Equestrian Legend - Glen Gough

This article is from the December 2019 Horse Deals magazine.

The popularity of Natural Horseman has grown in the past 20 or so years, to the point where some would think it did not exist before that. But of course, there have always been men and women who have had the talent and the knowledge to train horses with kindness and understanding. Long before the current group of equine entrepreneurs were preaching their ‘methods’, Glen Gough was training horses to both entertain and perform brilliantly in the competition arena. Glen learnt a great deal from his father and in virtually a lifetime’s involvement, he has built on that knowledge through great adversity and has been in demand both as a clinician and an entertainer. In the latter category, Glen entertained the huge international crowds at Horsley Park during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Equestrian competition; Glen aboard his homebred Australian Stock Horse stallion, Yallatup Regal Remedy.

“I grew up near Bowen in Queensland and we grew up with horses and cattle. Dad was a very good horseman, and I guess I learnt my theory and the basic foundations that are necessary with horses from him. A lot of what I do goes back to Dad’s ideas about getting a horse to work for you. He was a great competitor too, and in 1934 won the biggest draft in Queensland at the time at Mt St John near Townsville. He had to put the horse on the steam goods train to get there and back! I can even remember him riding a horse off to one side whilst driving four draught horses in a team cultivating the farm. Horses were an integral part of my growing up. We seemed to ride a horse almost every day while working the property. Some horses were kept just for buckjumping practice. We would have a buckjump practice ride just for fun whenever we got fresh horses in. Dad was never thrown himself, and taught us kids to ‘sit a buck’ by having us on a buckjumper in the round yard, while he stood in the middle with a long rope used as a flankrope on the buckjumper we were trying to ride. If we got into trouble and looked like falling off, he would stop pulling the flank rope, until we got back in the saddle again. He would keep giving instructions like keep your feet forward, keep in time with him, feet up when he goes up, kick when he hits the ground etc.

“I remember winning a boys campdraft (not a girls sport then) when I was 12. Blokes would be holding about 100 head of cattle in the arena on one side. When you rode in, the judge looked you over, and using his whip handle, he pointed out a particular beast in the mob. “See that cock-horned black bullock. You take him.” That was your beast, and he watched how you cut it out and took it around a certain course. You were judged mainly on the work you did with the beast more so than the coursework. Those same cattle were afterwards taken around and used in the bullock ride later in the day. I rode into town the day before riding one horse and leading three; one on one side and two on the other. Flag races and stick events were always on the same program.

“I went through school in Bowen and soon after that travelled the rodeo circuit competing with older brother Vic. He won almost every rodeo title. I then moved out west working mostly with horses on various stations. I eventually came back to the coast and had various jobs at the meatworks, before taking on a contract as a single cane cutter. I was cutting burnt cane by hand and was paid for how much I cut, so was cutting cane from daylight till dark. I was making big money for those days, and after a few years was able to buy into a cane farm. Once on the property, it was a matter of debt versus making a living. For about ten years I never put a leg over a horse: I was a dedicated cane grower and was serving on the canegrowers executive. Horses were on the back-burner for a long time; I was too busy growing and cutting cane and being a farmer.

“The first horses I got back into when I had the time were the Quarter Horses that came in with millions of dollars worth of publicity. I was convinced they were the best horses in the world and I had to have some of them. All up I invested in four different Quarter Horse stallions; First up I had the Jackeroo breed, then a Vaquero, then a Dell Mingo and then Anns Hollywood. I was breeding 15-20 foals a year and there was a ready sale for them because they were Quarter Horse infused, and I was selling them as just handled. Horses were pretty sparse in Australia at that time (late 60s) and everyone was starting to get back into them, so the Quarter Horse crosses were very saleable. But I was disappointed that none of the stallions could do what I thought they were capable of, from what I had read about them.

“The biggest influence on my involvement with horses came about as a result of an accident. When I had bought a farm and was a dedicated farmer going away to conferences etc, I was involved in an accident and lost most of the sight in one of my eyes. This was not a drama to me, as I had perfect sight in the other eye. At this time I was riding and breeding horses and had bought an Australian Stock Horse colt called Down Under from Gib Bloxsome of Glen Innes. I was not keen on his name and changed it to Yallatup Rivoli Rex (Rivoli Ray/Fladbury Stud Crisena TB). I had broken him in and was competing happily, when a piece of steel in the shed went through my good eye and I lost it completely. Overnight I was almost blind. Everything to me was a blur: no colours, just shades of grey and black: I could not drive at all and could do very little or no farm work. I could not see things like ears on cattle or wire in a fence. It began to bug me not being able to recognise people and relying on help all the time. During those eight years of near blindness, I went to four different eye specialists trying to get better eyesight. They did not give much hope, as intervention could make it worse. Finally, I found Dr Peters in Cairns who had brought a new operating method back from Europe. I took the risk of the operation, and he was able to improve my vision. But I lost a lot of balance and judgement of distance, which I sadly do miss: especially when trying to get a beast around a peg or through the gate.

“During that period while I had such poor eyesight I began to pay more attention to my horses and was teaching myself as I was teaching them things like bowing, kneeling, waving, lying down and picking up and carrying things in their mouth. I think they taught me more than I taught them and I learnt a lot of horse psychology in that period. I tried to campdraft again but it was hopeless, I could not find the pegs. So we painted white buckets and had committees place them around the pegs so that I could find them. I competed like this for eight years, and when I won the World Championship at Sydney in 1987 there were white buckets around the pegs. In hindsight, the eye accidents may have been a blessing in disguise; they made me a far better all-round horseman and made it possible for me to do demonstrations at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, two Equitanas, Brisbane and Sydney Royals and along the show circuit. Most of my competition life was done with very poor eyesight.

