Rebecca Ashton took the photos and asked the questions
We see them out there competing, all decked out in their green and gold, but rarely do we see what goes on behind the scenes to produce an Olympic combination. Rarer still is having a “backstage pass” to a Sport Australia Hall of Famer with numerous Olympic and WEG selections under their belt and an Olympic gold to their name. Stuart Tinney is already an Aussie sporting legend, and it’s a family effort that keeps Tinney Eventing on track with Stuart’s wife Karen, and daughters Jaymee and Gemma, very much involved.
I arrive mid-morning with the daily training session well underway. Stuart is on a youngster while Karen works the resident superstar Pluto Mio. Daughters Gemma and Jaymee are busy grooming their horses, and getting a lesson from Dad. We then sit down for a chat.
Everyone has a set role…
Karen: I’m a very good filler, I feel that I can fill in the gaps. If Stuart is away coaching, I ride all the horses and if he has obligations with some of the horses, I ride the other ones. That’s my job, but I only ride on the flat. Gemma has been very useful with the jumping and in the last six months she has been able to sit on some of our top horses and take them out showjumping. That all came about because Stuart broke his back in November and couldn’t ride for three months so Gemma sort of took over and it fell into place quite well. Jaymee too is also a filler like me. She was very competitive and rode up to two-star but when she started Uni, because she’s very academic, she found that took up a lot of her time. She’s available to take some horses out if we don’t have enough riders. We just give her a few weeks notice if she’s going to be campaigning a horse. The main objective this year is to qualify the horses we think are going to be good enough for Rio. We have to choose the events that we think are going to be suitable for them. We have four: Pluto Mio, Annapurna, War Hawk and Queen Mary. Then we have a separate lot that we will be moving forward for the World Equestrian Games. Queen Mary is on the cusp. It’s usually a four-year training campaign to get them to top level. She was bought late and will probably move on to the World Championships.
Stuart took on a different role at the Sydney International this year, is this course designing a new career path?
Stuart: It might be. It’s actually very difficult to do when you’re riding. It’s very time consuming so maybe something for me to do after I finish riding. I enjoy doing it now, but I can’t do too much of it.
Stuart working on course designs for the Sydney Int Horse Trials
Where do you find your horses?
Karen: We find most of them overseas. We have a German/ Australian girl, who used to work for us but who rides over in Germany now. She goes all over Germany and finds them for us.
We’ve actually bought six in the last 18 months. We’ve already sold one, which leaves us with four in this country and one stuck in Europe because of the glanders situation in Germany. We bought it two days before the ban on German imports was implemented, so it’s costing us a fortune! We shipped it to the UK and it’s in training there to get it out of Germany. We’ll definitely bring it over here in August. We wanted to keep it in Germany because it’s a bit cheaper but we just thought, in the long run, it’s not worth it.
People also send us horses and we will always look at them. However we often find if people ring us in this country, they’re way too expensive. We have to produce them ourselves. We can’t afford to buy eventers. That’s why we go to Germany; we buy young showjumpers who are jumping around 1.25m and they’re nicely schooled. They have to have some Thoroughbred in them as well or else they just don’t last.
Stuart: We buy the horses that we believe we can get a medal on. Then hopefully we can get four events out of them: two WEGS and two Olympics if they’re good enough. Or, we might sell them after they’ve done a couple if we have young ones coming through. It just depends on how many we have.
Karen: Yes we buy horses for just the two big events. We are always looking to the next event. When we bought these ones in Germany, we had been looking for eight months and it was a little frustrating because they were right on the cusp. The one that Jaymee rode (Carlchen), he won’t be ready for the Olympics. Medusa won’t be ready, only because they were bought six months after, just six months after Queen Mary and they just missed our time frame.
Stuart: But then, for the next World Championships, for instance, Annapurna should be right up there at that level and War Hawk and Queen Mary and Carlchen and Medusa. So we will then sell three of them. Three! They’ll be top, top international horses and it would be silly to have that many with the next group coming along. We need to do it to survive. It would be lovely just to be able to keep seven, beautiful international horses!
Karen on Annapurna and Stuart on War Hawk
There’s always the question of whether you can do it all from Australia or not. Do you find it is getting easier or harder or is it all in the approach?
Karen: I think that it’s about us. Doing it all from Europe isn’t really who we are. I think we’ve always had that mission that we can do it and we don’t deviate from that. I think it’s really important that you believe you can do it from here successfully.
Stuart: And we have done it from here successfully. And you only get one chance if you’re doing it from here. You only aim for one event every two years really.
Stuart, do you find it hard to get the “match practice” in?
