22 minute read
ENDURANCE RIDING
Main and inset: Ruth White (No 61) on Ausden Illusion. Photo credit Denise Keelan.
FEATURE
Behind every buckle lies a story
The Tom Quilty Gold Cup is the ultimate test for horse and rider, a 160-kilometre ride to be completed in 24 hours. Sometimes just getting to the start line of Australia’s most famous endurance event is an adventure in itself, writes CANDIDA BAKER.
Ruth White remembers being very firm with herself during her first 160-kilometre endurance ride on Alamo Minnelli seven years ago: “‘Suck it up Princess, suck it up Princess.’ That’s what I told myself,” says Ruth. “I had cellulitis in one of my legs so badly that my leg blew up to twice its normal size, so I just took pain killers and told my strappers that I had a headache, but the whole of the last leg I couldn’t put my leg on the saddle at all it was so painful. I owed it to the mare to finish. She was an amazing endurance mare, and we ended up coming second overall in the light-weight division.”
Ruth’s first Quilty was in Kilkivan in 2013 on Minnelli, but little could she imagine then the circumstances of her third Quilty. Ruth, who is a well known equestrian coach and dressage rider in South East Queensland, as well as an excellent endurance rider, has competed in numerous disciplines, and it’s her coaching, and dressage riding that has kept her fit enough so that when a crisis evolved for a competitor in this year’s Quilty, she was able to step up to do the ride. old Arabian gelding, Ausden Illusion – otherwise known as Louie - who was selected for the Queensland Endurance Team, and had already won her first buckle seven years before for finishing the Kilkivan Quilty on Louie, not riding her horse didn’t seem like an option. Well, not until her doctor threatened to lock her up if she tried to leave hospital. “I’d been training for several years,” Liz tells me, “ever since the last Quilty really, and we were ready, right down to the minute details, for this ride. It was to be Louie’s swan song, before he stepped down to lighter duties in his older age. Then just the week before, I got what seemed to be a sore on my thigh, which turned into an ulcer, and in just a few days Golden Staph got hold of it, and then I was riddled with cellulitis. My only option was hospital, attached to an IV drip and top-shelf antibiotics.”
Even so, with her support crew of ten visiting her in hospital for planning meetings, Liz was determined she was going to the Quilty.
“I remember my Infection Control Consultant Doctor telling me there was going to be a weekend doctor on, and me thinking that was good because he’d be a soft touch,” she laughs.
No such luck. Informed she’d be putting her life at risk if she rode, and that she should, by rights be staying in hospital for another week, Liz finally came to grips with the fact that her Quilty dream had melted away, but managed to persuade the hospital to let her out for the weekend.
“I told them I’d found another rider, that I had a registered nurse on my crew, a
A: Local Queensland rider Kaylea Maher, the overall winner of the 2019 Tom Quilty Gold Cup coming home. Photo credit Denise Keelan.
B: Ausden Illusion (Louie), Ruth White (rider), strapper team members Emily, Craig & Tracey McAlister, with Liz Terry (owner and trainer). A
B
doctor at the event who had headed up the WEG equestrian team, that I’d be sleeping in a caravan, and that I’d get chauffeured, so I was taken off the IV drips and they let me go, as long as I promised to report in on the Monday.”
In the meantime, all Liz could think of was getting to Stirling Crossing, to the amazing new purpose-built endurance facility, and meeting up with Ruth, and her support crew, including Michelle Beatty, an old friend, who has crewed for Liz at a number of State rides, and on various marathons.
With decades of experience behind her, one of the things Michelle loves about endurance, is, as she says: “The science behind getting a horse through fit to the end of the ride. I love the fact that the rider can be half-dead, but if the horse is just a tiny bit ‘off’, it will be vetted out. It’s a discipline that’s not about the rider, it’s all about the horse. If the vet has any doubt about a horse, it will go to a panel and the panel will decide if the horse is fit to continue.”
To be a strapper for an endurance horse and rider team you have to be prepared for the long haul – catnaps while your team are competing on a leg, then a massive hurry-up when you think they might be close to arriving.
“We work out distances and terrain and ride strategy with our rider,” Michelle explains, “and once we know what time roughly to expect them we sit in the strapping area and wait…and wait…and wait! Ruth is very good at calculating times, but she was riding to the tough conditions so that slowed her down and we had to adjust our times.”
