At Home with Katie Laurie

This article is from the September 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

A life filled with horses and adventure has kept 34-year-old, New Zealand-raised showjumper, Katie Laurie busy. Katie’s ambitious attitude, matched with her husband Jackson’s support, has seen the family of four move their equestrian operation, Whispering Oaks, from Australia to Okotoks, Canada, a half-hour drive from Calgary. Horse Deals caught up with Katie to hear about her journey with horses, the big move and what her sights are set on next.

How’s your day been so far, Katie? It’s been good, we’re really busy at the moment. We are taking five horses from our place to a show this week and then I am also riding six from Spruce Meadows there. Riding for myself and my owners, and also being employed to ride for Spruce Meadows keeps me busy. Luckily it’s all pretty organised over here. Most of the time the show will run pretty spot on with their times, which makes it easy to be organised. It’s fun, I get to ride lots of very, very nice horses.

How did you first get involved in horses? Dad (Jeff McVean) rode for Australia at the Olympics. Him and Mum (Vicki) actually met on an Australian Young Rider Trip to New Zealand when they were young. So they were both showjumpers and I was very lucky to be born into a horse family. I was actually born in England when Dad was riding in Europe — he was in the top 10 of the world at one stage in the ‘80s. When I was three the family decided to move back to New Zealand. They looked at property in Australia and New Zealand and I think the cooler New Zealand weather was the drawcard for Mum. Dad carried on riding, ran a stud for an owner and continued to showjump. So I was brought up doing the shows in New Zealand. We’d all go as a family. Dad would ride his horses and we’d always have a pony on board.

And you moved up through the ranks on the New Zealand circuit? Yeah, it’s pretty cool in New Zealand how you can jump up to Pony Grand Prix. It’s really competitive and I did that all the way through, and then on to Young Riders. Once I started jumping Grand Prix — there was one particular show where I jumped around clear — Dad decided he’d had enough and retired. I took over riding a few more of the horses from then.

Are your parents still involved in horses? Still to this day, Mum and Dad breed maybe one horse a year. Their breeding operation was always small scale. Back when I was home they wouldn’t breed more than two horses a year and we’d either sell them young, or if they didn’t sell we’d keep them and school them. We’ve had a line of horses out of the same mare, Flower Power, for a long time.

What made you pursue an equestrian career? Our lives were just so focused on horses, there was never really a thought of anything else. For a long time I rode racehorses with Dad. He had a full racing stable and together we would ride them all. I think at one stage I was riding between eight and twelve racehorses a morning, then doing the showjumpers after. Together with Dad, we trained one that won the New Zealand Oaks, and I rode her trackwork the whole way along. It was pretty cool to have some time in racing. But when I got so busy with the showjumping, I stepped away from it.

When did your husband Jackson enter the picture? We met in 2012 when I took a couple of horses over to Sydney Royal. He was on the Australian rodeo circuit.

What is the story behind the two big moves that you, your family and horses have made? In New Zealand, Jackson broke in racehorses and that was really good. He always really wanted to be on a farm, and I really enjoyed the Australian showjumping scene and the fact that it goes year-round unlike New Zealand’s short season. I figured, with the horses I had, I could do full-time showjumping easier there and he could be on a farm.

At that time we did actually consider Canada because we both loved it so much — we’d both travelled here when we were younger and it’s where we got engaged. We had thought about it then, but Australia was a lot closer than Canada. We bought a farm in Armidale, New South Wales, and we loved it there, but it was quite a long way to showjumping events and I was on the road a lot. The drought was a bit of a factor too. Despite the challenges, I had the best time. The horses really liked it and went well. I was presented with an opportunity in Canada and Jackson and I talked about it; how we should really think about it and we’ll regret it if we don’t try. I would’ve thought one of us would’ve talked the other out of it!

Anyway, we are here now. It has been a bit hard with COVID happening. We are very lucky that we got in before it really shut down. Our furniture wasn’t so lucky though, and ended up in France about five months late! We were here and our horses, but nothing from our container was. That was a bit tough.

How many horses did you take with you? We brought eight over; five older experienced ones that have jumped a lot in Australia, and three younger ones. I am very lucky that between them, I have three really good sets of owners that have supported us by sending their horses over with us.

How has Canada been so far? It’s been good. We arrived in Canada on the Friday and I started riding for Spruce Meadows on the Monday, so it was straight into it. The kids haven’t been at school either so it’s been really really busy the last seven months. We feel like we are finally getting somewhere with shows starting back up now — that’s exciting. Jackson has been busy breaking in horses. He’s got about ten in work at the moment.

How are your two children, Grace (6) and Royce (4), coping? They are really good. They have a pony over here so they’ve been riding. They have adapted to Canadian life pretty easily. I think the shock for them will be when they actually have to go to school when it returns in September. Because Jackson has been working from home they have just been enjoying life and playing. They’ve loved it.

What do you miss about Australia? I think we are definitely going to miss the hot weather when winter hits. Showjumping-wise I miss the people and the shows. Hopefully, if anyone comes over this way, they can come and stay or bring horses here.