Stuart: No. What I do find though is when we go away and we’re in camp for two or three weeks, it’s great because you get to focus and you can concentrate on that, and not the day-to-day happenings. No, I don’t really need more competitions. Sometimes you might have a horse that does, but in that situation we would organise to go to one. We set up our own little competitions in the camp. We’ll get dressed, do the whole thing, but we could definitely, if we wanted to, go to a dressage day or showjumping day. But it is good to spend that time beforehand in camp focusing.
Are you looking to slow down after Rio or keep going as long as you can?
Stuart: So much of it is related to what horseflesh we have, and how good the horses are. As Karen said, we’re aiming horses at next WEG as well and they’re also young enough that they will be heading to the Olympic Games after that, so hopefully I won’t be slowing down yet! And it depends if my old body wants to keep going. It’s going alright at the moment.
You are both very involved with coaching young riders?
Karen: Stuart has quite a few in Western Australia. I’m quite involved with the Interschools, between the ages of 12-18 and that’s sort of where I fit. Gemma has also started to teach, coaching very little kids and at pony club. She will do her accreditation at the end of the year but she’s getting the miles up now and I mentor her.
Karen, you’ve never wanted to compete at the top level yourself?
Karen: I used to event, that’s how I met Stuart. I was riding, well it was advanced then, it was such a long time ago! No, I never aspired to do it at top level. I have a background in sales and marketing. When we met, I worked in a corporate job for ten years so we could afford to get a mortgage and everything. So, basically riding was a hobby. I went back to riding after Jaymee and Gemma were born, and competed two-star and then it just became too hard. I remember going to Albury and going around the two-star track and saying to Stuart, “I’m done”. I just needed to be a Mum for a while.
When you look at it, I still get to ride some very, very nice horses and compete them a little. I ride them all so I know how they feel, so when Stuart does a test, I know exactly what he’s feeling. I think Stuart polishes a test incredibly well and does an amazing job. He doesn’t give a mark away whereas I give marks away left, right and centre. I’m quite happy to go in and use a test as a training exercise and I think it’s really good for the horses. We went to a dressage event a few weeks ago and I came out of my test and Stuart said, “I can get you ten more marks.”
Stuart: She beat me in the next test!
Jaymee on Carlchen, and below, at Pony Club
What’s the most important element in keeping Tinney Eventing rolling?
Karen: I can’t stress enough the importance of our owners and sponsors. They are all lovely and we’ve had some really long term owners like Tim Game (who owns recent import Medusa, Black Forest, Molly, Panamera and used to own Carrera and Boxster with Stuart and Karen) and Kathy Ward and Pete O’Connell (Kathy and Pete own Queen Mary along with Stuart and Karen). Corinna and Darren Huskinson (who own War Hawk) came on board a few years ago and the Pittards (who own Pluto Mio and Annapurna) came on three years ago. Without them and our sponsors CopRice, Bates, Horseland and Ceva (Nature Vet), we just couldn’t do it. Our income is very restricted because of what we try and achieve.
Stuart: There’s really no prize money for them.
Gemma jumps Panamera, and below, at Pony Club
Do the girls have any aspirations for the very top levels?
Karen: I think Gemma does. After she finishes her HSC this year, we’ll involve her in some capacity. She’ll be part of the team. Jaymee, now 20 is studying her double degree in International Business, so that takes up most of her time.
Jaymee: I graduate the year after next.
You’ve trained them well!
Karen: Yep, they’re quite useful! And Jaymee (who herself has competed two-star at Adelaide) can ride as well, so if she wants to do that she can.
It’s good having the girls because there always used to be just Stuart and me. Having them both as two more riders is great. Our bodies used to be able to bump around on eight horses a day. We can’t anymore! But if we can keep producing the horses, that’s great.
Then after Uni, Jaymee, are you taking over the family business?
Jaymee: I’ll be the human resources manager!
Karen: Oh no! You’ll be very busy.
Stuart: Actually what are you doing with your life?
Jaymee: Haha. I’m going to finish my two degrees and sit on the couch.
Karen: Not on our couch!
Jaymee: I’m not sure. I’ve got two years to decide. I’ll be able to do quite a few things with my degrees in terms of working in international business. There are lots of options which is very exciting.
Karen: You can run our business.
Stuart: And WE can sit on the couch! That’s a good idea.
Jaymee: Not on my couch! Haha!
And Gemma (who wasn’t with us)?
Karen: She’ll be riding and working with the horses.
Stuart: Well she’d better be doing something. We’ll all be up here sitting on the couch! Haha!
Something tells me that none of the Tinneys will be sitting on the couch anytime soon. With that much ambition and drive running through the family, many more successes are sure to follow, both in business and competition.