“Where there’s a will, there’s a way” is a mantra Roz Tippett has followed all her life. At 66, she has just produced yet another horse from scratch to Grand Prix. And at this wonderful buckskin’s first Grand Prix outing at only 12 years old, they scored no less than 66%.

Roz Tippett has had many ups and downs in her life, serious brushes with mortality and injuries that almost paralysed her. But… where there is a will, there is always a way for her.

Born Roz McCulloch in Perth, she grew up in suburban Floreat Park with two sisters and a brother. Her mother, Gloria, was devoted to the family and an active volunteer for several charities, while her father, James, who worked for prestige car firms, was a sportsman and lover of life. Living near the beach, it was a daily ritual for him and the family to run or swim there.

In fact, it was getting dumped in the surf that proved a life-changer for Roz. “I caught a wave and was dumped big time,” she recalls, “and as I came to the surface – with sand in every crevice and disorientated – I found myself spluttering next to a girl who was the same as me. On catching our breaths and orientation we introduced ourselves and I met Candy. She was my age and fun. We became good friends and it turned out that she had a palomino pony called – believe it or not – Goldy. I all of a sudden was woken up to that girly dream of the palomino pony with the blonde mane and tail. She encouraged me to read the Trixie Belden books that were inspiring and riveting and set me on the dream trail of riding!”

Determined to learn to ride, Roz needed about 10 pounds ($20) to afford to stay at Springfield Riding School during the holidays. Her parents paid her three-pence (3c) a day for chores at home while she would also rake lawns and babysit in the neighbourhood. Her parents pledged to match what she earned and sure enough, come end of term she was off for riding camp at Springfield. The first horse she rode was Florian, a grand horse that was old but gentle. Roz was just put on it and away they went; of course, surfing friend Candy was also there.

Roz returned to Springfield every school holidays before moving on to the “very posh” Wyandra Riding School when she was 11. She didn’t know rising trot, only sitting trot, and to this day would still rather sit than rise! Peter Van Aalen and Jeannie Gardener was her instructors. Ray and Peter Van Aalen owned the school and their daughter Karen was a mere five years old then. Beans was a good jumping horse of Peter’s and fearless Roz would ride anywhere and jump anything that dared to be jumped!

Next up was Central Riding School, owned by the Stricklands, where Cliff’s daughter Sue was a very successful competitor with Arabian and Arabian-bred horses. Roz was given Snoopy, a grey pony that she rode and trained. He was purchased for $80 and later sold for $450. Roz well remembers being bucked off Snoopy many times, but they would ride to the nearby Perth Pony Club to do novelties, hacking and showjumping there. She was now besotted with riding and worked in the stables before and after school, as well as at weekends, all year round.

She was heartbroken when Snoopy was sold, but there was another horse; Liebchen was difficult to ride, let alone catch as she was head shy and getting a halter on her was a trial. Needless to say, Roz persisted and took her to the shows and qualified her for Perth Royal, where, to her amazement, they finished in front of Kilwinning Moonglow, the star of the state, being by Sindh. Roz got to lead the grand parade!

A HORSE OF HER OWN

At 16, Roz asked her parents if she could get a dog since she was not allowed to have a horse. The answer was also no but her mother said they would consider a horse as it was obvious “this equestrian thing” was no fad! Roz being a Sagittarian – half-horse, half-human, always in a hurry, and always quick to speak their minds. Roz told her parents that they may not want to spend the money necessary to buy her the competitive horse she needed. Her mother was taken aback but she nevertheless called Sue Strickland to source a horse and a three-year-old thoroughbred was soon purchased. He was named Oedipus Rex, coming at a time when Roz was studying English literature!

Roz had harboured three wishes that until now were not on her parents’ agenda – a horse, a dog, and pierced ears – so tick off the horse! As the training stepped up, so did the injury count. First, Roz was knocked out when a showjumping horse slipped over and his head collided with hers. Then, playing hooky from school sport to go riding, more collateral damage. With the riding school arena next to a busy road, a trailer with a flapping tarp scared a horse that was being lunged, and panicked all the other horses. By the time it was sorted, Roz had a dislocated shoulder, a broken collarbone and a humerus fractured in two places. Several operations later, it was back on board. Then came the leading incident when the horse took fright at a plastic bag wrapped around a new saddlecloth. He kicked Roz as he ran past her, resulting in a ruptured spleen, eight fractured ribs and a bilateral pneumothorax. Despite a long time in hospital and numerous procedures, she was not deterred. This was all in the space of 12 months – and they say these things happen in threes!

