Working & Winning with Dr Angus McKinnon

This article is from the February 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

Angus, what does a normal working week look like for you in your job as a Senior Veterinarian? During the reproduction season, work is seven days a week from 8am to 8pm most days and quite often longer. During that time, I am also on call at night for foaling and other emergencies around Euroa and often caesareans at the hospital. During winter I spend more time at the hospital or perhaps take a break.

What commitments do you have at the stables before work? Every morning I feed my competition horses, my young horses, my mares and foals and my herd of recipient mares. By this time, I’m usually running late so I ask others to finish up for me. The hospital staff don’t like me running late.

How many horses do you have in work and what is their workload? Two to three older horses depending on what competitions are coming up. The Wheatleys (Aaron and Lindsey) will have the two and three-year-old horses with them to train and maybe a couple of young ones at the breakers.

Cutting involves a tuned and fit horse. How do you keep your horses up to scratch on limited time? Horses are worked for roughly half an hour a day and this varies according to what competition is coming up and how close the competition is. If I’m called into work early and unable to work on the horses, I have a rider who will come and exercise the horses. Also, I utilise the skills of the Wheatleys to actually get the horses ready to compete. To be honest I am not that good at this cutting game and need their skills to make the horses accurate. If I tried to train my own horses the results would be disastrous, even with previously well-trained horses.

Do you do any fitness work other than riding? Gin not gym.

What are some of your proudest moments in your riding career and in your job? Perhaps, representing Australia in 1983-84 in the Pentathlon. This comprises five different events; fencing, swimming, showjumping, pistol shooting and cross country running. 

In the cutting arena, my mare EBS Flame Tree won Champion Horse of the whole competition from the aggregate of the Professional and Non-Pro rider in the Cutting For Cash event in Armidale last year. In my work, it would be the production of the world’s first (and second) ICSI foal (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) from live mares.

Do you have a strapper to help you on the morning of competition and what jobs do they assist with? At big competitions, the trainers like to keep me as far away from the preparations as possible, and for the smaller competitions someone usually feels sorry for me and helps out. Sometimes, however, I am left to get my own horses ready and that has taken a significant amount of work to become proficient at. I really admire the lopers (typically younger generation exercising horses for pros and non-pros prior to the horses competing). They do an amazing job. Also, I often lend my older competition horses to youth riders (they mistakenly think I can get the horse ready for them, so I try not to disappoint). What most people outside of cutting do not realise is that when you cross the timeline (the beginning of the cutting event) there are four people out there as well that have offered to help. They are the two turn back riders and the two herd holders. It is rewarding to see them help person after person, some of which help them as well in the same competition. It is really a big family.

What do you do after a weekend comp, to prepare for the next weekend’s comp? More gin to either celebrate or commiserate. Sometimes it is useful to reflect on the way home what went well and what didn’t. Cutting is a fantastic sport. It is interesting, challenging and as soon as you think you are improving, it will cut you down to the right size again (no pun). Despite all the preparation and management, things often don’t go to plan, so it teaches you humility and techniques to manage disappointments.

Out of your four weeks annual leave, how much of that is used for competitions? Much of it – either training the horses or competing or travelling to compete. We have farms in Euroa, Licola and on Flinders Island, so there is a significant challenge to find time to manage those. Luckily in the non-breeding season, there are weekends where we are not cutting.

How many events would you do in a year? Five to seven with lots of travel up and down the east coast.

Do you do anything in the offseason with your horses? Lots of mountain work to check on cattle to balance the horses’ approach to being ridden. This way every time they are saddled it’s not just for training or competing.

How do you balance work, family, social life and cutting? That is impossible. There are sacrifices everywhere. The way I balance these four things is to just choose two at a time and one should be family.

What sacrifices do you have to make to do it all, and do it all successfully? Well, when you only choose two of the four then you don’t have it all of course. Choose your passion and work hard at it.

What words of advice can you give to other riders who want success in all aspects of their lives? Get a good education and don’t be afraid to work hard early in life. My father gave me great advice when I was young; he said to get a Degree and get a good working grounding so you can always earn money outside of farming (either horses or cattle) when times are tough. Few things come easily.

And one other thing, from being a part-owner in a successful business I have realised the importance of surrounding myself with quality staff. The staff make or break the business. They make you smile and they make your day run smoothly. They manage your day even if you do not realise it.

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