S P OT L I G H T
Click goes the clicker girl, click, click, click Two-time Paralympian Georgia Bruce has taken clicker training to a whole new level in Australia CANDIDA BAKER writes.
I
magine having a horse that can play croquet, paint a
Orange was used in the war there were a lot of people born
picture, lie down, fetch, do piaffe, flying changes, Western
with disabilities similar to mine.”
pleasure, trail-riding – oh, and take turns lunging you.
But the lack of a fully-functioning arm didn’t lessen her passion
Perhaps you might think I’m talking about a fantasy unicorn,
for horses, and with her mother working in a local riding school,
and not an actual horse, but no, clicker-trainer Georgia Bruce’s
by the time Georgia was seven she was learning to ride.
Rumba the Wonder Horse, actually can do all of these things – and more.
“When the time came that I could afford my first horse, Mum had it in her head that she wanted me to get a Quarter Horse
But it’s one thing to see Georgia giving her graceful, joyful,
that was trained for reining, and she found a horse that had
fun-filled demonstrations (although these days Rumba has
done roping who seemed really quiet. When we got him home,
settled into a gentle semi-retirement on Georgia’s property)
he was really skinny, and covered in ticks, and as soon as he
and another to fully comprehend the work
put weight on he bucked constantly and
that goes into what seems so easy.
went backwards everywhere! That’s how I
Georgia’s work these days is the culmina-
got into training horses.”
tion of a lifetime with horses, and, it seems,
A lot of people might have given up
it’s in her DNA.
straight away, but Georgia with the help
“My mum loved horses,” she tells me in some rare downtime from her horse business. “She grew up in Williamstown in Victoria, and when she went to New Zealand, she rode trackwork there, and also worked for T.J. Smith back in Australia. I think I just inherited that love of horses, and all animals, from her. When I was growing up we lived in North Queensland, and I was desperate for a horse but I didn’t
of her dressage and horsemanship coach, Geoff Blacklock, gradually turned Dan around. “We went on to win in Western Pleasure, trail, horsemanship and reining,” she says. “It was eventually rewarding, but he was a challenging horse.” She pauses and laughs. “Perhaps it was a good thing for my future career that I thought all horses were like that!” Her success with a difficult horse attracted
have the opportunity to get one until I was 12, after I’d worked
some attention, and she started helping people with their
as an extra on the mini-series Ocean Girl, when I saved up and
horses, and giving a few lessons. “I had a friend at the time
bought my own horse.”
who was great at finding out information, she’d come across
There were a few odds stacked against Georgia right from the start. She was born without a radial bone in one arm and no thumb on that hand, due to aerial spraying of Agent Orange,
the clicker training, and she’d taught her pony to fetch, which I thought was really cool. I could ride horses without a saddle or bridle, I could do liberty but I couldn’t teach them to fetch.”
the toxic defoliant used to turn rainforest into cattle fields.
At the time Georgia’s main equine companion in her work
“There were four babies born at the same time with similar
was Crystal, a very sensitive Andalusian/Arabian cross mare,
disabilities,” she says, “but we never could call the companies
and Georgia was intrigued enough to incorporate clicker
to account because of the cost of it. In Vietnam, where Agent
training into their regime. “I taught her to fetch, play soccer,
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