T
he horse’s hooves skidded and the rider hit the ground hard. Grimacing, she swung herself
back up into the saddle and continued riding, knowing that the judges would have no mercy. The next jump was coming up, but her left arm did not seem to work and once again the experienced rider found herself unseated, this time tumbling headlong into water. She remounted the horse a second time and kept on going, little knowing that she had broken her collarbone and several ribs. Fifteen agonizing jumps and three kilometers later, she was in an ambulance and on her way to hospital. The rider’s name was Gillian Rolton and the horse she was riding was Peppermint Grove. On that day in Atlanta in the summer of 1996, during the games of the XXVI Olympiad, Gillian gave one of the gutsiest performances ever witnessed. Her perseverance helped net her second Olympic team gold medal, both of which were won in partnership with the talented Peppermint Grove. Gillian Rolton (née England) was born in 1956 – also an Olympic year – in Adelaide, South Australia. Her family was not horsey in the least, and Gillian grew up as a ‘surfie chick’ rather than a farm girl. In her 2003 autobiography Free Rein, she wrote, “Mum and Dad
P E R F E C T PA R T N E R S
Gillian Rolton and Peppermint Grove
didn’t have any background with horses, apart from what they bet on at the horse track.” But before her age reached double digits, her obsession had taken root and she spent her days thinking about horses and how she could get one of her own. Gillian’s parents presented her with her first horse, named Randy the Rig, when she was just ten years old.
Described as one of the most wonderful horses to represent Australia, N. G. QUINLAN recounts the story of Gillian Rolton and her beloved partner, Peppermint Grove.
After riding competitively at a local level, Gillian realised that she enjoyed coaching others in the art of horse riding and so decided to become a riding instructor. It was a decision that would take her across the world to Edmonton, Canada, and then much
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