The Cowboy and his Brumby

We all love to hear about a star who has risen from nowhere, particularly in the horse world.  We are captured by the sheer grit and determination shown by hard working individuals passionate about their chosen sport and driven by their goals.  Against all odds they succeed.  Perhaps even more compelling is a success story about a rider and horse that at one time failed in the eyes of many experts and may even have been dismissed and discarded.  For James Arkins and Rosthwaite Vigilante II aka Robbie this was their reality.  

James and Robbie in their early years and at the most critical time of their development had no one truly believing in them other than their mothers (I loosely refer to Robbie’s breeder as his mother)  who in both cases never doubted their charges.  In fact, James and his horse, each in a different part of the world, had experts not only doubting them but also openly disapproving of them enough for most mother’s belief to waiver. 

Indeed, it was the recent article ‘Don’t Forget to Remember Me’ http://www.ispyhorses.com/ispy_new/news/39/83 outlining Robbie’s and his breeder’s journey that inspired Michelle Arkins to contact me.   In spite of the fact that her son James has owned Robbie for some years now, this was the first time Michelle knew of the ironic parallels between her own headstrong son and his horse as they each grew and developed in different countries.  Recently the pair were competing at top level in Europe in their quest for a place on the Australian Show Jumping Team at Rio Olympics 2016.   

“It’s uncanny,” Michelle told me.  “It seems they each made their own decisions in life.  They were unconventional and did not fit any mould.”

From early on, James displayed a strong affinity with animals.  He loved them and he seemed to be able to get them to do what he wanted.  James was born into a very non-horsey Australian family of city slickers.  They resided in the heart of Sydney.  James went to one of the best schools there along with his brothers.  Life was normal and blissfully horse free for the Arkins' family until James at age 11, his brother and cousin where taken to a trekking establishment.  When James got off the horse he announced to his mother, “I really liked that.”  Michelle replied idly, still without so much of an inkling as to what lay ahead, “That’s nice.”  And she was surprised, almost taken aback by the conviction with which her son added, “No.  I mean I really, really liked that.”

The Cowboy and his Brumby.

In what was to become and clearly still is James’ style, he took control of his future right there and then at 11 years old, by badgering the owner of the trekking establishment who had repeatedly told him they did not need any more employees, to give him a job.  “James is one of those people who doesn’t give up when he wants something,” Michelle said.  “He made an arrangement with the owner/operator to be allowed to help out on a regular basis.” 

From then on, James went there every single weekend to muck out stables and do odd jobs.  It was a 40 minute drive away.  Michelle, having thought this phase would pass, eventually insisted James take a bus and she would collect him at the end of each day.  After a year, James became the lead rider, taking trail rides out to the beach.  He was given a great deal of responsibility.  The owner told Michelle, “He’s got natural talent on a horse.  He can get them to do things that other people can’t.”

Far from the phase ending, all James wanted at the age of 12 was his own horse so he began his search.

In a stroke of luck, James contacted Colleen Brook, a world cup show jumper, who said she had a five year old horse that may suit.  James made all the arrangements and Michelle reluctantly took him to have a look.  The owner, being very honest about this horse explained that Todd had been in the paddock not doing anything of late and he was very green so was probably unsuitable.   She put her rider on first who was promptly bucked off.  Michelle, certain this would deter James, was ready to leave but in spite of everyone saying Todd was unsuitable, James got on.  And nobody could quite believe how well Todd went for James.  Having just bucked the experienced rider off who was there to show the horse, Todd behaved beautifully for James.

“James didn’t particularly like the horse,” Michelle said, “but he was smart enough to know that there wouldn’t be another one.  It had taken so much to get this close.”

Accordingly, $2,000 was handed over and Todd was delivered to the stables at Centennial Park in the centre of Sydney to live amongst the glamorous pleasure riders and their horses that wanted for nothing by way of all the best coaching possible and all the latest gear and accessories.  At this stage James didn’t even own a horse brush.  But he begged and borrowed.  Being the great networker he is, James was soon kitted out with old polo saddles, second hand jodhpurs and other gear, and he used his mother’s blazer as a show jacket to ride through the park in.

“We were struggling with three boys at a good school and we simply could not afford any extras,” Michelle said.  I told him, “You’ve got your horse and you can ride it but I’m not paying for lessons.  I’m not buying you all the gear.  You’re just going to have to save and get things from where you can, and he told me, ‘yeah that’s fine.  I’m happy with that’."

Michelle said that she often overheard people around the stables saying ‘there’s that cowboy and his brumby’.  But James coped with this. 

Centennial Park was run by a man named David Mackie and from the outset, he protected James somewhat.  In spite of this though James was always in trouble.  In the same way that Robbie was unconventional and didn’t do the things they wanted him to, James also needed to be treated the way he needed to be treated to get the best from him.  He didn’t fit in. 

