you always had an idea of where you were at and where you had to go.”

When did you start to take your riding seriously?

“I don’t know if for anyone there is that defining, lightning-strikes moment, when you decide to head down the path of riding seriously. It’s one of those things that creeps up on you because the sport is so up and down. It was surprising for me in the 3-Star in 2005 at Sydney 3DE when I realized I had a real shot at beating a lot of the people I’d always admired. I think then I knew that I could ride well enough to throw myself at it full-time.”

So what was the plan when you finished your HSC in 2000?

“The plan had always been for me to have a year off to ride after I finished school before starting university, but the 2-Star horse I had at the time had a few soundness issues in late 2000, so with no guarantee of having a high level horse to ride in 2001 I ended up at uni a year earlier than expected. This was one of those occasions in life that a departure from the script turns out to be really positive, as it meant that I never had that opportunity to put study off for a year and then another year until it all got too distant. I never got out of the habit of studying, which is an easy thing to let slip by the wayside if you get caught up in riding.”

Your girlfriend Bols (Annabel Armstrong) is currently doing a Uni degree, and is still competing very successfully at 1*. She spent a few years with Heath after the HSC, and is another example of someone managing successfully to combine the two. So it is possible?

“It requires family support in many ways, but yeah it is definitely possible, you just have to want to do it. I always knew I wanted to do horses and I knew I wanted to do uni. It wasn’t solely about establishing a future beyond horses but ensuring that I didn’t miss out on important experiences in life.”

“The time I spent at uni allowed me to learn to ride at a professional level without having the pressure of being a professional. It allowed me to mature as a rider and competitor. As a pro, everything you do with a horse has more riding on it because it is your sole purpose in life. If you’re not ready for that, either because your riding isn’t quite established, or you don’t have the horses or even if you lack the maturity and confidence in yourself then you risk being burned by the whole experience.”

“In a way I think that Bols has found this riding maturity and confidence, where she can actually implement all that she learnt at Lochinvar, since leaving there and broadening her horizons.”

“To tell you the truth, uni never took that much time or effort that I felt my riding was compromised. University in this day and age is a pretty flexible thing, you can do a lot of it in your own time. I don’t think the choice between the two has to be one of those black and white decisions where one wins over the other.”

What does your average week entail?

“We have 10 eventers in work, some to be kept, and some sold. I do lessons in the afternoon and the odd clinic when they fit in around the events.”

You do have the most amazing parents, how important are they in you achieving your goals?

“Since the beginning of 2006 I’ve been riding and teaching full time. There was really no question that this was going to be the case, mum and dad always said that once I had those university degrees in my hand they’d support my dream to go and compete at all the big overseas events. The business is only structured the way it is, because of the input from my parents, both in terms of hands-on hours and financial support. I’m fortunate that I do not have to sell my best horses in order to survive.”

“I love riding full time, I love competing and it would be fantastic to one day ride in an Australian team at an Olympics or World Games. The one thing you do realize very quickly in this sport though is that it’s a tough game, you don’t just walk onto a team or into the winners circle at Badminton, you have to put in the miles and then have all the luck fall on your side.”

Hamish, you do the whole life in balance theory very well. What does the future hold?

“Riding professionally isn’t something I’ll be doing for my entire life. There are a lot of things I’d like to do away from horses. I’d love to get to that stage in my riding that Ian Thorpe got to with his swimming where you do all your winning and then feel that there’s nothing more to conquer so you can walk away at your peak, before it becomes a grind that makes you prematurely old and sour. I’ve got this belief that whatever you’re doing in life, on the whole you should be enjoying it, otherwise you might as well be doing something else. Given the amount I’m enjoying my riding at the moment, and since I’m not winning near enough, it looks like that time is still a way off yet.”

What’s your advice to future professionals?

“Get good horses. There is no point being a professional rider if every day you step out and saddle up goats. The success of your entire business relies on the horses you are sitting on.”