Retiring a horse that has taken you to the upper echelons is a tough call. Starting again with new youngsters can be even tougher, requiring a long-term commitment and enthusiasm for the journey ahead.

When a CCI5* level eventing horse retires, it can leave a gaping hole in a rider’s team. Horses with the talent, trainability, soundness, braveness and athleticism to compete at the highest level are rare and take many years to develop.

It’s a situation Barastoc ambassador Rohan Luxmoore knows only too well. Balancing his career as a director and veterinarian at Gisborne Veterinary Practice with his passion for eventing, he’s achieved outstanding results with his long-term partner Bells N Whistles, also known as Shady. The pair’s achievements include 5^th place in the CCI5* at the Australian International 3DE in 2016, and wins up to 4* level. However, Rohan’s busy life and commitments meant that while he was competing at the top level of the sport with Shady, he did not have time to develop young horses that would be knocking on the door of the FEI levels when the time came for Shady to retire from upper-level eventing.

With Shady turning 18 in 2021, that time has now come for him to enjoy a change of pace, as Rohan explains: “A few things happened which weren’t ideal, but have all worked out now. Unfortunately, when Shady was still recovering from an injury sustained in the 5* at Adelaide in 2018, he developed colic. It was just before Christmas 2019 and he had to have colic surgery down at Melbourne University (U-Vet Werribee Animal Hospital). Everything went really well and he has absolutely fully recovered now. He was nearly ready to do some events last year, but obviously with Covid nothing happened, which was probably a good thing as there was no hurry to get him back in action. Although he is now fully recovered from his injury and his colic surgery, he’s an older horse now and I’m not going to event him anymore.”

Every situation has a silver lining; Shady continues to be an important and active member of the Luxmoore family, now competing with Rohan’s son Harry in the showjumping arena. Having been consistently careful and reliable in the showjumping phase during his eventing career, it’s an outcome that Rohan is upbeat about: “Harry’s having a lot of fun with him, so they will predominantly do showjumping, and maybe a bit of dressage!”

Fortunately for Rohan, while he may not have an upper-level eventer ready to fill Shady’s very big shoes, he does have two exciting young horses to produce; homebred Neat N Tidy and LH Valentino, bred by fellow Barastoc ambassadors Wes and Trish Joyce from Lal’s Haven Warmbloods.

“I would love to be competing in the high grades again, but sometimes you’ve just got to start over and get going again. I’m really enjoying educating the young horses, especially now they’re really at a stage where it’s quite exciting to teach them new things and see them develop,” Rohan explains.

FAMILY AFFAIR

The care, training and campaigning of these youngsters is a family affair; a passion for equestrian sport is shared by the entire Luxmoore family. While Harry is enjoying the ride on Shady, daughter Izzy is a very successful FEI level dressage rider with her main horse Linus, and recently took Neat N Tidy to his first outing, a dressage competition at Boneo Park. Neat N Tidy, also known as Wally, is the son of Polly, a stockhorse that Izzy competed with much success in her early teenage years, winning everything from eventing to dressage to Handy Mount classes.

“Polly was a terrific horse for us, so we decided to take an embryo from her and breed to Charlotte Pedersen’s dressage horse, Diamond Dancer. And the resulting foal was Wally, Wally out of Polly!” Rohan explains. “We didn’t know how he was going to turn out, but he’s turned out to be a beautiful type of horse. We’re really happy with him. He’s now four years old, and he’s just done one dressage day with Izzy, and two or three little events with me. We’re really happy with his progress and we think he’s got a pretty exciting future. He’s a little bit of a spooky horse, so we’re not sure if he’ll be an eventing horse or a dressage horse; Isabelle and I are still debating that one. But at the moment he’s doing a bit of everything, which is probably good for his development.”

“I’m really enjoying educating
the young horses.”

While Rohan and Izzy share the ride on Wally, Rohan is sharing the ride on LH Valentino – also known as Tino – with his wife Kate. By Oaks Volta, he is bred to jump, however, he’s proving to be a wonderful horse to ride and train in the dressage arena as well.