“James was only 12.  And I wasn’t going out and helping him much,” Michelle said.  “He wasn’t tidy.  He didn’t clean his stable.  He didn’t sweep up.  And you can imagine how immaculate it all was out there.”

David Mackie had people constantly complaining to him about the fact that James wasn’t doing what he should be doing around the stables and that he went into the arena and changed jumps to how it suited him and that he jumped the jumps in a manner that suited him.  David tried to mediate by reminding people that James was only 12 and that being there was a huge learning curve for him.  However, things were becoming fraught.  Most of the parents were paying big money for weekly lessons but James had none of this as the family could not afford it.  

A regular competition at the stables was the Friday night Jump Club and James was very keen to give this a try.  But everyone had decided he and Todd were not good enough and it would be dangerous for them to participate.  “And it was the coaches who protested the most,” Michelle said.  “They would go to David and say, James can’t go in it.”

It was when James went home crying about this that Michelle contacted David. Subsequently, he and James made a deal.   If James could jump the first three jumps safely then he would be allowed to continue.   James agreed to this.  And of course at his first try at Jump Club, prepared to only do the first three jumps, James and Todd went on to jump the whole course clear and they won the competition.  One might expect that this would put an end to any objection to James and Todd participating in the competitions in Jump Club but it was not the case.  For whatever the coaches’ reasons were they continued to be very anti.  James and Todd continued on undeterred.

By the end of the first year this pair were doing very well together.  Then one day out of the blue, James sat his mother down and told her they needed to talk.  He explained, at the ripe old age of 13, that he had to leave the city and go to the country.  “And I have to take Todd with me,” he said.  “Because the city’s not letting me do what I have to do.”

Michelle was speechless then she cautiously asked, “What are you talking about?”

James explained that he had been searching the internet and that he had found three schools where he could take his horse with him.  “James had it all figured out,” Michelle said.  “He could ride in the morning before school and every afternoon. “

“It will be easier for me to start getting ahead,” James had told her.

All Michelle could say was, “What schools?”

One was in Queensland.  One was in Victoria.  The third was in New South Wales.

James was currently going to one of the best schools in Australia and it was just around the corner from his Sydney house.  Michelle’s friends shook their heads in dismay at the news and for her it was heart-breaking to lose her son to boarding school.  In spite of this, James packed up his horse, all their goods and chattels and off they went to boarding school in New South Wales.     

James didn’t love boarding but he was adamant this is what he had to do. On the lookout for more, James met Catherine McDowell, found out she gave lessons and asked if she could give him lessons too.  He explained to her that he couldn’t have too many lessons but could pay for some.  She telephoned Michelle and offered to help James free of charge but in return he would have to help out a bit around the stables.  Subsequently, James and Todd got to show jump at all the agricultural shows.  They began to get noticed as they were soon doing very well.  James played polo at school and he was in their show jumping team.  But he was in trouble for always being late to school simply because he was always at the farm with his horse.  The pair stayed put for year nine but on one occasion when Michelle went to visit, James announced that he needed to leave boarding and live with Catherine. 

Michelle was dumbstruck.  All she could think was ‘Oh my God.  This boy of mine’. 

James assured Michelle that Catherine McDowell would deliver him to and from school and he could take Todd too.  Michelle knew Catherine reasonably well by now, enough to know she is a very good person, married and she has a boy the same age as James, and so the plan went ahead.  Catherine taught James a great deal about horse management but evidently she struggled because of him being so head strong and strong willed.  He wanted to do everything his way.  Fortunately, Catherine had a soft spot for James and she did manage to get through to him and was hugely instrumental in furthering his and Todd’s future.  James, 14 years old now, stayed with this family and continued doing all the shows at school.  At the completion of the year, James rung his mother and said that as he was now turning 15 he needed to return to the city.  When pushed to explain why, he replied that he had learned all he could.  He was now better than the coaches.  They couldn’t teach him any more and to go to the next level required being back in the city.

“James has always had a very big vision,” Michelle said.  “He was one of those kids that could always see the big picture.  He was very much into the future and a forward thinker.”  Michelle paused before adding, “You might think I’m crazy but you can google this to understand James better.  There are children labelled Indigo children and I really think James is an indigo child.”

I googled Indigo Children, and far from thinking Michelle is crazy, I agree with her.  Indigo children are strong willed, independent, old souls and very intuitive.  They find it difficult to live within the rules of society.  These children are here to teach us. 

Not all school teachers but a lot who understood James, loved him for who he is.  But teachers who ran the class like a disciplinarian, using under the thumb tactics, could not handle him.  One teacher took the time to google Indigo Children and she used all the techniques suggested there and it turned her life around.  It didn’t just work for James, it worked for so many other children as well. 

