Chris Burton at the 2024 Paris Olympics; the 2032 Brisbane Games is now coming to his hometown of Toowoomba. Image by FEI/Benjamin Clark.
The equestrian facility for Brisbane 2032 has been announced… Toowoomba, you beauty! Toowoomba is going to become the “Queensland Equestrian Centre of Excellence”. For me, for all of us horse riders, Toowoomba will be the centre of the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics in 2032. Congratulations, Toowoomba!
So, in 2032 all the equestrian Olympic and Paralympic competitors from all over the world are going to go head-to-head in the Queensland bush at the Toowoomba Showgrounds.
Initially Toowoomba had been left out of hosting any 2032 Olympic events. Well, that changed. One of the big considerations was that the FEI really wanted the Olympic Games to leave a legacy for the future of Australians in years to come. On top of this, one of the big changes and considerations for Toowoomba was that local government in Toowoomba and enthusiastic influential Toowoomba citizens came together and lobbied the Queensland Government enthusiastically. Today the successful Toowoombians are jumping for joy and, quite frankly, I think everyone in Equestrian Australia is going to be positively impacted. Certainly very happy for Toowoomba!
Catch up on the 25 March 2025 announcement here.
View the below Toowoomba Equestrian Centre of Excellence Master Plan in greater detail here.
The Toowoomba Equestrian Centre of Excellence Master Plan.
Very interesting is the fact that Galway Downs, a premier equestrian venue located in the Temecula Valley, California, is a near-certainty to host the equestrian events for the 2028 LA Olympic and Paralympic Games. The privately-owned venue has ticked all the boxes so far and now awaits final IOC sign-off, which is expected to be announced on 9 April. Again, at this facility all the disciplines will be together and competing at the same site.
The FEI specifically required that the eventing had all three phases of dressage, cross country and show jumping at the same site. If this was not possible there was a distinct possibility that eventing at least would have been deleted from the Olympic Games. This is very much a cost thing and a legacy thing. Whew! Thank goodness that eventing, show jumping and dressage seem to be secure in their presence as part of the Olympic Games, especially now that Olympic Organising Committees around the world are managing to get all the equestrian disciplines at the one facility.
Having sports outside the city limits where the majority of Olympic and Paralympic sports are conducted does come with inherent issues and creates satellite venues. Toowoomba is an hour and 45 minutes out of Brisbane by car and two hours away by train. Galway Downs is two hours from Los Angeles by car, so very similar to Toowoomba.
Galway Downs is at an existing equestrian centre with management and staff already familiar with organising and coordinating large events. This is a wonderful advantage and will save the city of Los Angeles something like $US150+ million. Yikes! Such is the cost of putting together an Olympic and Paralympic facility from scratch. Sydney International Equestrian Centre was purpose-built for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. I was under the impression that this facility cost $A35 million back then. It sounds like nothing when looking at the savings of $US150 million.
Australian Rebecca Braitling recently won a CCI4*S at Galway Downs with Caravaggio. Image by Sally Spickard/Galway Downs.
FUTURE NATIONAL LEGACY
Toowoomba Showgrounds will have to have substantial infrastructure added to cope with an Olympic and Paralympic Games competition; however, these showgrounds had already been targeted for elite development, Games or no Games, to become capable of international competitions in Queensland. The big difference between Toowoomba and Galway Downs in the USA is that Toowoomba will become an Australian legacy to the equestrian disciplines after the Games. It was already heading that way anyway except you would have to think it is now going to be bigger and better than anything the Toowoomba planners had initially thought.
Galway Downs is already operating and is privately owned so this is not actually an addition to the training opportunities available to the west coast riders near Los Angeles. It does, however, comply with the FEI prerequisite of all equestrian disciplines being at the same facility and that means everything to the equestrian disciplines continuing on as an Olympic and Paralympic sport.
Toowoomba will target international competitions after the Games and specifically offer pathways to Australian riders both current and in the future to training for international competition and ongoing Games successes. Preferably gold medal Olympic and Paralympic successes! So exciting!
There have been moments in years gone past when Queensland riders have ridden for Australia. The riders in Queensland are without exception really good. These Queensland riders have not dominated Australian Games teams and Australian representatives from Queensland are really the exception.
QUEENSLAND TRAILBLAZERS
The very first Australian rider to ride internationally in dressage was Judy McKay on her little Grand Prix stock horse Debonair, who was selected for Australia to go to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Australia boycotted those games so Judy and Debonair went to England to the ‘Alternative Olympics’ at Goodwood Castle. In true Australian stock horse style, Debonair competed against the who’s who of the dressage world with a hogged mane.
