ISSUE 61
DECEMBER 2020
SUPREME SEASON
BECKONS

FOR GREG MICKAN
KATINA SMITH,
WARMBLOOD
DYNAMO

THE HORSES THAT
MADE ‘AUSTRALIA’

PLUS: A BUSY HEATH RYAN, KERRY MACK ON WHIPS, RIDING THE PSG TEST WITH ROGER, CAROLYN LIEUTENANT, NEWMARKET AT DAYBREAK, MY FIRST PONY, NAVICULAR SYNDROME, HORSE HYDRATION, OTT TO HRCAV, KATINA’S CHOCOLATE SILK PIE… & MEDICINAL CANNABIS FOR HORSES!

AUSTRALIA`S BEST EQUINE MAGAZINE
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ISSUE 61

CONTENTS

DECEMBER 2020
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Opinion

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

FROM THE CHAIRMAN ROBERT MCKAY

Opinion

A BUSY, BUSY, BUSY CHRISTMAS AT RYANS

RYAN’S RAVE BY HEATH RYAN

Dressage

KATINA SMITH, WARMBLOOD DYNAMO

BY ROGER FITZHARDINGE

Special feature

MY FIRST PONY (Part 2)

BY ADELE SEVERS

EQ Journeys

NEWMARKET – ALWAYS ON TRACK FOR A GREAT TIME

BY ELLI BIRCH

Showing

SUPREME SEASON BECKONS FOR GREG MICKAN

BY AMANDA YOUNG

Training

WHIPPING UP CONTROVERSY

BY DR KERRY MACK

Dressage

10 TIPS FOR RIDING THE PRIX ST GEORGES TEST

BY EQ LIFE & ROGER FITZHARDINGE

Health

MEDICINAL CANNABIS FOR HORSES

BY DR MAXINE BRAIN

Lifestyle

THE SECRETS BEHIND ‘AUSTRALIA’

BY SUZY JARRATT

Health

NAVICULAR SYNDROME EXPLAINED

BY DR JOHN KOHNKE BVSc RDA & GEORGIA GRECH BSc (ZOOLOGY)

Special feature

OFF THE TRACK & ON THE RIGHT PATH

BY ADELE SEVERS

Health

THE IMPORTANCE OF HYDRATION

BY EQ LIFE

Special feature

COURAGEOUS KIWI BLAZES HER OWN TRAIL (Part 5)

BY ROGER FITZHARDINGE

My Favourite Dish

CHOCOLATE SILK PIE

WITH KATINA SMITH
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With an enormous budget, lavish sets and locations across the country, Australia starred a beautifully dressed Nicole Kidman as Lady Sarah Ashley, and Hugh Jackman as the very masculine cattle drover. Of course, the horses were just as important.

“She stood up just as I
pulled and her pants went halfway
down her bottom!”

Australia ran for almost three hours and not everyone loved it; critics and commentators were divided. “It literally swept me off my feet,” swooned Oprah Winfrey. “Twisted history and garbled geography,” barked Germaine Greer on its release at the end of 2008. “It bears more relation to fairytale than fact.” “A wildly ambitious, luridly indulgent spectacle of romance, action and melodrama. Utterly preposterous and insanely entertaining,” declared the Washington Post. And a Time magazine reviewer wrote that she left a screening of Australia feeling drained and weakened “as if I’d suffered a gradual poisoning at the hands of a mad scientist”.

But no matter what was said, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia made money at the box office and later from DVD sales. And many of its locations briefly profited as tourist destinations. Most importantly, the film was instrumental in keeping a whole bunch of wranglers, livestock contractors and horse trainers very busy for months. It also showcased performance horses belonging to some of this country’s leading equestrians – horses that had never before been on a film location or inside a movie studio.

One of the first to be cast was ‘Brian’, aka Berkeley Castle, owned, trained and ridden by Roger Fitzhardinge, whom Equestrian Life readers would know as an FEI dressage rider, coach, commentator and regular contributor to this publication.

By Montora out of My Lady Leica, the handsome grey Warmblood was purchased as a four-year-old and Roger trained him up to Grand Prix. He was successful both as a dressage horse and a show hunter, and in 2004 came ninth with Anne Skinner at the Athens Paralympics.

Brian’s foray into film-making came as a result of a suggestion by Roger’s friend, Lenore Holborow-Harvey. “She was working with the horses on Australia and there was a call for a big grey to play one of Lady Sarah Ashley’s horses stabled at her stately home in England. It had to be able to piaffe and passage,” recalls Roger.

“I took him to Fox Studios in Sydney next to the old Sydney Showground and rode him there for Baz Luhrmann. He was quite taken with him and between the two of us we decided what Nicole could do on Brian and what would work.” Roger had been shown video footage of Nicole riding around Centennial Park, and for six weeks prior to filming gave her daily lessons on Brian who was boarded at the local stables.