Having done her leaving certificate commendably despite the equestrian distractions, the day Roz left school she had her ears pierced and bought a Doberman… so look out world, one determined lady was about to assert herself.

Roz went to work for Matt Pavlinovich who specialised in show jumping at St Leonards Riding School. She worked there for about eight months having bought a great horse in High Riser, and was then offered a job in Canberra at Forrest Park, owned by Frenchman Marcel Judd. Roz drove across the Nullarbor when the road was mostly unsealed, an adventure in itself! Canberra was too cold and wet for her, but it proved a good experience before she returned to Perth.

MOVING BACK WEST

She decided to bite the bullet and moved into a rental on 20 acres just out of Perth. A friend, George Sheldon, wanted her to train his palominos as western horses for a western riding school he was planning. He even imported intricate western saddles with lots of silver bling. Roz had never ridden in a western saddle, but she says she had a ball. However, she felt she needed a regular job and studied part-time to become a welfare officer. This started another journey and on completion of the course she worked for the Aboriginal Advancement Council, in the prison system and in the field, travelling widely. On one posting she was on call 24 hours a day and lived in a tin and asbestos house with dodgy wiring that would give her a shock in the shower – that was if she could get the pump to draw water from the Southern River.

She still had High Riser, and an orphan foal she had rescued, and managed to ride and give a few lessons as well as do some modelling; if she did get a lunch break there was always a quick fashion parade to fit in! On one of her bush travels, she dropped in to see Sue Strickland (now Sue McCann) from the Kilwinning days for a coffee, and their friendship was rekindled. Sue needed someone to run her Kilwinning stud and agistment property and Roz jumped at it. It was during this time that the Arabian-bred Luane became her project. Three weeks after breaking him in she took him to the Perth Pony Club Show where they won the galloway classes. He went on and qualified for the Royal Show where he won the Novice class and placed in others. Roz also took on a sales job with Polaroid, and was finally making some money while also living and working at Ashbrook. This was when she decided to dabble in dressage. She had sold her last showjumper, Special Edition, and Luane was too small for dressage so she bought a thoroughbred, Whispering Pines.

Alain Jauffret, whom she had met during her showjumping days, wanted Roz to teach at the local pony club. At first she declined, but he upped his offer and so began a five-and-a-half-year journey working for the Horse Education Centre. It was back to full-time riding and teaching and she quickly became chief instructor and also broke in many horses under the guidance of Alain who had trained at Saumur, France. Alain specialised in jumping, but his knowledge and feel for dressage inspired Roz to look more deeply into the discipline. When she was 25 and still at the centre, she wanted to go to Europe, so Alain arranged for her to stay with his daughter in France, and Roz took dressage lessons every day near Paris. It was then off to Switzerland where she trained with Paul Weier near Zurich. All his showjumpers were trained to Prix St Georges level and Roz rode up to eight every day. It was winter then and the indoor was down to minus eight, yet she says that by lunchtime she was hot enough to ride in a polo shirt!

With the benefit of all this experience, she returned to Australia – and to her more familiar 40-plus degree heat – and straight back into the school holiday program at the riding school. Before she had left for Europe she had heard of a great stallion in Australia, Valuta. She called Gert Donvig to buy one of his foals but there were none available. Gert had a very good young horse by Granada, a stallion he also owned. Roz purchased the black colt, Grand Espoir, at 14 months of age.

MOVING UP THE RANKS

He was the first horse that Roz took through the ranks to Grand Prix. In those days in Western Australia there were few instructors who knew about training the higher levels. All the same, with determination and a lot of reading up, Roz and Grand Espoir were selected on the state squad and did their first national championships in Adelaide at Novice and Elementary in 1986. It was not easy travelling a stallion across the Nullarbor with no one to assist, but on arrival the West Aussies were thrilled to win the Novice/Elementary/Medium state teams’ competition.