The horse care is paramount, and every detail covered. “We have to have it down to a fine art,” says Michelle. “For instance, Louie must drink, so it’s like the Boxing Day sales at David Jones! We have several different kinds of water on offer, one tepid, one cold, one with a little molasses, one with a lot, so he can make a choice about which one he wants. As strappers we need to cool him off,
C
C: 2019 Tom Quilty Stirling Crossing QLD. D: Overall winner Kaylea Maher. Photo credit Denise Keelan.
and make sure his heart-rate is below the set threshold before he’s presented for vetting, where they’ll check for lameness, hydration, gut sounds, girth galls and heart-rate – amongst a whole heap of things.” Another aspect of endurance Michelle enjoys is the fact that it’s not limited to people with a lot of money. ““It doesn’t matter what youdrive, or what you wear, as long as your tack complies with safety standards, and you look after your horse-mainly Arabians of course. Anybodycan do it and it’s very down to earth,” shesays.
What Liz Terry knew was that Ruth would take great care of her horse. “Ruth is a rider of international quality, and has been my friend and my coach for ten years now, and this Quilty experience has really cemented that,” she says. “She’s a lighter, more balanced rider than me and I knew that would really help him. She’s used to riding difficult horses, and she rides on a daily basis so she was riding fit, but not endurance fit, so it was a hard ask for her. They went out at midnight and didn’t complete until 10.00pm the following night, but Louie was in great condition and brought her home in his usual chirpy fashion.”
An eye-opener for Liz was the pride she felt in just knowing her horse was out there. “I’ve always thought it was about competing myself,” she says, “but now I can see the pleasure in being the breeder, or owner and trainer and giving the great horse you’ve developed to a great rider to ride.”
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The strapping area ready for Ruth White and Louie.
One of the reasons Ruth was happy to take the ride on was that as their coach, she was well aware of Liz’s preparations for the ride. “I knew she had everything in place,” she says. “We’d been working hard on getting more oxygen into his body, so we could get more longevity in his stride and keep him sound. It was a surprise though. I was teaching at a clinic the week before and I asked someone where Liz was. She told me Liz was in hospital, and I said, ‘She can’t possibly be in hospital, we’ve got the Quilty next week’. When I heard it was cellulitis, the same thing I suffer from, I was determined to help her if I could.”
When Liz asked Ruth to ride there was also the small obstacle that Ruth hadn’t done an endurance ride for a couple of years, and the rules used to be that even if you’d ridden 160-kilometres if you hadn’t done one for a while you’d have to ride a novice 80-kilometres to re-qualify. “Fortunately they’d changed the rules and I could do it,” she says matter-of-factly, as if heading off into the bush on a 160-kilometre endurance ride over 24 hours after several years of not doing it is an everyday occurrence for a 58-year-old. “I think it was when my partner told me I couldn’t do it, that I decided I was going to do it,” she says, laughing. “Nobody tells a woman what to do.” (Not this one, anyway.) Ruth was determined she would only ride if Liz could be there. “I needed to know everything,” she says. “You have to know your horse deeply and intuitively, I don’t know Louie on track, or what signs would tell me he was fatiguing, so Liz wrote everything down for me, and I spoke to his vet on my drive up to Stirling Crossing so I had every bit of information I needed to get the horse through in great condition.”
It all went like clockwork – Ruth took a little longer than they’d anticipated, and so the strapping crew was on edge a few times, but as she says, “I was going to enjoy it if I was doing it. Riding through such beautiful scenery on a horse, is a world unto itself, it’s a truly wonderful experience, and I loved it.”
As for Liz, she never needed rehospitalisation. “I rang my doctorand told him that there’s nothing like determination, sunshine, horses, adrenalin and great teamwork for good healing.”
A family affair
Arabians, Arabians, Arabians…that’s all you ever hear. Well, not always. The winner of the heavyweight division of the 2019 Tom Quilty Gold Cup was a rescue thoroughbred, writes ANG LEA from The Horse Fix.
All he needed was a bit more distance - like maybe another 150-kilometres more!! I am absolutely fixated with this great Aussie horse story. For me the star of the show was a very slow, off the track Thoroughbred! So many OTT horses go onto careers as eventers and show horses, but it’s rare to hear of them shining brightly as endurance steeds - let alone reach the pinnacle of the sport.
But in a sport dominated by Arabian bloodlines a 16.1hh, 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding ‘Baribo’ is officially a legend!
