Hero Lifestyle Glengannon Arabians is located south west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The 100-acre property is home to the Krahnen family (Matthew and Simone along with their children Colleen, Erin and Connor) and their team of endurance horses, as well as a herd of Angus and Braford cattle that graze the river flat paddocks. Most days at Glengannon start early, just on sunrise, with the horses singing out a chorus of welcoming neighs when the lights come on and we walk into the stables ready to begin another day. Feed up is always the first order of business, before mucking out and saddling up to head out with the first group of horses in training. The days are filled with various appointments, from farrier visits to the
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HERO LIFESTYLE
Words by Simone Krahnen | Photography by Sue Crockett
odd jobs that always need doing on a property, but foremost is the carefully scheduled training programs pre-planned for each horse in our care. The Krahnen family has been involved in endurance riding in Australia for three generations, with Matthew and brother Dominic completing their first event in 1982, and their first Tom Quilty in 1985. Fast forward to today and combined we have ridden over 45,000 successful kilometres in endurance competition and accumulated 25 Tom Quilty buckles. The many hours spent in the saddle training and competing with our much beloved Arabian horses plus the hours spent travelling around Australia to endurance events, has meant we have been fortunate to see much of our vast countryside and bushland that many others may not get to see in a lifetime. Throughout our involvement within the sport, we have contributed many hours on the QERA
and AERA management committees, as well as being members and organisers of the Beenleigh Endurance Riders Club and later the Great South East Endurance Riders Club. The property Glengannon has been built by us over the past decade from the ruins and mess of an old dairy farm. Underneath the tangles of overgrown weeds, vines, and run-down farm buildings was much potential for a great horse property, which with a lot of work and sweat, slowly began to take shape. The property can now boast a comfortable stable block and paddock space for its usual load of 30 horses, as well as facilities for starting and educating young horses and legging up endurance horses. Our training loop runs the perimeter of the property, alongside large spelling and broodmare paddocks and is ideal for quietly riding out youngsters or for the faster work done by older, seasoned horses who love to race each other along the rolling green paddocks. All horses