When Roz was on the road doing sales work for Polaroid, she met Rob Tippett, a pharmacist. On returning from Europe, she dropped in to the pharmacy for a catch-up over coffee. The coffee turned into an invitation to dinner and the relationship flourished; they were married a year later and had a son, Ben. Rob was not so interested in the horses but was a keen sailor and member of the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Roz enjoyed the twilight sailing after the hot days with horses and had many good times with a different group of friends. She and Rob bought five acres a few doors down from Ashbrook and developed it with stables and arenas and horse facilities.

Roz was passionate about her training and coaching and was always frantically busy. Never one to hold back, she approached Ansett air freight to fly her competition horses back and forth to Melbourne so she could compete nationally. Flying became like a float trip for a few hours and Roz says she would never have been as successful as she is today if it wasn’t for their amazing sponsorship. Another sponsor was Wayne Kiely and Combined Horse Transport, who took care of the transport up and down the east coast from Adelaide to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Wayne went on to give huge sponsorship taking all her horses east and west to compete and train. This made it possible to gain the experience and compete. Roz is eternally grateful for Wayne’s generosity and says she has lost count of the number of sponsored trips she was given.

Whilst training at Kilwinning Stables with Sue, Margot Lipa was also there along with yours truly! Margot had a chestnut, Ragtime, who she took over to Germany to train. I had a thoroughbred, Bromont, who I trained there and won Narrogin three-day event and was short-listed for the Moscow Olympics. For a little agistment centre, it surely had some interesting people, including Marg (nee Thwaits), Alf Devine, Dwight Pedlow and Ann Houghton. Marg trained the most stunning grey Anglo-Arabian Gothic to Small Tour – he was quite some horse even back then – and showed champion hacks and galloways, while Alf showjumped. Margot continued to train in Germany with several trainers before meeting Harry Boldt and training with him there.

It was on one of Margot’s return trips from Germany that she started to help Roz, and then when Harry came to WA for a holiday he also helped, especially with the tempi changes with Espoir as Roz admits she had little idea what she was doing. Harry and Margot eventually moved back to Australia together and settled at Waneroo where Margot had several Grand Prix horses. When Harry and Margot (now Lipa Boldt) settled in to the fabulous lifestyle that Perth offered, Roz became a student of Harry who inspired her on the path to Grand Prix.

Roz competed Grand Espoir a lot in the eastern states, winning many big competitions at Small Tour. Around this time Wolfgang Holzel visited WA to help the squad riders and Roz attended every session, and any other clinics with good instructors, as WA was a long way from the hub of dressage in those days! Roz had to fumble around at FEI as few were competing or coaching at that level. They actually placed in the Samsung Cup that was held in Perth at that time. Glennis Barry with Leonardo 68 was first, Rozzie Ryan second with Stratford Sigismund and Roz equal third.

TESTING TIMES

In 1991 there was the first CDI in Australia at Lochinvar and they competed in the Inter II, Grand Prix and Freestyle. This was a tough time for Roz; her marriage was falling apart and there were problems with the property in Perth, but she kept competing and improving Espoir’s Grand Prix. She also bought Finistere, a horse by Elfenglanz from the imported mare Ariadne. Sally Leigh Woods (nee Horner) bred this horse and Roz saw him when he was two. Despite trying desperately to buy the colt, he was not for sale. Four years later she was reading the classifieds in the local newspaper and saw a six-year-old by Elfenglanz for sale. On contacting Clayton Fredricks, who had the horse, it turned out to be Finistere! He was subsequently purchased and the “weedy, long-legged, unbalanced tall gelding” started his dressage career.

Roz had become very involved with the Warmblood Association in WA with Sally Steaden and Andre van Helvoort of Barabadeen fame, while also judging dressage as an A level judge. Espoir competed at the CDIs in the eastern states and national championships and Fin was starting Elementary.

A day Roz will never forget was the first Wednesday in February. She had lost her favourite dog the week before and her marriage had ended. And now Espoir developed colic. He was taken to theatre and operated on but died a few hours after surgery. Roz was shattered and her life seemed in tatters. However, her property, Centura, was safe with her and she started a riding school there to make ends meet. She pulled herself together by being totally busy.

