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Working & Winning - Tylen Gibb

This article is from the December 2019 Horse Deals magazine.

Photo: JenSol Photography

Photo: JenSol Photography

Barrel Racer & Teacher’s Aide

Tylen, what does a normal working week look like for you in your job as a Teacher’s Aide? I work from Monday – Friday each week from 7.15/7.30am until 2.30/3.00pm. I spend my time between two staff rooms helping teachers in the maths, business, English and humanities departments.

What commitments do you have at the stables before and after work? My stables are at home, our horses are fed hard feeds both morning and night along with lucerne throughout the season, however during the off-season most of our horses are turned out and the others are fed only at night.

How many horses do you have in work and what is their workload? This year during the season I just had my barrel racing horse, a young horse and my brother’s steer wrestling horse in work. They are all trotted each afternoon, with the barrel racing horses doing drum work maybe once a week or fortnight.

Barrel racing requires quite a bit of fitness training. How do you keep your horses fit on limited time? I trot my barrel racing horses at least 4km a day to make sure they are fit for competition. If I am short on time or light, I will lead them off a four-wheeler.

Do you do any fitness work other than riding? I have been pretty slack on my personal fitness as horses keep me very busy after work. During the offseason, I enjoy trying to get fit and doing some different fitness for myself. Hopefully I can continue staying fitter come next season.

What are some of your proudest moments in your riding career and in your job? One of my proudest moments would have been competing for Queensland at Sydney Royal Easter show with my brother, Ryley and my dad, Mark. I also love qualifying for the National Finals, we work hard all year for that so it’s always very rewarding.

Do you have a strapper to help you on the day of a competition and what jobs do they assist with? I don’t have a ‘strapper’ as such but I do have a great group of friends and my family who are often there to help me with anything I need. I have my preparation pretty down pat now and do the same thing every time so it’s pretty easy.

Photo: Bootface Photography

Photo: Bootface Photography

What do you do after a weekend comp to prepare for the next weekend’s comp? I usually like to give my horses a day or two off, depending on where we have been or what we have done. We usually unpack the truck and trailer on the Sunday or Monday so it’s ready to pack again on Thursday or Friday.

How do you plan your school holiday breaks to work in with competitions? Prior to working as a teacher’s aide, I was an Early Childhood Educator so I just took annual leave days when necessary. Now I get all school holidays off, so it’s great when rodeos fall on the holidays as I don’t have to take any time off, but when they don’t I just apply for the days off and work up ADO to cover me.

How much of your holidays are used for competitions? Usually all my annual leave would go towards competitions. Now I don’t get annual leave as such due to getting school holidays off, so I work up ADO for the days off I need to travel to competitions.

How many events would you do in a year? In the last couple of years we have travelled quite hard, having at least one competition almost every weekend of the year. Some weekends we could have two, three or four! We did rodeos across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria which includes a lot of travelling. Next year however, I’m hoping to slow down a little and just do rodeos around Queensland.

Do you do anything in the offseason with your horses? The last couple of years my horses haven’t really had an offseason as we have done the Christmas run in Victoria and then just continued on from there. However, this year I turned our horses out after the National Finals in Warwick for a well-deserved break. I’m sure they are loving it! The good horses will get about three to four months off. During this time I will spend time getting my young horses going, so hopefully they are ready to do some rodeos next year.

How do you balance work, family, social life and competitions? Between working and travelling to competitions, it does mean I see less of my family and friends outside of rodeos than I would like. I often have missed social events due to having rodeos on, however hopefully by cutting down on some competitions I will be able to do more social events outside of rodeos and see family/friends more.

What sacrifices do you have to make to do it all, and do it all successfully? I think mainly missing events outside of rodeo is the hardest part. You have to be willing to work hard and be committed. I work my horses every day after work, which doesn’t leave much time to do much else.

Photo: Purple Fairy Imagery

Photo: Purple Fairy Imagery


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