Owned and ridden by Jolene Cole of Panuara in NSW, Baribo is by King of Prussia, out of Torriva and although he won all of $500 as a racehorse, (with two lasts and one second last), he’s completed over a thousand kilometres as an endurance competitor. He was slightly improving as a galloper when he got to within seven lengths of the winner at his last start, but prior to that he was almost unbelievably 19 and 17 lengths behind the winner.
With Jolene’s family history there are no surprises that she has an eye for a horse - even for as an unlikely breed as a TB endurance candidate. She is the daughter of Peter Cole who rode over 11,000-kilometres in endurance competitions and won the Tom Quilty Gold Cup in 1983 on the superstar Arabian stallion, Chip Chase Sadaqa. So when Jolene spotted Baribo in the ‘dogger’ pens at a sale, she saw something in him that so many in the equestrian community might have missed.
The brilliant Baribo finished the 2019 Tom Quilty at the front of his weight division (based on rider and tack - heavyweight is all up riding weight over 91kg) in 11 hours, 50 minutes and 51 seconds, which was more than an hour faster than Jolene’s next weight division competitor. Averaging 13.50 km/hr for the 160km, Jolene and Baribo finished 49 minutes behind Jolene’s 13-year-old daughter Emma, who won the Junior Division of the event. This moment is testament to what a wonderful family sport endurance is. In fact the mare Emma was riding, ‘Windradyne Flame’, is the granddaughter of Chip Chase Sadaqa.
Says Jolene of her special horse: “Baribo has always shown an ability to recover and go all day. He is a very special animal...it’s an honour to own and ride him. He will enjoy a long happy life with me.” With both Jolene and Emma’s horses winning the prestigious ‘Best Conditioned’ category for their divisions at this year’s Australian Championship, it shows what a wonderful generational sport this is, and also that Arabians don’t quite have the sport sown up!
Above: Winner of the Heavyweight Division, Jolene Cole on her Thoroughbred Baribo. Inset: 13-year-old Emma Cole, from Panuara, NSW, Jolene Cole’s daughter and winner of the Junior Division on Windradyne Flame. Photos: Denise Keelan.
HISTORY
How endurance started in Australia
We’re a tough mob. Australia has won more Medals in Endurance at the World Equestrian Games than in any other sport, writes TRACEY HIGGINS, who traces back the history of the Tom Quilty.
Who doesn’t know the name of the legendary R.M. Williams - stockman, bush outfitter, founder of the Australian Roughrider Association, founding member of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and founder of Hoofs and Horns magazine? What is less well known, outside of endurance circles, is that it was Williams, and his wife Erica’s keen interest in long distance riding that brought the sport to Australia.
The Williams read about the Tevis Cup, a 100-mile endurance test held in the USA, and decided that a similar endurance test would be an ideal sport for Australian horsemen – women.
But they needed a patron for the 100mile ride, so R.M. looked to his friend Tom Quilty, a station owner and cattle baron from the Kimberlys.
In R.M.’s words: “Time had come when the southern people wanted a patron for the latest fad - proving you could ride 100 miles in a day, Tom had been doing that for most of his life like sending a telegram or riding for help, it was a natural part of his life and it pleased him that a new generation wanted to try. Yes! He would give a thousand pounds to make a Gold Cup and that’s how it started.”
The Cup was christened in a Halls Creek Pub (the original is now held in the Stockman’s Hall of Fame, at Longreach in Queensland); and a meeting at Sydney Showground was organised for those interested in getting the ride underway. Rules and Regulations were set down, a Committee was organized and the Initial Veterinary Criteria was advised by Professor David Hutchins; and so it was that endurance riding as an organised sport was launched in 1966 with the running of the first Tom Quilty 100 mile ride. 26 horses and their riders set out at ‘midnight’ in the rugged, step terrain of Colo Valley north west of Sydney, and endurance history was made when the winner Gabriel Strecher with his purebred Arabian Stallion Shawali remarkably rode the 100 mile bareback and crossed the finish line in the time of
Ron Males, winner of six Quilty buckles, riding his purebred Arabian stallion, Shareym.
11:24:00.
For that first ride the base camp consisted of little more than a campfire with a few tarpaulin tents, in stark contrast to today with the camp resembling a small township with purpose-built trucks, gourmet food and merchandise. Endurance rides today attract hundreds of competitors both nationally and internationally, and although there have been many changes, the pioneering spirit and dedication remains the same, as does the long hours of training under all the weather conditions on all types of terrain. Those that have completed the Quilty speak of the exhilaration at the start of the ride and the elation of crossing the finishing line - healthy, sound and fit, and of the life long friendships that are forged during this extraordinary event. There are four endurance divisions - Open, Heavyweight, Lightweight and Junior. The endurance riding motto is ‘To complete is to win’ and all successful competitors in the Quilty receive a buckle.