She was on the WA state squad – actually she was on the squad for 30 consecutive years! Finistere went on and competed at PSG in Adelaide and at the Samsung Cup, where they placed in the top few. Harry Boldt gave a clinic at Leslie-Anne Taylor’s property at Meadows after the competition. On the morning of the masterclass, the first horse scratched and Harry asked Roz to ride. Roz was still recovering from “the fabulous night before and the generous hospitality and wine”. She was sure she was going to throw up when Harry made her ride many pirouettes… Roz will never forgive Harry, she says with a smirk and a raised eye!

Then there was the stallion Third Dimension. He was outstanding and the most beautiful horse to ride and train, says Roz, but he was a real stallion and hard to keep his concentration, quite the handful in competition. Roz sold him as she needed the money to keep the property running. As if this wasn’t enough to endure, she developed a bad back… then the bad became horrendous, with ruptured discs putting her in a wheelchair for many months. Determined to not have surgery, that was not so successful back then, she was lowered into a hydrotherapy pool every day for several months and followed a strict exercise regimen.

After a long convalescence, a lot of cortisone treatment, many pain relief treatments including a TENS machine for around-the-clock pain, she eventually recovered. It was full steam ahead once more, and one day a total stranger, Frieda Macklin, drove up to Centura asking for a riding lesson. Roz put her on one of her school ponies, much to her disgust, but this chance lesson turned into an amazing business relationship; Frieda had three imported horses Broadstone Dramatic, Trenawin Lanoir and Holmegrove Bolero. Roz rode all of them and also her own Centura Donnerquest. Finistere was Grand Prix now, so still the interstate trips continued and life returned to its usual madness.

Judging, riding up to eight horses a day, coaching, running the property and the riding school kept her super busy and, of course, she was fanatical about fitness and diet, still undergoing hydrotherapy and gym work. A judging stint in Singapore for the Samsung Cup opened another door and soon Roz was off giving dressage clinics and judging mentoring in Singapore. It was Margaret Chew who had an imported Danish horse, Fabbe, in Singapore who asked Roz to take him and train him in WA. She would visit every six weeks and train. The horse competed for Roz to FEI and this friendship was also an exciting adventure.

A visit to her local GP for a few lapses in memory and moments of confusion saw the GP start some tests which quickly escalated to major brain tests. Roz all the while riding, teaching and going flat-out as if nothing was wrong. The tests became more urgent as an aneurysm was found deep in the middle of her brain. It was not a small aneurism, as if Roz ever did anything by halves! It needed urgent surgery and it was a very difficult procedure. It was deep in the brain and all the facial nerves ran over the top of the aneurism. A team of five neurosurgeons spent nine hours in theatre to perform the craniotomy. Roz knew there was a very high chance that the surgery could fail, but she was a walking time bomb without it.

As with her will to win and always a positive outlook, the surgery was successful except for a paralysed vocal cord – shouting is a problem, much to the amusement of her staff! Six weeks post-op with no hair, Roz was on a plane with Frieda to England to see the stallion licensing where Roz sat in with the selectors to learn the ropes. It was interesting also for them as a colt by Dramatic out of Bolero was up for classification.

BACK AT FULL SPEED

It was all full speed ahead again and many more competitions and travelling east with Frieda’s horses. Bolero was a superstar getting towards Grand Prix and winning a lot at Small Tour as well as big competitions, including many FEI champs in Perth. Probably the greatest was reserve champion at Advanced level at the National Championships – just behind Mary Hanna and Whisper IV.

Dramatic was a big, strong and striking horse and took some riding. Roz now spent some time with Matthew Dowsley with Dramatic as it was the piaffe that was the stumbling block. The horse was based in NSW with Matthew for two years and Roz would regularly travel over and ride him under Matthew’s guidance. He competed to Grand Prix quite successfully but took a lot of riding. He was quiet but never a horse that was really in front of the leg and Roz found him hard work. After some successful competitions they returned to train on in Perth. Having had some coaching with Lone Joergensen while they were staying at Boneo Park for a competition, Roz invited Lone to come west and help.