“Rivoli Rex changed what I did because with him I was able to compete. As soon as I got Rex I went campdrafting. He was a great horse, there’s no doubt about that. I think he had just turned four when I took him to the Australian Championships at Charters Towers in Queensland and he was third in the Maiden and third in the Open. Rex won 40 open drafts and more than his fair share of anything we went in as he was a great all-round performer. I once won the big Golden Spurs draft with him, went across to the rodeo arena that evening and won the calf roping with him. He won events from Mareeba in Queensland down to Victoria and he lived until he was three weeks shy of 36.

“I rode a lot of good mares, especially Kirkbys Tonic IM HSH that won the 1990 Bowen Open Campdraft.” Tonic was the first horse that Glen taught to do tricks and perform for the public, but not before and at the expense of being a top competition horse. Glen developed the reputation of being the “master horseman from Queensland” and was in demand to entertain and give demonstrations, never giving any indication of his poor eyesight, with the high point being performing at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

“Another very good horse I had was the gelding, Yallatup Bacardi (by Kirkby’s Stud Remedy IS HSH out of High View Pandora). He was broken in only five months when he won the National Futurity, and went on to win the Maturity, Supreme Working Horse and the Open Challenge.” In 1992 Glen bred, Yallatup Regal Remedy HSH, the horse that took him to the Olympic Games. Regal was by Kirkby’s Stud Remedy out of Yallatup KC that was by Rivoli Rex. “Regal was an athletic horse: he could do two-time flying changes, and won most things I put him in during our competition time together, including Sydney Royal Supreme Working Stock Horse.

“Back in the 1980s, I was asked to give a training clinic at Wagga Wagga. I had never been to or seen a clinic. I started off teaching people how to get a horse to perform, to stop, turn, spin etc. But I found it was not working because a lot of people did not have the basics on their horses to progress, so I had to sit down and work out how to approach the clinics from a different angle.
There are certain elements one needs to take a young horse through if that horse is ever going to reach its full potential as a ridden horse. Those elements should be put on it in a certain order. If you bypass an element, or rush it through and it is not sufficiently learned, the lack of it will reflect in incorrect work later in its life.

“My dad was emphatic on correct flexion and rein work and he was adamant that you not pull on the horse’s mouth. I was brought up with the Thoroughbred type of horse and they just don’t put up with inept treatment. I like the blood horse and if you can get it really on your side, you’ve got a top horse. A horse must accept your control and work ‘with’ you more so than ‘for’ you. I once won a two-round maiden draft on a mare that had never before seen cattle. She was ‘so’ with me that her legs were my legs. I was everywhere I wanted to be while riding her. There is a lot of psychology in breaking in: I find there are a lot of horses that are ridden but not broken in. The first month or so of basics set the horse up for life. The head and neck and “attitude” are of utmost importance in early training. The horse must learn lateral flexion completely, both sides should be absolutely equal before he feels the pressure of two reins at the same time. Otherwise, that important flexion will never be as good as it could’ve been. A well-trained horse is competitive in campdraft, dressage, hack, time trial, or any ridden discipline.”

Some of Glen’s philosophy on training horses is summed up in an article he wrote for the 2017 January/February issue of the Australian Stock Horse Journal concerning “overbending”. Interestingly there was quite a bit in the international equestrian press at the same time relating to rollkur and hyperflexion, which is what Glen was talking about;

It is a concern that the vertical overbending seems to be becoming a fashion in the Australian Stock Horse world. Overbent horses are being rewarded. They should, in fact, be scored down, as no horse wants to travel in an overbent frame. Overbent to some suggests collection, but true collection is only seen when a horse engages his hindquarters, shortens his frame, elevates his neck and flexes at the poll. Horses that are overbent are avoiding the bit and are on the forehand.

Should we not value our horse travelling in a frame that allows them to be ready and able to perform any manoeuvre efficiently whenever they are asked?

“Rose was always a great supporter of me and my horses, although she had never ridden a horse in her life and my children, although they rode as kids, their lives have not become involved with horses. I have done a couple of clinics this year, but I am only going to teach where I am asked. I love helping people who are genuinely interested in learning. Daisy Robertson has been here with me for a long time now and she has horses here for breaking in and training all the time. I think it fair to say that she uses all my philosophy in her breaking and training, and it shows in her good results. Go back to the basics and you will fix the problem does not go down well with a lot of students nowadays, they want quick: but there is no quick fix.

“I’m not so competitive now, but I have a horse that I will draft and challenge next year and I do have a couple of Regal’s youngsters here. The competition has its social side too and the horse people I have met throughout my life are the greatest bunch of people I have ever known.”

A horse should be considered broken in and ready for higher education only when he can conform to the following points:
A horse must never fear you
He must respect you and give you his attention
He should learn to stop/stand at liberty
He should offer his forehead when being caught
He should accept anything, even the unexpected
He should lead without question and tie up
Must keep his feet still to saddle, mount, hose etc
He accepts and works with aids, not away from them
He yields to both sides freely and equally
He leads with his nose in all work
He travels no faster than wanted
He has not been slowed with two reins or vertically flexed

Glen Gough is a Life Member of the Australian Stock Horse Society and over the years his wins have included, but not restricted to:
• A World Championship Campdraft
• An Australian Open Campdraft
• Two National Futurities
• Two National Maturities
• Two National Open Challenges
• Two National Supreme Working titles
• Two Cloncurry Stockman’s Challenges
• Eight State Open Championships
• Trophy Saddles
• Four sets of Golden Spurs

Story: Anna Sharpley

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