Michelle said, “I think sometimes you can’t treat all people equally.   James can’t be treated equally.  He needs to be treated as an individual.  Robbie is exactly the same.  They both need someone who understands them.”

The next dilemma was to find a school in Sydney where James could attend but not be a part of the compulsory sports programme.  Scots College was out as they would insist upon James doing school sports which James said would interfere with his riding and not fit in with his program.  Waverley College had the same policy but the headmaster when he heard James’ story was very obliging.  He informed Michelle that they would welcome James with open arms and they would love to have a thousand more boys with the same passion for their chosen sport and who were doing so well.  James was accepted into the school and by this stage, he and Todd were competing successfully at the National Show Jumping Championships and getting very good results.   James won a lot of young rider competitions and he was beginning to build a name for himself as a competent and competitive rider. 

“But he was still ruffling a lot of feathers,” Michelle said.  “Because he wasn’t doing things the traditional way and we aren’t from a horse background.  Also we didn’t have loads of money.  In show jumping, money and generations of experience seems to be what the successful competitors have.”

James was doing things very differently, and consequently he was not always made to feel part of the fold or welcome.  Amongst the hierarchy it seemed that he was a disruption.  Maybe this was because of his view on how things should be done being so different to the norm, or that he was a young boy with not a lot of money, succeeding in a sport where others were spending thousands and not succeeding the same. 

“We as parents were there for him always,” Michelle said.  “Obviously we supported him.  But not from the perspective of a horse background.  We didn’t know the rules.  We didn’t know what was expected because we’ve never done this before.”

James’ father, Peter, took on the role of driver and groom.  As Peter had coached James in several other sports, he attempted to coach him in his riding, however was hastily shut down by James who proved far more knowledgable.

“Without the support of his father, James would have found the early days of his show jumping career very difficult,” Michelle said.

“I think the African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ sums up the efforts made from so many people to see James get to where he is today,” Michelle said.

I believe this is a good time to remind ourselves that we are talking about ‘The Cowboy and his $2,000 Brumby’ here.  The Brumby that James traded his motorbike in for.  James and Todd went from Friday Night Jump Club at Centennial Park, James wearing his mother’s blazer and Todd in an old polo saddle, through to competing in World Cup in only a few years.

Pictured - James and Todd competing in the New Zealand HOY World Cup.  They came to grief but gathered themselves and continued to complete the round.  It was during this trip to NZ orchestrated by James that he met Vaughn Jefferis who became then and remains today an integral part of James' equestrian journey.  Vaughn was hugely instrumental not only in the purchase of Robbie but also in James' and Robbie's great success.

James for a long time didn’t have a coach and the very high profile coaches didn’t like him.  There was a strong consensus that James and Todd were getting ahead of themselves.  James was disorganised and he was making it all happen on a shoestring budget.  “Most often he wouldn’t be at the ring ready to go in when they called for him and people didn’t like this,” Michelle said.  “But he worked really hard.  He was away every weekend competing and he was always riding.  He rode track work to make extra money.  He gave up a lot that other young boys wouldn’t give up.  His youngest brother admired him for being so focussed and driven.  And for knowing exactly what he wanted to do and not bothering too much about what others thought of him.”

It was during James’ year 12 that he and the headmaster decided between them that continuing on at school was possibly not essential.  James knew where he was going.  He had a plan and everyone respected this.  “I believe he will be very successful,” the headmaster told Michelle who had expected the absolute opposite response from him to her son leaving school.

James’ god parents had a farm and they gave him the opportunity to have his horses there and start his own business.  James quickly built a team of horses and began competing all the time.  It was not before James had proven his busines prowess and acumen by selling $200,000 worth of horses in just two months that his parents chose to ignore the advice that horses were a money pit, and they went ahead with selling their city home and purchasing Rosthwaite Farm, deciding that James needed stability and financial support.

James has very recently returned from his first European adventure totalling four months of competing and visiting 11 countries.  Robbie is currently in quarantine in England awaiting his flight home. Over those four months abroad, James and Robbie had many successes in their bid to gain selection for the Austrailian Show Jumping team for Rio 2016.  James for years understood not all people believed in him and he knew they thought he wasn’t doing things right.   What sets James aside from most of the Olympic equestrians, is that he did not come from generations of experienced horse people.  Against all odds, James at the age of 11 discovered his passion for horses through a chance encounter with a trekking business in Australia, and he made it happen.  He turned his dream into a reality.

The saying ‘where there is a will, there is a way’ could not be more fitting than when referring to James and his admirable and highly succesful equestrian journey so far.  He and Robbie are currently knocking on the door of representing their country at an Olympic games and somewhere in the near future that door will be opened wide for them.  There is nothing surer.

The Team at iSpyHorses

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