I have to ask about the property you’ve moved to. What facilities are there and how are you and Jackson altering it? It’s 30 acres with stables, an indoor and a nice house, but the property hadn’t had horses on it for five years. It was a really nice set-up and the house and interior of the indoor had been redone, but it didn’t have tie-ups or anything. There was still a lot of work to do on the horse facilities. We’ve put in a new surface on the indoor because it was gravel from being a truck-park. Jackson is very handy and whipped up the tie-ups, the wash rack and the door to the tackroom. He’s done a lot of work. In New Zealand he built five stables, then in Australia, he built our whole barn — I don’t think he wants to move again.

Back to horses, what have been the highlights of your equestrian career? Definitely Delphi, that horse is my highlight. She took me to WEG where she jumped two clear rounds and we ended up just out of the top 30. She came to Spruce Meadows and came 2nd in the World Cup, 4th in the Grand Prix and placed all throughout the Summer Series. And then she went home for a break and came back and got 6th in the World Cup Final. She’s an amazing horse and we bred her ourselves in New Zealand, out of Flower Power. She’s breeding now in Europe.

Let’s talk about crowd favourite, Sparky (Casebrooke Lomond). How did he come into your life? His owner, Sheena Ross, found him as a two-year-old. He’s out of a European mare that ended up in New Zealand (by Lansing) and he was born on the South Island. She bought him mainly on his pedigree, as he’s really well-bred. She had him broken in, we were both in Cambridge at the time and she said she has a nice young horse that I should come and sit on. I think I hadn’t really got back to her, but she said to Dad “you have to get Kate to come sit on this horse.” I rode him just after he was broken in as a three-year-old and he was awesome from then, so we made up a deal.

What is he like to ride around a course? He is really cool and absolutely loves his job. I actually gave him a little jump today because he’s going to his first show in Canada tomorrow. He sees a fence and he knows what he’s doing and he loves to show off a bit afterwards. He’s feeling really really good and I’m really excited about what he could do in the next year.

Is he your top prospect? Yes, he’s one of the top prospects at the moment. I have some really nice horses as well, down the grades, but probably the other exciting one is Django. He jumped in Australia as a seven and eight-year-old and he’s just turned nine and stepping up to the bigger stuff now. He is a half brother to Delphi, very scopey and we look forward to seeing what he can do. He was a bit of a handful in his younger days but he’s finally getting the hang of things.

Can you tell us about your other exciting young horses? I am really lucky to have Mike and Carissa McCall as owners and they own Cera Caruso and McCaw who are both really good horses. Cera Caruso, named Elvis, was actually born in Australia, went over to New Zealand, came back to Australia with me and is now over here. He had his first competition in Canada, which was just a smaller show, but he won all three days that he jumped. He is a really competitive Grand Prix horse. McCaw is the up and coming one and Mike and Carissa have also bought some really nice young ones from Australia too.

You’ve got a few hot horses, is that your preference? No, not really, I don’t know how I end up with them. I guess because we bred out of a Thoroughbred mare to start with, we always ended up with ones that are a little bit hot. I do prefer my horses to be fit and I love them to be feeling good. I would never have one get to the show and be perfectly well behaved and tired. I want my horses to get there and be ready to go and feeling good and excited.

What are your plans for the next 12 months? We gave the horses time off with the travel and the big change of moving over here, so it wasn’t the end of the world for our horses to have an extended break due to COVID.
Now, I just plan to do some of the local shows here that are good money — like the next two weeks there are two $20,000 Grand Prix. We can jump here in August and September, then we can head to Thunderbird, which is in Vancouver, in October. Then it gets too cold around here so my horses will probably have a pretty easy month or so off, and around Christmas we will start building them up for next year. The plan will either be California or somewhere in America, if we can, in early 2021.

Where would you like to be in five years’ time? I’d really like to climb up the world rankings if I can. I got to 92 once with Delph, when I just had the one horse. Now that I have a good team of horses behind me, I’d love to make it up there a bit further.

I’m guessing that also played a part in your move to Canada, being closer to all the action? It’s definitely a huge horse world over here and to get into America it’s easy, you’re just loading up the truck and going — it’s not an air flight any more. We’re also so much closer to Europe and it’s not as expensive now that we are already this side of the world. We’ve got a lot more options to go to places and to get to shows.
I’d love to urge anyone who aspires to move overseas for their dreams to give it a go. Anything is possible. For us, this seemed impossible when we thought about it — and now we are probably working harder than we’ve ever worked — but if you want it and you put your mind to it, you can definitely get there. We’re enjoying what we’re doing and we are doing what we love, in a country we love, so it’s all good.

Quickfire Questions

What was the last TV show you watched? I just watch chick flicks. Jackson doesn’t like watching what I watch!

What’s your signature dish? Spaghetti bolognese, my favourite.

What inspires you? Watching other showjumpers inspires me to be better. I trained with Eric Lamaze years ago when I first came to Canada, so I love watching him, and also now Kent Farrington. When I was younger I’d watch Dad and also Nick Skelton.

What music are you listening to? Pretty much just country. It’s massive over here.

Favourite Aussie snack? Vegemite, I haven’t got any Vegemite at the moment and I’m missing it. They only have Marmite here, which I do not like at all.

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