“She took instruction well and was very conscious of her position. The night before the first scenes were to be shot we went for some last-minute practice in a nearby round yard. The paparazzi had rushed to the park believing that was where she would be riding. I was beside Brian as we worked on the passage. When Nicole’s position got a little bumpy, I grasped her jodhpur belt to guide her down into the saddle to get a better feel. She stood up just as I pulled and her pants went halfway down her bottom! Thankfully, all the photographers were elsewhere!”

Brian just got on with his job totally unconcerned that one of the world’s highest-paid actresses was baring her nether regions in a sandpit in Sydney.

Throughout the many days of filming he never put a foot wrong. “By nature he was a spooky horse and couldn’t go past a dressage letter without shying,” recalls Roger, “yet he was totally unfazed by camera dollies, crews, cranes and cables, although he did get upset on one occasion. A red felt saddlecloth had to be glued on to his conventional one. When it was time to get on and walk, he threatened to buck. When I got off he kept looking at his side and I was worried he might have colic, but he was reacting to the glue. It had oozed and dried on to his skin and every time he moved it pulled at the hairs of his coat!”

The problem was fixed and away they went.

When a Vogue magazine shoot was organised with Annie Leibovitz, the celebrated American portrait photographer, Roger was somewhat apprehensive. Brian had to stand still for hours in a darkened studio while assistants scuttled about with screens, umbrellas and backdrops as Leibovitz peered into a computer shouting instructions. This could end badly, he thought. But Brian’s behaviour was exceptional, Kidman looked magnificent in her fancy riding habit and the end results were great.

“Baz was an animal
lover but knew nothing
about horses.”

Much of the early part of filming took place an hour south-west of Sydney at Camelot Castle in Narellan. Built for James White in 1888, it was used as the location for Lady Ashley’s house in England. Folklore says that White financed the house from the winnings of the 1877 Melbourne Cup by his horse Chester. (Channel Seven’s A Place to Call Home was later filmed at the castle between 2013-18).

Much of the action took place in and around the barn and horses were needed to fill the stables. Cue six showjumpers from George Sanna’s Glossodia yard about an hour-and-a-half away.

“I took the quietest ones we had,” said Amber Fuller, long-time manager at Chatham Park. “They had to look like the types with shiny coats which you’d have had in a high-end English barn in the ’30s. And, of course, we had to get there at some ungodly time of the morning. People were everywhere and there was a lot of ‘hurry up and wait’ going on.

“The set wasn’t particularly horse-friendly. There were gaffers in the rafters and on the outside of the building there was a lot of rigging and the horses had to be led over cables. They were pretty cool about it all as they’d been to a lot of shows and were used to the sound of generators and vehicles.”

The scene required the six Sanna horses to look out of their stables as people walked past. “Baz was an animal lover but knew nothing about horses. He had a theory that saying ‘action’ would excite them too much, not realising that it’s tone not words that they react to. So instead he said, ‘lights – camera – apples!’ “He was sweet but misguided,” muses Amber.

The jumpers weren’t really interested in looking over their doors at passing actors, so a person was positioned in every stable, out of the camera’s line of sight, whose job was to subtly push each one towards the doors. Fortunately, none of the people were kicked, crushed or maimed in any way, Baz got the shots he wanted and the horses went home to George Sanna.

And then another jumper was needed on set — a 16hh bay who could double for a handsome show hunter from South Australia. Gryffindor, owned by Andrew Hunt and wife, Charlie, had come all the way from their Argyl Stud at Kangarilla, on the eastern slopes of McLaren Vale, which breeds mainly show horses and the occasional performance horse.

“Jackman really
immersed himself
in his role.”

(Andrew was a member of the Australian Equestrian Team Veterinary Panel from 2000-12 and on the resident team of veterinarians at the Sydney Olympics, the Australian Equestrian team for Beijing and the 2002 and 2006 WEGs).

“He was ridden by Nicole Kidman in the early part of the movie as one of her English horses,” explains Andrew. “Some of his successes were winning the Grand National, EA National (twice) and Champion Hunter at Canberra and Adelaide Royals, plus a few Reserves (three times at Sydney).”

Charlie Hunt adds that Gryffindor, who is by Yeates out of We Shall Be Amused, had never been a great galloper, but did win and place at Kununurra. “At the time you could put the same horse into two races on the same day – he came second the first time and won the second. A lot of Australia was shot in that region, which is in the far north of WA.

“Gryffindor’s now retired and is babysitting our young ones at home. One day during filming at Camelot Castle they said he had to go down a path, jump over a post and rail fence and gallop off into the distance. Our horse doesn’t jump, we told them.”

Roger knew who could save the day: Helen Chugg of Diamond B Farm and a horse called Corregidor – “Who was named after a Filipino island,” she explains. “He was only five and just beginning his career when we took him on to the set. We worked on the land around the castle and in its beautiful, high-ceilinged stable block – it was a fun two days; but we did have to alter the jumping set-up. They had him landing in a ditch then cantering down on to boards covered in fake grass – we made a few changes so the going was safer.