The year after the first ride, the Australian Endurance Riders Association (AERA) was established in 1967 setting out the rules and regulations including strict veterinary criteria,
keeping record of the ride distance and including completion times, as it grew in popularity so too did the number of women competing in the sport, and in 1975 R.M. Williams wife, Erica Williams, became the first woman to win the Tom Quilty Gold Cup riding her gelding, Noddy. An accomplished horsewoman, Erica had spent long hours in the saddle mustering cattle at Rockybar Station in Queensland. Erica retired from the sport to concentrate on showing and breeding Arabian horses but after a decade she was back in the saddle in a competition career that ultimately went from 1966-2002. She was secretary for AERA for many years, and was also the AUGUST 2019 - HORSEVIBES MAGAZINE 43
QLD. State Championships Top 5 Middleweights left to right: Brook Sample /Sharahd Cavalier also Best Conditioned. June Peterson / Wertaloona Lionel, Barb Timms /Kildara Sharina, Scott Hill / Queshana and Mark Haigh / Rahfire. 1992.
author of the books Quilty Stories and The First Quilty.
She would be proud, no doubt, of this year’s winner, mother of two, Kaylea Maher, who beat 289 other riders to take out the 2019 Gold Cup.
Of course, there were others beside the Willliams who were responsible for building up the sport in Australia. Ron and Val Males from the Ralvon Stud, for example, well known already for Ralvon Pilgrim, the International Supreme Champion Arabian Horse at Ascot, England in 1977.
Ron and Val’s contribution to the sport of endurance was invaluable in the early years as co-organisers. They also believed the test would be ideal to prove the capability of the horses in their breeding programme and both of them entered, Ron gaining 5th place on his bay purebred Arabian, Shareym, - interestingly also sired by the imported Crabbet stallion Shafreyn, as was the winner Shalawi, both from Rakib mares.
Shareym went on to gain five more Tom Quilty buckles and a memorial award in his name is won by the first middleweight or heavyweight winner with the most buckles to their credit. Ron’s miles under saddle stands at an amazing 9162 klm, spanning five decades from 1966-2018, and he is the holder of an incredible 21 Tom Quilty buckles. In 1992 a major highlight for the Males in was watching the First Australian bred Arabian ‘’Roynaz’’( Ralvon bloodlines) awarded Best Desert Horse in both the Abu Dhabi and Qatar Desert rides.
And then there was ‘The Kokutunga Kid’
Alwyn Torenbeek was a naturally gifted horseman hailing from Kokutunga in Central Queensland. His early years were spent mustering and droving, before he joined the Rodeo Circuit becoming the Australian Bronco Riding Champion by the age of 21.
Alwyn initially passed on the first ride in 1966 thinking it was a little ‘tame’ to ride a hundred miles, but R.M. wasn’t one to give up, telling him: “I have a horse for you to ride at the Quilty…I’m lead training him cause none of us can get him rode…you’re the only man in Australia who can ride him when he is bucking and go on to ride 100 miles.’’ 1
The rogue horse, Steelo, was Alwyn’s mount for the 1967 Tom Quilty and the pair gained 5th place. Alwyn was hooked, riding in endurance competition from 1967-2015, with 122 rides under his belt and winning multiple buckles.
The man who didn’t want to ride in the first Tom Quilty is listed in The
1Extract from ‘’Life in the Saddle’’ Alwyn Torenbeek with David Gilchrist.
Stockman’s Hall of Fame, The Rodeo Hall of Fame and The Equestrian Hall of Fame and is a much-respected legend in the horse world.
The Bronze Aussie
June Peterson’s introduction in 1974 to endurance riding was a natural progression from her love of trail riding. By 1978 June had won the Cup and also gained the Best Conditioned Award riding her stock horse type mare Tequila. June represented Australia at the World Equestrian Games in Stockholm in 1990 on her Australian Stockhorse/Arabian cross, Weertaloona Lionel, winning the Bronze Medal in the 160-kilometre Ride. Their partnership gained five Tom Quilty Buckles and Best Conditioned in the 1992 Tom Quilty. In the same year June and her homebred pure Arabian mare Abbeline Lady Rebecca were National Pointscore Horse of the Year as well as having the fastest time at the Shahzada 400 klm Marathon. In 1993 June entered the prestigious Tevis Cup 160 klm in the U.S.A. adding to her merit list. June covered a staggering 15,957 kilometres in Australian Competition from 19742002.