Judy McKay on her little Grand Prix stock horse Debonair.
Judy actually lived in Boggabilla, now that I think about it, which I think is actually just on the NSW side of the Queensland/NSW border. However, she did campaign by and large in Queensland.
The Queensland eventers were once upon a time iconic and tough and had brilliant Thoroughbred horses, but always seemed to get their timing wrong and didn’t really ride for Australia. Well, not quite. Chris Burton at the Paris Olympics last year did win an individual silver medal in the eventing and was better than tough and brilliant. Sensational, actually! He had been based in England for a long time (although now back in Australia) and I think there are lots of Chris Burtons in Queensland. Hopefully the Olympic and Paralympic facility in Toowoomba will in the future help nurture these wild Queensland talents to further Olympic and Paralympic medals without having to base for decades overseas.
“Hopefully the facility in
Toowoomba will in the future
help nurture these wild Queensland
talents to further Games medals…”
Way back, I do remember Greg Watson from Calliope riding a horse called Tekainga Fred. Greg and Tekainga Fred represented Australia at the inaugural 1990 World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Stockholm, Sweden. I think they came individual 12th, which was very serious. Tekainga Fred was a rangey chestnut Thoroughbred gelding who went Advanced with Ned Twohill on the Queensland eventing circuit. Ned was an iconic leader of the sport and a great Pony Club instructor and influenced a lot of fantastic young Queensland riders.
Chris Burton and Shadow Man claimed individual silver in eventing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Image by Michelle Terlato Photography.
MEDAL WINNERS
The two Cribb sisters, Felicity and Prue, were a dynamic Queensland double. Felicity on Carmody Street represented Australia at the WEG at the Den Haag in Holland, 1994. Prue was also at Den Haag and so nearly became the world champion. After the dressage and the cross country she was clearly in the lead. Unfortunately, after the show jumping she did drop out of the placings but in terms of Queensland talent, Ooh la la!!
In 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, Peter McMahon rode Kolora Genoa in the Australian show jumping team. Genoa was so, so difficult to ride and Peter was just one amazing reflex reaction the moment he hit the saddle. Only an Australian could have piloted that horse around the Olympics.
Kevin McNab, who has been and still is based in the UK, won a team bronze medal at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. Kevin has always been the ultimate competitor. David Green won a team gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Pretty fancy for a Queenslander! And then there was the amazing dressage rider Ricky MacMillan on the legend of a horse, Crisp. Ricky rode for Australia on six different occasions, going to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Athens Olympics in 2004. She also rode at the World Equestrian Games and at World Cup Finals. Now that was a very decorated Queensland rider!
Rebel Morrow is another Queenslander who made an Olympic team, competing at the 2004 Athens Olympics with horse Oaklee Groover. Stuart Tinney, one of Australia’s most decorated event riders, was also part of that 2004 team.
Stuart Tinney and Jeepster were part of the Sydney 2000 gold medal winning team and were the highest placed individual combination. Image by PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo.
Stuart has represented Australia at three Olympic Games and four World Equestrian Games in total, and was part of the gold medal winning team with Jeepster at the 2000 Sydney Olympics (where they were the highest-placed combination in the team competition and under today’s rules would have collected the individual gold medal as well). Stuart was also part of Australia’s bronze medal winning team with Pluto Mio at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“You can just imagine what
the Toowoomba facility could
do in terms of the future for all
those Queensland bush kids…”
So, you can see over the decades that despite a lack of top-class opportunities, the Queensland riders are pretty good. You can just imagine what the Toowoomba facility could do in terms of the future for all those Queensland bush kids in the Pony Clubs and the EA competitions and rodeos and mustering on the outback stations. Super-duper exciting Toowoomba!
P.S. Oh my goodness, I do hope I have not overlooked any Queenslanders who have ridden for Australia. Before you ring up and yell at me, I do so profusely apologise. EQ
Cheers, Heath.
Related articles
Indulge me for a moment while I reflect on the success of some of the horses that have passed through our hands at Ryans Horses. Much as I am naturally proud of all these horses, I’m posting their achievements here to illustrate just what wonderful riders, owners and trainers we now have in this country bring out the best in these horses.
Equestrian Australia needs to clearly spell out its vision, costs and course of action for its takeover of state and territory bodies if it wants its national restructuring to succeed. Most importantly, this vision needs to benefit all EA members.