“He was ridden by Peta Johnson, Nicole’s stunt double and an excellent rider. They went down a drive, cantered a small circle around an actor who was playing a solicitor; Nicole’s heard to say ‘we’re off to Faraway Downs’ and then Corregidor and Peta jump the fence and gallop away.

“He did a great job. We went on and competed him up to 1.10m before selling him to Ian Hamilton in Queensland. He took him to 1.35m and he was then sold to Japan. He was a really nice little horse.”

“He made Aussie
stockmen proud.”

The director’s next horse call was for “a big black one that could do all those things with its feet – like the white one”. Translation: A black Grand Prix horse, please.

Roger contacted Australian dressage rider Daniella Dierks, who he knew was training and showing Concordance, aka ‘Connor’, for the Farrells of Mulawa Stud.

“Back in 2007 there were very few black FEI horses,” recalls Daniella. “Heath Ryan had Regardez Moi, who was a stallion with a massive crest; but he wasn’t tall enough and didn’t resemble the black mare playing one of Lady Ashley’s English horses. It was also a logistical choice to select Connor because we weren’t based too far from Fox Studios.”

Bred by Queensland’s Goron Toron Stud, Concordance (Contango 11 x Belcam Aatlanta) was the first Warmblood type to be purchased by Mulawa, renowned for top quality Arabians. Since that time they have imported some exceptional performance horses which have shone in dressage events around this country.

“This big, black gelding was originally owned by one of my mother’s clients, Philip Duncan, who’d come for lessons each weekend. On other days I’d train Connor – he was always an honest, big-hearted horse.” Several years ago he went to Lucy Burt, a young FEI rider, and today is with an older gentleman in Victoria.

“He was one in a million and when we were working on Australia, he was exceptional. When we arrived at Fox we had to go into a big studio which had a green screen and a replica of a Faraway Downs’ round yard,” continues Danielle. “Connor had make-up; one of the crew put in a false mane and he had to wear a red saddlecloth – this one wasn’t oozing glue like Brian’s!

“There was a lot of discussion and a decision was made that Nicole couldn’t get on and ride all the moves. I had to be her stunt double, but I’d only be seen from the waist down. ‘Don’t worry about her head,’ they said, but I was given a wig in case I was filmed from the back.

“Movie-making seems to consist of people spending a lot of time not knowing what’s going on. There was an animal handler and other horses around so Connor wasn’t alone. By then he was a pretty seasoned competitor and had been in several indoor environments such as SIEC and Mulawa’s indoor arena.

“I was given Nicole’s costume to wear and when I put it on I found she had odd proportions – very long, thin arms and a short torso. I wore those ancient ballooning jodhpurs and a frilly-necked, long-sleeved shirt with lots of buttons and hooks and eyes. I didn’t have to wear make-up.

“Jack Thompson, who was in one of the scenes that day, came over and said hello, then Nicole came by. After she’d walked past and smiled, I heard her ask, ‘she’s not playing me, is she?’

“There was some tension on the set that day because she and Jackman were to do a lovemaking sequence in the next studio and all the crew was talking about it. I believe it was a scene where clothes were to be removed.

“Baz was very nice. He didn’t know any horse terms and just said ‘ride in little circles’ or ‘do that up and down thing on the spot’.

“I think most of the camera work concentrated on close-ups of legs and feet. The session took about an hour-and-a-half comprising much repositioning of equipment, filming from different angles and the checking of footage. Connor did everything that was asked of him. Even if much of his performance ended up on the cutting room floor, he was still a star,” says Daniella.

The human stars of Australia were always respectful of the horses. According to Roger, Nicole worked very hard at all the horse work and at times was very brave, while Jackman really immersed himself in his role. He was never given a name in the film, being referred to throughout as “the drover”.

“When we were working in Sydney he’d help muck out the stables, watch lessons and come with us when we rode,” says Roger. Nicole was most impressed by her co-star’s equestrian commitment. “Hugh’s amazing because he has such athleticism,” she enthuses. “He could barely ride at the beginning of the film but by the end he was great – he made Aussie stockmen proud.”

Jackman did have a few bingles when training. He fell when learning to ride a rearing horse. He was wearing a helmet and was unhurt – the only thing bruised would be his wallet. He told an English newspaper it was an Australian tradition that if you fall from a horse you have to say ‘just taking a p—’ before you hit the ground. If you don’t get the words out in time you have to buy a bottle of whisky for everyone in the horse crew!”

Roger remembers Jackman ringing the local liquor store from his mobile while he was still lying on the ground. “He was such a good sport, unpretentious and so keen to learn all about horses. I have to say that being on Australia with Brian was one of the highlights of my life.”

Next time in Horses and Movies, the latest version of Black Beauty, which just premiered on our TV screens, and an exclusive interview with the Australian who trained the horses in South Africa. EQ

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