Roz has poured all her heart and earnings into developing Centura at Waneroo into a wonderful boutique equestrian property. It has a four-bedroom home with great kitchen and outdoor entertaining areas, and a large pool amid well-established gardens and lawns. There is also an upstairs granny flat. Of course, for Roz it’s most important to have great equestrian facilities. There are six spacious stables and six sand yards as well as three grassed paddocks on the fully irrigated property. There is a 60mx20m all-weather outdoor arena with mirrors, a 45mx45m warm-up arena and an undercover round yard. Eight tie-up stalls and wash bay, a well-appointed office and tack rooms make this property neat and compact and extremely horse and rider friendly.

Roz loves to train and teach from her home where there are 19 school horses of varying levels for riders who want to learn or improve. The higher-level school horses are trained well to Elementary level and are schooled each week by the good riders to keep their training up. There is usually a staff of nine who leave no stone unturned. Roz, a Level III dressage specialist EA Coach, has a holistic approach and spends time understanding all her staff and students. She takes everyone for who they are and inspires them to believe in themselves and keep on a good path towards success. The school has been running successfully for 28-odd years and is very well respected.

ALONG CAME PUFF

When Dramatic was drawing to the end of his competitive career, Roz decided to hunt for possibly her last hoorah! The thought of competing again was not a priority, but the horse naturally had to be generous and kind and not a slug. At 54kg, Roz Tippett didn’t want one that required great strength to have pleasing training sessions. She searched far and wide, ending up at Heath Ryan’s, where she found a tall, leggy buckskin, Byalee Breathless. Ann-Maree Lourey bred this horse and owned both the sire and dam. She rode him as did her daughter, Dimity. He is tall and green enough for a seven-year-old, having competed at Novice and Elementary. He was by the Björsells Briar imported stallion Byalee Briar out of a mare by Richmeed Medallion. For a horse that is 17.2 hands he is the gentlest and most wonderful horse on the ground. Roz still can’t say what she saw in him, as he was not a Grand Prix horse but a workman and he just looked at her and said, “take me!”

So, it was from Ryans Horses in NSW on the long and challenging trip to Centura, WA, skirting floods on the way. “Puff” is his stable name and puff he is to ride. The first problem was getting a saddle to fit but that was eventually sorted and the Grand Prix journey began. Stephen Clarke was coming out to WA to give a clinic. Roz was desperate to go but it was for squad members only and she needed some good scores to get on the squad. So, what do you do but go out and get a few good scores at Medium level… tick that… get on the squad… tick that… get on the list for lessons with Stephen Clarke… tick that box. There is no stopping Roz when she decides what she wants. She can be like a runaway train!

By now Roz had met the man she describes as the greatest man she has ever met – Robert Watt, a doctor, and she has remarried. Robbie enjoys his golf to the same extent as Roz enjoys her horses. They have bought a unit on the water’s edge at The Point near Mandurah, south of Fremantle, and spend half the time there and half at Centura. Puff travels as well and stays at Ian Smith’s property about 25 minutes from Dolphin Point where Roz rides and trains under his watchful eye. Ian has just returned from training and working in Holland and Roz loves the time they spend improving Puff. The buckskin has had his ups and downs with injuries, but Roz has nursed him back to the best of health and soundness and is now doing Grand Prix and scoring over 66% at his recent first and only start.

 Roz adores the big expressive horse and is looking forward to many more GP competitions with him and hopes to take him to Sydney next year for the CDI. He has his grandfather’s ability in piaffe and passage and Roz believes he is going to be outstanding. He has all the movements and it’s only time and patience to get the strength and the carrying capacity in balance.

 No more really needs to be said other than in her 66th year, Roz is inspiring. She never misses a day full to the brim of life. Exercising four to five days a week before riding, doing the Dressage Riders online training program. Hydrotherapy, having a lesson, teaching, walking her two dogs along the beach and enjoying a fabulous lunch out with Robbie; it is a balanced life full to the brim indeed!

 This woman is a determined and positive character who never says never. Fearsome yet kind and always there to lend a hand or an ear, she epitomises the power of positive thinking… despite any adversity. Where there’s a will, there’s a way – Roz’s way. EQ

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