By the 1980s, endurance riding had grown considerably, and in a natural progression the State Divisions were formed under the umbrella of AERA. In 1986 a referendum decided to rotate the Tom Quity Cup ride from State to State.
There were many standout competitions during the next few decades, with a few as follows: Erica Williams Riding Shiekie in the 1969 Tom Quilty. Photo Credit Diana Gillies. Image supplied.
A most exciting finish was the Tom Quilty at Colo between Max Lockhart riding Robbie, and Gordon Hobday riding Oonoonba Leo as told by Colleen Clancy: “Max was well in the lead, going into the second leg, but Gordon made up 25 minutes time on him. Max was coming into the finish line, with Robbie jogging alongside him. Spectators lined both sides of the track, and one of them said to Max: ‘You’d better get on your horse Max!’ Max turned to look down the track to see Gordon cantering up at a rate of knots. Max vaulted onto Robbie, leaned forward and beat Gordon by four seconds’.’
A remarkable team would have had to have been Jenny Oliver and Glenallan Solomon, aka Salty, triple Tom Quilty Winner 1985-1987 inclusive and also 1st in the 250klm Stockman’s Hall of Fame ride in 1985.
Like father like son
Seasoned Ron Haigh has been a multiple buckle holder since the 1980s. He was the equal first Heavyweight Winner on board purebred gelding Kynnum Park Sadia competing with Middleweight rider Terry Woods on purebred Peppersfield Nambucco at Deloraine in Tasmania under freezing conditions. Terry finished the ride with broken ribs after a fall, when Ron helped his mate back on to continue for the win. The last 500 metres was deep bog, and both riders crossed the line together.
Ron and K.P.Sadia represented Australia at the World Equestrian Games in France 2000, riding a flawless individual 160 klm, which helped the team achieve Gold. Ron’s son, Mark, and his horse Rahfire, rose up through the ranks in the nineties with Mark gaining his 1st junior at age 14. In 1996 Mark was the first middleweight to take the Cup in an incredible time of 8 hours and 14 minutes - the fastest recorded time, a record which stood until 2003.
Meg Wade – four time Quilty winner
One of Australia’s most decorated riders would be Meg Wade, Castlebar Endurance, four-time Quilty winner, Australian Rider of the year 10 times and triple Bronze at World Championships and leading international rider until an untimely accident in 2009. Meg covered a phenomenal distance of 31657 klm in Australia alone, after a lengthy recovery Meg is still actively involved with the endurance world. R.M. Williams, founder of the Tom Quilty Gold Cup 160-kilometre endurance ride.
The Sample Dynasty
The name Sample is one of the best known in the industry. Bob Sample’s introduction to endurance riding was with his first Quilty in 1971 on his homebred Arabian Sharahd Shazan (also his son’s Mathew’s first mount as a junior rider in 1977). Over the years Sharahd’s name became synonymous with top endurance horses and Bob’s love for endurance riding has continued down the generations with children Brett, Amanda, Mathew, Brook and Lara, his grandchildren Saasha, Matty and Zac along with extended family members all involved with the world of endurance. Bob and Sharahd Caprice won the Tom Quilty in 1993, as well as being multiple buckle holders. Bob’s son, Brook, notched his first Tom Quilty win at age 12 when he won the junior division, four years later he was also the youngest competitor in the competition to win the Open Division at age 16 (since restricted to riders 18 and over) and has been a winner of the Quilty Gold Cup a record seven times.
In 2009 Mathew and Brook won the Quilty together, crossing the line hand in hand. Brook has represented Australia four times, twice at the World Equestrian Games and twice at the World Championships. Brook’s sons, Matty and Zac, have also picked up the reins and will no doubt continue the family tradition.
2019 was also a milestone for the Sample Family with the Tom Quilty showcasing at Stirling Crossing in the picturesque Mary Valley, near Imbil in Queensland at the first privately owned purpose-built state-of-the-art endurance complex in Australia - the brainchild of owner Mathew Sample.
The 2019 Tom Quilty attracted record entries of over 300 horses and riders both nationally and international. The youngest rider was 12 and the oldest competitor was 77. R.M. would have been proud.