“He’s just a treasure, he’s got a beautiful temperament. And in fact, my wife Kate really enjoys riding him so that’s a bonus for me because she gets to work on his dressage!” Rohan laughs.  “She’s actually brushing off the cobwebs – she hasn’t done a competition for I’d say 15 years – and she’s taking him out this weekend, to a preliminary dressage competition. So she’ll have fun there, and it will be good for Valentino’s development.

“Tino’s also been going to little one-day events with Wally. I’ve been taking both together, and he’s done three little events now and gone very well. We’re very happy with him, he’s a wonderful jumper. Wes and Trish are obviously breeding some terrific jumping horses there at Lal’s Haven and he’s certainly a testament to that. We’re really fortunate to have these two young ones coming along that look like they’ve got a bit of a future.”

“The resulting foal was Wally,
Wally out of Polly!”

“(Tinos’) just a treasure,
he’s got a beautiful temperament.”

HELLO HOLLY

In addition to Wally and Tino, there’s a third young horse in the wings, another homebred born on Christmas Day in 2019. “At the end of 2019 we unfortunately had Bells N Whistles’ colic surgery and he was in recovery, but there was some excitement as well,” Rohan explains. “Some friends lent us a mare and we had a foal born on Christmas Day, of all things to happen! Of course, we had to call her Holly because it was Christmas. Holly is now a yearling and she’s out in the paddock growing up. She’s a lovely horse with the same sire as Neat N Tidy, Diamond Dancer. We’re excited to see her grow out and hopefully she will become a nice dressage horse in future for Isabelle.”

A passion for horses is certainly not the only thing the Luxmoore family members have in common; the talent and dedication to ride at FEI level, and an interest in science-based vocations clearly runs in the genes! Having finished high school last year, Izzy is now studying Science at Melbourne University and working her way towards Grand Prix level dressage with her horse Linus. In 2020, much to her and her family’s delight, Izzy was awarded the Equestrian Victoria Young Ambassador of the Year for Dressage.

“It was a really, really unusual competition this year because it was all done online due to Covid-19. It was a great test for the young riders, they had several Zoom interviews, and they also did some educational sessions online,” Rohan explains. “So it was a terrific thing that the organisers put together for the young ambassadors, and she was delighted to have a win in that.

“Izzy’s now kicked off the competition year with Linus, and they are doing very well. He’s well established now in the Small Tour, and he’s just developing his Big Tour work. We’re excited to see how they go, they might do an Inter II or Grand Prix towards the end of this year, or maybe next year; Linus is developing his piaffe and passage and one-time changes which is really, really exciting.”

“We’ll just keep ticking
those horses over.”

PAKISTANI POTENTIAL

As Rohan looks forward to the year ahead, there’s plenty to be excited about. A return to FEI-level eventing may be on the cards for 2021, yet enthusiasm prevails for this experienced rider who has bred and trained several top-level eventers over the decades that he has been involved in the sport. “I’ll just have to keep a lid on it! We’ll just keep ticking those horses over, and we will have to be patient and not do too much with them too early. I think in two or three years, they’ll be really hitting their straps. And I may well get to an international event, just in a different role!

“Usman Khan, who is from Pakistan and lives locally, is trying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Of course, we’re not sure yet if it’s going to happen, but everything is going well so far. Usman actually bought a horse that we bred and did very well with her and got her to 4-star level, so we’ve always had a relationship.” If Usman achieves his dream of becoming Pakistan’s first Olympic equestrian representative, the plan is for Rohan – who could perhaps be described as part of Usman’s Australian family – to travel to Tokyo to assist Usman and Pakistan with veterinary support.

“Usman lost his top horse last year, which was devastating, but he’s bounced back and bought himself another horse and he is trying really hard to qualify, so we’ll see what happens there,” Rohan muses. “If Usman can qualify and Tokyo happens, then I might get the opportunity to go there and assist him. We’ll see what pans out!”