{"id":26358,"date":"2016-04-20T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T05:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=26358"},"modified":"2017-02-10T11:03:58","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T00:03:58","slug":"megan-joyce-making-your-own-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2016\/04\/megan-joyce-making-your-own-breaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Megan Joyce – Making your own breaks\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Header\"Story by Chris Hector and photos by Roz Neave<\/h3>\n

There are some young showjumpers who get it easy, they swank off to Europe, Daddy\u2019s cheque book waving in the breeze, to make their selection in those fancy barns with oak paneled stables and solid brass fittings. Now admittedly what they come back with often looks pretty ordinary removed from the glam glam backdrop but still – life is pretty easy for the young riders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then there are showjumping riders who have to battle to the top, finding work where they can get it, to finance their passion. Riders like Megan Joyce who you can find six mornings a week at Caulfield racetrack, just about the time the morn, in russet mantle clad, celebrates a brand new day, pounding her way around the track for the Moloney\u00a0Brothers.<\/p>\n

How did Megan end up being a track\u00a0rider?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSome friends who live next door have a lot of racehorses. I came back from riding in Europe in 2013 and I was a bit unsure of what to do next, they said, go in and try track work. I started riding for the people who trained their horses, the Moloney Racing Team, and it has continued from there. I ride three hours every morning six days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it scary, some of them look as if they don\u2019t have a lot of steering?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always ridden young horses so it is not too intimidating. I did question my riding ability before I went in there \u2013 can I do this? It\u2019s intimidating before you do it, not knowing the industry that well, but once you get out there you realize it is the same stuff, just trust your ability and you will be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much control have you got?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them get strong, but they all know where to pull up. They all know the stopping point. You have to be a strong rider to be able to help them, but there are a lot of lovely horses also, that just hack around. The rule of thumb that Thoroughbreds are crazy is not quite true, there\u2019s a lot of lovely Thoroughbreds out there that you are kicking around, going, come on, you are going a bit slow.<\/em> That\u2019s a bit\u00a0different.\u2019<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve already been to Europe, how did you find the scene there?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy partner at the time had friends in England, so we started there with a bit of a holiday and traveled around Europe. We were going to go to the Schockem\u00f6hle stables but we didn\u2019t get in contact with them early enough. I met Phil Lever there \u2013 I\u2019d known him in Australia \u2013 and he gave me a job as a groom for a couple of weeks. I met another guy who gave me a job in Germany, then sent me to Denmark, and a couple of other stables in Germany. I just wanted to see the world, see a bit of the stables. The guy in Germany asked me, do you want a permanent job, and I said I wanted to see a few different places, so he set me up at these stables and passed me\u00a0around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was over there for four months and I knew I wasn\u2019t going to be able to make a big career in that short amount of time. I just wanted to see how they brought their young horses on. He sent me to a real young horse stable, which has not such a big team. I went to Schockem\u00f6hle and saw how they do it \u2013 a huge production line, that was different again. Then a sale yard in Denmark where they just had horses to turn over, another semi-factory, his stable that was like a smaller showjumping team that were for sale, but he worked them so hard and that was different, how tough they are. It was nice to get a glimpse of everything. I guess if I got another chance I could go back and focus on what I wanted to focus on.\u201d\"6AtHome\"<\/p>\n

Megan working with Val Vader by Valhalla out of a Brilliant Invader mare<\/em><\/p>\n

How did you get into jumping in the first place?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt started when I had a little Quarter horse \/ Stockhorse, called Chocolate Delight, we bought him at the market at Echuca. He was pretty good at jumping. Paul Williams was giving lessons just down the road from my place in Belmore, and I started going there once a week, and you just get hooked I guess. At that stage I was about twelve and I still did eventing and dressage and a bit of everything. The horse was very careful, he wasn\u2019t very brave for eventing, so we just stayed showjumping, did a lot\u00a0of\u00a0juniors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who have been the influences on your riding?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPaul Williams for a while, and when I got onto the Squad, I was put into Sarah and Robbie Allen\u2019s group, and they coached me for many years. Now I am with Gavin Chester. I find him a very good coach, but it is a bit of a challenge to get time with him.\u201d\"MeganJoyce\"<\/p>\n

How big is your team?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy truck takes five, so I have five at a time, sometimes that gets juggled, two on, two off. At the moment I\u2019ve got a lot of horses. Last year I sold a lot of them so I could buy some land, and I\u2019ve been re-building the team in the last twelve months. I\u2019ve got two better mares, one doing 1.35m, one doing 1.30m, then I\u2019ve got a baby, a Valhalla, two four-year-olds, then I\u2019ve got a Thoroughbred, trying to work out if it is going to make the grade or not, or it needs another discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

How ambitious are you?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m practical I guess. I set small goals that I can achieve. At the moment my ultimate goal would be to ride in a World Cup, I haven\u2019t achieved that yet. I\u2019d love to ride in a World Cup and then if I could compete overseas that would be great, but whether I\u2019ll have the funding and the support to be able to do that is another thing. You\u2019ve got to be practical about your dreams.\u201d\"MeganJoyce-\"<\/p>\n

Megan’s promising young mare, Blackall Park Cha Cha by Daley K, jumping at Boneo Classic in the Silver series. Bought in partnership with Beth Burns and Jean Forster as an unbroken 2yo, all involved are enjoying the journey with this lovely mare.
\nPhoto: Gone Riding Media<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s scary how much money is dominating the sport\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, for me you can\u2019t always be super competitive. You just canter around and get your horse to achieve your goals, you might end up competitive later but there is a long time in between because I can\u2019t go and buy that horse that is going. You get those times when you are just cantering around and letting the horses do the miles, until the horses are comfortable, and then you can be competitive again. I don\u2019t have the option of just buying a new one and going out there and winning the class\u2026 money changes everything, what shows you can afford to do, and how many shows, and how many classes, how many lessons you get, and how good a horse you are riding. It\u2019s not all just talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan is also one of those riders who has the satisfaction of breeding and making her own. At Jumping with the Stars, she will be riding Val Vader, with the added satisfaction of having ridden his mum, and bred, broken in, and trained him, herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got his mum, Lady Invader, when I was 13 and she was ten. She was meant to be experienced, but she was quite green and I had to start from scratch with her. She turned out to be my best mare. I jumped her to Young Riders, over some tough YR tracks at the Oz champs in Canberra. Evented her to one star, Pony Club right through from grade three. She was the best mare I could have ever had,\u201d\"bEST1\"<\/p>\n

\u201cShe then had four foals. Val Vader is by Valhalla, he\u2019s four now.\u201d<\/p>\n

You rode Valhalla?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I rode Valhalla for nearly a year, it was a great experience and it really helps me ride this horse by him. Valhalla was great, a very different horse to ride, a difficult ride but the kindest horse you could ever work\u00a0with.\u201d<\/p>\n

It must be a real sense of achievement going to Jumping with the Stars with one you bred and trained\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s better than buying a good horse. To have bred it yourself, and to have broken it in, and have done every day of training with it, it\u2019s really something. It doesn\u2019t matter if you win, or just a personal best, it\u2019s a huge\u00a0achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOOTNOTE: Alas, Megan didn\u2019t make it to JWTS – she broke her arm competing at Berwick! That\u2019s horses!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the April 2016 issue of THM.<\/em><\/p>\n

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