Biography
I grew up on my family's 4000 acre sheep and cattle property at the foot of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, where I could be described as "being born in the saddle". My three siblings and I spent our formative years gaining an all-round equestrian education working the farm from horseback, and competing at Pony Club, show jumping, polocrosse, campdrafting and rodeo. With a passion for racing, my father bred Thoroughbreds for the local racetrack and it wasn't rare for these horses to be retrained for the polocrosse field alongside their homebred Australian Stock Horses.
In my early teens, I was taught to break-in horses using the same methods handed down through generations of horsemen in his family – similar to the methods that are widely described as ‘natural horsemanship' today. Having developed an interest in this area of work, I spent time with some excellent competitors and trainers in Australia where I improved my understanding of horse psychology, the methods of starting young horses and remedial work with ‘problem' horses. During this time, I also played polocrosse at the top level in Australia and travelled to Zimbabwe and the UK, where I started breaking in young horses for owners in the south east and retraining horses with severe behavioural and ridden problems.
In 2002, I settled in the UK to set up my business, Australian Horsemanship at Risebridge Farm and I married Penny, with whom I now have two wonderful children, Jack and Rosie. The business has gone from strength to strength, handling over 200 horses a year with horses coming from professional riders, studs and private owners nationwide and through referrals from vets, farriers, equine dentists and other equestrian professionals.
The 'people training' side of the business has recently been developed, with a series of courses, clinics and demonstrations being held at Risebridge and nationwide. I have demonstrated at prestigious events such as Your Horse Live 2011, South West Christmas Equine Fair, ToastLife Festival and the Kent Game & Equine Festival where I work with my own horses, remedial horses and start a young horse under saddle. In 2012 I am performing in a series of demonstrations with visiting legendary Australian trainer, Steve Brady and at other major events around the country.
Polocrosse has remained a constant passion throughout. Now playing for the UK, in 2009 I won Best Player awards at the Australian Quadrangular Tournament, The prestigious Zimbabwe Open and in the 2009 test matches against South Africa. In 2011 I captained the UK team at the 2011 Polocrosse World Cup. I also enjoy playing polo on a social level and 'dabble' in other equestrian disciplines!
